England coach Eddie Jones paid a glowing tribute to captain Owen Farrell after the Saracens man led the Red Roses to a remarkably dramatic 25-25 draw with New Zealand on the day he won his 100th cap at Twickenham.

In their third Autumn Nations Series Test at RFU headquarters the hosts conceded two early All Blacks' tries in nine minutes and trailed 25-6 in the second half.

But as Jones mentioned in his post-match interview 'all of a sudden someone blows some magic dust and the passes start to click' as they fought back to snatch a deserved draw in the final eight minutes thanks to two tries from Will Stuart and one from Freddie Steward.

And despite England being on the backfoot for the majority of the game Farrell, who played alongside Sarries colleagues Maro Itoje, Jamie George and brothers Mako and Billy Vunipola, kept faith with the team.

“The belief shown by the team in that second half was outstanding,” said the 31-year-old centre who claimed his first England cap against Scotland in the Six Nations in February 2012.

“I felt like we were always in the game even though it probably didn’t reflect it especially on the scoreboard in that first half.

“As Eddie said, some other teams, even better teams, would have dropped off and it didn’t feel like we were going to and then in the second half, we knocked on the door for a good 20 minutes at the start of it and didn’t quite get the points back that we thought we would. But we stayed at it and had proper belief. I’m proud of the team for that.”

On receiving his 100th England cap Farrell added: “I’m not used to it, felt a bit awkward but it is special. I don’t want to downplay it. I’m not taking it for granted, but there was a job to do this week in a big game.

"The most exciting thing for me was the performance of the lads. It was a special game and I’m glad I was part of it."

Farrell began playing rugby league at the tender age of eight for hometown club Wigan St Patricks before switching codes and is the third Englishman to claim 100 caps.

Jones first handed Farrell the captaincy role, replacing Dylan Hartley, in March 2018 in a Six Nations encounter against France and has seen the Lancashire legend become one of the sport’s iconic captains.

Jones, 62, was part of the Saracens coaching set-up in 2016 and called on the domestic media to give Farrell more credit.

“Owen did a great job with his 100th cap and his fantastic leadership,” Jones said. “A hundred Tests, third highest point scorer in the game, he led the team, kept the composure of the team, and when there was a chance to put down the foot we did it.

“Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves so maybe you can be kind, find some kindness in your heart and give him some credit. It might have made you smile when he picks up the paper tomorrow. Just try to find a bit of kindness in your heart.”

Itoje is now looking forward to facing defending world champions South Africa at Twickenham this Saturday (5.30pm) as England hope to repeat their 27-26 success of exactly a year ago.

“Playing South Africa at Twickenham, I’m really looking forward to it,” said Itoje. “I only wish the game is a little bit sooner because we left a lot out there against New Zealand.

“While the second half was a bit more how we want to play, next week is an opportunity to hopefully play how we want to play for the full 80 minutes.

"We have an incredible amount of potential in this team, we just need to unlock it. We are spending more and more time together and are becoming more cohesive so hopefully it will come.

"I’m proud that we stuck at it and we didn’t go away and proud that we played some great rugby towards the end of that game, but we need to play like that for the whole game.

"You never want to be too happy with a draw but it’s better than losing. Hopefully it will put us in better stead for South Africa who will be a great challenge.”

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