Pom Vs Wallabies

[Lee Grant]

Well done lads says he who is having one glass extra of red over the limit to celebrate.

I thought the Poms had the psychic energy, as Mexted would say, at one point for about 15 minutes and when they took the lead I thought: it's the same old shit, different day, of getting a lead and losing the game. But they re-established themselves and fought back.

This feature and the dominance in the scrum were the two big improvements for the Wallabies in this match. When we got the first scrum free kick against us when we engaged when the ref said to and Fat Cat drove through and wheeled the scrum - and the Pom scrummie didn't put the ball in on time - I thought it was going to be an "if in doubt ping the Wallabies" day.

But to his credit Jonkers judged the scrums on merit and generally gave the Wallabies the rub of the green. He should have had the whistle in Hong Kong.

The defence over the park was dynamite especially after we got the lead back. Tipoki will be going to the dentist to get his fillings checked come Monday. The Oz midfield terrorized the Kiwi and Noon all night and although Tippie got a couple of breaks with his trademark jink, the Pom midfield was outpointed on the night.

Give or take a blunder or two Mortlock and Cross had marvellous matches.

The same cannot be said for Luke Burgess, who had his worst game of his professional career. Defenders seemed to have their hands on him all the time. Excellent Pom counter-rucking causing bad ball was responsible for part of it, but most of his dithering was self-inflicted.

Did anybody get the name of the Wallaby who had the blue headgear and the number 5 on his back? Geez, he bore an uncanny resemblance to Nathan Sharpe but it couldn't have been because he was hitting rucks, making tackles and played for 80 minutes. Scrummaging aside I thought he was our best forward.

Smith didn't dominate as I thought he might and the Oz players weren't as quick to the breakdown as the Poms were except in the last quarter. Whilst they didn't win too many hits in the scrum they often won the hit in the ruck by being there earlier and having more intent, especially in 2nd efforts on our ball.

I don't know who was man of the match. Giteau may have got it for his penalties and fielding crap ball from Burgess with surety, but I would give it to Al Baxter, who had the best scrum result of his life. No doubt Fat Cat and Moore had a lot to do with the scrum performance and maybe the 2nd row contributed for a change, but I would give the gong to Big Al.

The Wallabies looked buggered towards the end after a significant tackle count against them and to their credit they held on and defended aggressively, but the bench should have been used earlier.

The Poms were even more inexperienced than the Wallabies and it showed in their lack of composure and the number of unforced turnovers and penalties they surrendered.

Their scrum and lineout were problematic but they earned better quality ball on other occasions than the Wallabies did. They had a dominant period and whereas the old Roses would have stretched that out for the rest of the game, the new team couldn't do that.

Care played well, Cipriani made a couple of flashing breaks, the wingers hardly got the pill in their hands, but it was fullback Armitage again who took my eye as the classiest Pom player. He's not a specialist 15 but he is shaping up well.

It's good to see Oz winning a match whilst not playing that well and it was particularly good to win it by the way the Poms have dished it out to us in the past - by doing a Jonnie on them and kicking the goals.

I haven't seen Wales and France play this weekend as I write this and Wales didn't play their main team anyway, but if the Wallabies play as they did for much of the 2nd half and Burgess lifts his game, we are a chance to get out of Europe undefeated.

 

[Spook]

Bloody hell. Great effort. Stephen Moore was MOTM and rightly so in my book. All the tight 5 were magnificent - what the hell has happened to Sharpe and Chisolm . Our attack spluttered, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) made a few couple of shocking errors but was good when he decided to run the ball and defended well. He is not a full back though. Burgess was brutal with ball in hand and exceptional in defense but I was actually calling for Cordingly at one point in the match! Smith was huge. I'd like to know how many tackles he made.

Cliffy Palu had a stormer off the bench. Mortlock showed why he is the captain (That hit on flutey!!!). 9, 12 and 15 are still problem areas for the Wallabies. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) is a first XV player but not a full back. Mitchell has to go to 15. I'm more convinced by him than before as he seems to have developed a good level of calmness. We seriously need another ball player in the back line though.

Watching Vickery walk away dazed from the scrum and Sheridan bewildered and damaged was hugely satisfying. Did anyone see Sharpe yelling abuse at Vickery for taking time to pack down in the scrum. Who is this bloke? :thumb

 

[RugbyReg]

I thought Burgess was fantastic but knew he would cop flack for being caught with the ball too much. To me it looked as though his runners weren't giving him options. I thought his passing was sublime mostly, as was the rest of his game. He was close to my MOM, if it wasn't for our pack.

 

[fatprop]

After 3 phases we were clueless, all our optin had been used up.

