England captain Jamie George labelled his side's performance as "unforgivable" after their 42-37 defeat to Australia on Saturday.
The Red Rose came flying out of the blocks with two early tries from Chandler Cunningham-South before Australia hit back through Tom Wright and Harry Wilson at Twickenham.
Noah Lolesio's penalty ensured the Wallabies snatched a 20-18 lead at the break, only for England replacement Ollie Sleightholme to drag his side ahead with a brilliant double.
Andrew Kellaway and Mario Itoje exchanged late scores for either side before Max Jorgensen’s last-gasp try secured victory for Australia.
George lamented his side's defensive showing after ending on the wrong side of a high-scoring thriller.
"I think the blueprint of how we wanted to play was in the first 20 minutes," George told TNT Sport. "We put Australia under a lot of pressure. Sometimes in a Test match like that you think the job is done.
"We took our foot off the gas. Credit to Australia they were very good but we cannot keep doing that, it will be a tough one to watch back.
"It is a fine balance between closing up shop and trying to see out the win rather than attacking. We talk about being brave and courageous and that [Itoje] try was exactly that. We will look at being better.
"The system and the principle all work. We know it works, but we didn't quite get what we wanted out if it.
"Leaking 42 points at home is unforgivable. They got front-foot ball and then have some pretty good runners outside."
Saturday marked the first time England have lost four Test matches in a row since 2018, when they suffered five straight defeats under Eddie Jones.
England head coach Steve Borthwick echoed George's sentiment after the Autumn Nations Series defeat.
"Gutting. We made such a number of errors, and it gave opportunities to the opposition to run in tries and they did," he told TNT Sport.
"In terms of our mindset, you are seeing a team wanting to move the ball and we want that, but we have to understand the consequences of it, and we saw that here.
"We didn't give our defence the chance to show what it can do, there was so much turnover and loose ball that the system couldn't set itself.
"There'll be no shortage of motivation for next week for South Africa."
Starc inspires Australia with career-best Test haul
Australia are in control of the second Test against India after Mitchell Starc's career-best showing at the Adelaide Oval.
Paceman Starc took 6-48 as India, who won the toss and elected to bat, were skittled out for just 180 on Friday.
Starc pinned Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw with the very first ball of the day, setting the tone for the onslaught that was to follow from Australia's bowlers.
KL Rahul (37), Virat Kohli (seven), Ravichandran Ashwin (22), Harshit Rana (0) also fell to Starc, who rounded off his six-for, and wrapped up India's innings, with the dismissal of Nitish Kumar Reddy, who top-scored for the tourists with 42.
Jasprit Bumrah (1-13) dismissed Usman Khawaja on 13 in the 11th over of Australia's chase, but Nathan McSweeney knocked off six fours to reach an unbeaten 38 by stumps, with Marnus Labuschagne on 20 not out at the other end.
Australia, who lost by 295 runs in Perth in the first Test, will start day two on 86-1, just 94 shy of India's total.
Data Debrief: Starc's day-night delight
Starc's bowling figures are his best in a single innings in the longest format, surpassing the 6-50 he previously took against Pakistan. The left-arm quick has now taken 72 wickets in day-night Tests, 29 more than the next-best bowler (Nathan Lyon, on 43).
Australia needed a response after that drubbing in the opening match, especially when taking into account that India have won three of their four day-night Tests before this match.
However, their only loss came at the Adelaide Oval, back in December 2020. Australia lost their last day-night Test, against West Indies in January of this year, but before that had won all of their previous 11 such matches, and they are in a commanding position in this one.
England on top in Wellington after scintillating Brook century
Harry Brook smashed an incredible century and Brydon Carse followed up with crucial wickets as England ended day one of their second Test against New Zealand in a commanding position.
England had initially been reduced to 43-4 after batting first and were indebted to Brook, who hit 123 from 115 deliveries to claim his second ton in as many matches.
Brook and Ollie Pope (66) put on a 174-run stand for the fifth wicket to get the tourists' innings back on track.
"I think that might be my favourite hundred so far, I enjoyed that one a lot," a delighted Brook said.
"Most of the balls came out of the middle of the bat and it feels pretty special to be batting like that.
"We were three down when I came in and the pitch was doing quite a bit. It was seaming and swinging, so I'm just glad I put my attacking mode on. I really took it to them and put them under a lot of pressure.
"They had to try and bowl at the stumps early on and I felt like the time to run down was then, cash in when it's full.
"I just tried to take them off their length and stop them bowling on the stumps. The best mode of defence for me was attack and thankfully it came off."
With Zak Crawley (17), who hit a six in the first over, top-scoring within the first four wickets and Chris Woakes (18) after Brook and Pope, it is not an exaggeration to say that England largely owe their score of 280 to two batsmen.
But it was not until the changeover that the value of their partnership came to the fore, with England's bowlers able to claim important wickets to leave New Zealand 86-5 at stumps.
Gus Atkinson, Ben Stokes and Woakes all claimed one wicket each, with Carse taking 2-28.
Kane Williamson (37) had survived a caught behind review and being balled off a no-ball from Carse before the fast bowler finally got his man.
Carse had a hand in the final three wickets of the day, having executed a diving catch to get Rachin Ravindra, before Williamson and Daryl Mitchell were both caught off his deliveries.
Data debrief: Brook and Carse get England on top
Brook's century in Wellington was the eighth of his career and second in as many Tests.
He got to 100 in just 91 balls, while his fifth-wicket stand with Pope also came at more than one run per ball. Carse, meanwhile, contributed to a period in which New Zealand lost four wickets for just 27 runs.
The Black Caps are aiming for a sixth Test win of 2024, which would be the most victories they have recorded in a single calendar year, but they have plenty of work to do if they are to achieve that feat.
England captain Ben Stokes is confident that opener Zak Crawley can improve his poor record against New Zealand in the second Test in Wellington.
During England's eight-wicket triumph in the first Test, Crawley scored just one run from 20 deliveries across his two innings, with Matt Henry dismissing him on both occasions.
That subsequently brought his batting average down to 9.88 against New Zealand, having struggled in his nine Tests and 17 innings against the Kiwis.
Since 2000, only West Indies' Marlon Samuels (9.81 against Sri Lanka) has played as many innings against the same opponents and ended with a lower batting average.
"Some guys have bogey teams, some guys have teams they do really well against," Stokes told BBC Sport.
"We're one Test match into a series against New Zealand, but over the past 18 months Zak has been absolutely phenomenal for us."
Stokes did, however, point to the job done by Crawley and his opening partner Ben Duckett in setting the tone at the beginning of an England innings.
Of all pairs to have opened at least 10 times for England in Tests, Crawley and Duckett's run-rate of 5.03 is at least a run faster than the next quickest, which is Crawley and Alex Lees.
"Those two have been such a successful pairing for us," added Stokes.
"They go out there with a mindset of putting the opposition bowlers under pressure straight away, not allowing them to settle in."
Both England and New Zealand are unchanged for the second Test in Wellington, with Chris Woakes named among the squad despite his poor away record.
Woakes' wickets cost an average of 51.4 runs compared to 21.6 at home, but he did make a crucial intervention in the first Test in Christchurch.
During New Zealand's second innings, he grabbed the wickets of Kane Williamson (61) and Tom Blundell (0) in successive deliveries on his way to figures of 3-59.
"Someone with his skill level should never doubt themselves wherever they are in the world," said Stokes.
"It's belief in himself, belief from myself and Brendon McCullum that he's not just someone who is going to be playing in England."
An England victory in Wellington would also secure their first series win in New Zealand since 2008.
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