The Wallabies were well beaten by a determined England side at Twickenham on Saturday in a match that displayed two typically opposing methods of playing rugby. Here are five observations I have made regarding the fixture:
The Scrum
Predictably the English targeted the Wallaby scrum, with predictable results. It has been a hallmark of Australian rugby to lag behind the top nations when it comes to the dark arts, just when you think we have turned a corner, or look to be competitive we get a result like this. But were we really that bad? On the highlights it looks demoralizing but in reality we got bossed in two crucial scrums (which is too many) but apart from that we held our own.
In fact the first three scrums showed a fairly even contest and it wasn’t until the 26th minute that England put a big shove on. That resulted in a try as did a closer range effort in the 55th minute. Both of those efforts, however, were clouded in some interesting binding tactics from England open-side Chris Robshaw who was intent on living out his front row dreams.
Basically we were outsmarted, we need our pack to respond to all kinds of jiggery pokery so hopefully this is a somber learning experience for all concerned (including any officials watching).
