Rugby World Cup: 'The whole country is hurting', says All Blacks coach Steve Hansen after England demolition

New Zealand feeling the pain after first defeat on the biggest stage since 2007

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen feels the pain as he talks about the 19-7 World Cup semi-final defeat to England. AP

An emotional New Zealand coach Steve Hansen admitted on Sunday that losing their World Cup semi-final to England was still "gut wrenching".

The All Blacks were beaten in every area of the game at Yokohama Stadium and put on the back foot from the opening whistle, with centre Manu Tuilagi smashing over for a try after just 98 seconds.

The 19-7 defeat ended the All Blacks' 18-match unbeaten run at the World Cup since they lost to France in the 2007 quarter-finals.

"I'm still hurting as you'd expect, and I'm sure the whole country's hurting," said Hansen. "Nothing will alleviate the pain. You come to a tournament like this and you want to win the thing. We got beaten by a team that was better than us ... it's gut wrenching."

While Hansen admitted they were outplayed he said his coaching staff knew what was coming for them as England, desperate to exorcise the demons of their 2015 flop when they became the first host side to crash out in the pool stage, produced a massive defensive effort and dominated the breakdown and collision areas.

"It didn't take us by surprise, we knew we were in for a hell of a battle. This England team hasn't just snuck up and poked us in the face. They won 18 games in a row and there's only one other team that's done that in the history of the game and that makes them a formidable side.

"We played them last year, managed to win by a point, it was a titanic struggle. They're a team that were coming into this tournament over the last four years with a massive amount of pain themselves.

"They've been working and working their butts off, probably mores than any other England team in history. They don't play a sophisticated game. Win the ball, give it to a big bloke and run hard. Win the collision and get over the gain line. That's rugby in its simplest form but it is beautiful as well.

"We got what we expected and we just have to acknowledge that on the night, they did things a little better than we did."

Kieran Read still appeared shaken after failing to lead the All Blacks to a third successive title in his sign-off as captain. "It's a bitter pill to swallow," said the Toyota-bound number eight, whose 34th birthday had been ruined by a rampaging England side.

"Your family, the ones closest to you go through that too," added Read after his 126th Test ended in a first World Cup defeat.

"It was my birthday yesterday and I get back to the hotel and there's messages from my kids – it puts things in perspective. My kids aren't going to love me any less."

After failing to emulate predecessor Richie McCaw, who lifted two World Cups with New Zealand, Read tipped the All Blacks to come back stronger.

"It's pretty empty, we're gutted," he said. "But it's not going to define us as a group. The younger guys have an opportunity to come back in four years. They'll hold on to this feeling and come back."

Hansen also backed the All Blacks to "get back on the horse" quickly after their stunning exit. "It's massively important," he said. "There hasn't been a lot of adversity. For 12 years we've been successful – we've maybe dropped 10 games now out of 104 or 105 games.

"When you lose you find the inconvenient facts, that maybe you've been sandpapering over some things. There will be a lot of lessons to learn."