Worsley gave his Test hopes a boost Match report Photos from New Plymouth

The tourists' bid to play stylish, attacking rugby was snuffed out by the wet conditions and a physical Maori side.

Woodward was quick to praise the grit of his relatively inexperienced England side, which included debutants Andy Hazell and Stuart Abbott.

"It was all about winning and to play that well in poor conditions was fantastic," said Woodward.

"We don't win often over here and last time we lost by 60-odd points, so there has been a huge turnaround.

"I thought it was a wonderful effort by the guys, especially the forward pack.

"You know how important it is when your midweek or second string team win, especially when the whole of New Zealand was expecting the Maori team to win.

"To win and win with something to spare is a massive boost and when we train tomorrow there will be a real spring in the step."

A lot of international sides have come here and lost to the Maori so we are chuffed to bits Try-scorer Andy Gomarsall

Prop Trevor Woodman, captain Phil Vickery, lock Simon Shaw, flanker Joe Worsley and scrum-half Andy Gomarsall all enhanced their claims for a place in the squad to face the All Blacks on 14 June.

Woodward revealed that he would have a difficult choice ahead of the match as he aims to strengthen and develop his first 15 ahead before this autumn's World Cup.

"We had hard choices anyway and everyone did outstandingly well," said Woodward.

"Woodman, Vickery, Shaw, Worsley are all class players and we had 13 internationals in the team, so we had a good side out there.

"I think people in New Zealand have forgotten that English rugby is pretty strong at the moment.

"Vickery did a wonderful job captaining the side and I think we strangled the Maori team to death in the end.

"Hopefully this has silenced all this nonsense that we can't play away from home."