England registered a first victory on their tour of New Zealand with five-eighth Danny Cipriani pressing his claim against a weakened Crusaders for a place on the bench in Saturday’s final Test.

Just hours after Test pivot Owen Farrell had been ruled out of the climax to the series at Waikato Stadium due to knee ligament damage, Cipriani cleverly set up the opening try for Joe Gray and completed three of four conversions as part of a 38-7 victory.

Freddie Burns will resume as England’s five-eighth against New Zealand after impressing in the first Test with Cipriani likely to deputise, unless head coach Stuart Lancaster opts against picking specialist cover.

Having conceded the series with Saturday’s 28-27 defeat in Dunedin, England’s midweek team answered Lancaster’s call to lift spirits ahead of the final attempt of securing only a third away victory against the All Blacks.

Gray began the six-try rout at Christchurch’s AMI Stadium with Ben Foden, Brad Barritt, Alex Goode, Anthony Watson and Chris Pennell also crossing in a resounding, if scrappy, victory.

A weakened Crusaders were missing their current All Blacks with only four of the 23 having been capped by New Zealand in the past.

However they strove hard to prevent a 26-7 half-time deficit from deteriorating into a heavy beating.

When Cipriani launched the points onslaught with only one minute on the clock, a cricket score beckoned.

An explosive start opened gaps in midfield and the playmaker slipped into space before supplying the scoring pass to Gray.

Five minutes later England crossed for a second time with a moment of magic from Foden, who skilfully kept Goode’s chip in play and touched down.

The Crusaders responded with a Matt Todd try, which sobered England until they hit back with Barritt bulldozing through two tackles and over the line.

England were woeful at the restarts, yet it barely knocked them off their stride as a fourth try was amassed after a bullocking run from captain Ed Slater saw Goode ghost in.

England began to empty their bench in the second half and it took until the 60th minute for the next try to arrive with fullback Pennell setting up Watson for a try.

A 17,500 sell-out crowd willed the Crusaders on for a final try, but instead it came from England as Pennell collected Barritt’s injury-time chip and dived over.