We missed Barnes, Gits runs and gets caught and we have nothing.

 

[rugbywhisperer]

Well I hope all you NSW guys enjoyed the game LIVE. Again, Queensland viewers screwed witha 1 hour delayed telecast.
Oh my gosh it was fun waching the 'live' score feed every 3 minutes on Skysports.
Whoever agreed to TEN getting this gig meeds a big kick up the arse.
And finally, when I watched the second have AFTER full time, that commentator, wasn't he just so - wonderful - NOT

 

[Pfitzy]

RW - what time did it kick off in QLD? Keeping in mind you don't have Daylight Savings Time up there...

Anyway, I have to agree with Naza here - any team with a clue could have beaten us. The Pommy forwards had periods of running straight and hard right through our middle with ease, but the men in white gave the ball up about 30 times during the game apparently. If they'd hung onto the ball instead of getting a case of QUICKFUCKENPASSITSTRAIGHTAWAYitis then they could have given us more problems. As it was, our experience was superior. Naza's other points about isolating ourselves and our backs are well

But enough negative shit. I'm here to talk about one thing - OUR SCRUM WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!

The first half was a nothing affair for the scrum with some cagey shit going on both ways - it looked like we were trying the hit-and-quick-heel as usual. However it was clear that as an 8 we were getting to the hit first while England were a bit rusty, holding back on the engage and trying to use our reputation against us. Thankfully Jonker approached it with an open mind. The key decision was around the 54th minute when we were awarded a penalty against Sheridan. The key here is to look at Sheridan's hips before the engage. As a prop you should always have your hips tilted backwards to lock your core and straighten your back for the engagement. Baxter - for all the shit he's copped - was straight as a rod and as a result his shoulders level with his hips. Sheridan has his pelvis tilted forward, creating an arch in his lower back, so although his hips and shoulders are level pre-engagement, as he drives forward and puts power through his legs, his hips are going up and his shoulders going nowhere but down. THAT IS BASIC TECHNIQUE YOU OVERRATED, BRICK-HEADED TWAT!!! :lmao: Easy decision for the penalty as far as the ref is concerned.

Watching Fat Cat smash Vickery was only surpassed by him picking Stevens up and dumping him on top of Borthwick. This young man is developing into one of the leading looseheads this country has every produced, and will be a world beater just like I said he would two years ago. Then watching England put Vickery at loosehead just so Baxter could give him a lesson was the icing on the cake as Vickery pulled out of the engagement and looked like he was about to pass out. I hope he's feeling OK now, but watching it back on replay was poetry.

And it just goes to show how wrong the Irish idiot in Honkers had our scrum - our timing on the hit was perfect every single time and Foley is starting to earn his pay cheque.

MOTM for me was Robinson for his scrum and work rate around the park despite being out on his feet. But if you were picking 5 MOTM then you'd pick in order:

1 Robinson / 2 Moore
3 Baxter
4 Sharpe
5 Chisholm

Standout work from all in the tight and loose, though Chis was busy he wasn't as prominent as the others.

Suck on that, Fleet Street rugby writers. Someone post up Stephen Jones' riposte to this - I need to laugh even harder!

 

[Spook]

NTA as requested. Sorry Stephen, Oz didn't finish last in the 3Ns. He also claims Oz forwards are lowly in world ratings.

England get a short Sharpe shock
England lack passion and ideas as Australia show the all-round quality of Southern Hemisphere rugby nations to claim a deserved winStephen Jones at Twickenham
MARTIN JOHNSON, there will never be a player like you and you are a little old to come back and play. But for goodness? sake, at least give us an England team in your image, with your passion and sense of purpose and the clarity with which you played.

Above all, give us England forwards who are at least good enough not to be comprehensively turned over by a pack of forwards so lowly in the world ratings as that of Australia.

Before the rest of the inquest, we should pay tribute. Australia were the weakest of the TriNations teams in the most recent tournament, but here they were massively dominant, they had shining diamonds in Stirling Mortlock and Nathan Sharpe in the midfield and the pack respectively, they had wonderfully competent footballers, and they had a plan. England, by contrast, had a very rough idea.

Cringingly for England, and with grand old England forwards digging their own graves so they could turn in them, they were beaten up, hammered up front. Steve Borthwick is by no means a powerful force around the field, so it was mystifying why England asked him to carry the ball around so often. But he is meant to be a lineout champion. So why so many bizarre calls? Why such a total lack of authority in the lineout?

Furthermore, England?s scrummage dominance was meant to be a given. We knew from early on, when the South African referee Marius Jonker allowed Al Baxter to collapse to the floor, that the officials would have no idea. But let us be perfectly fair to Baxter and his coaches. By the end, Australia were even blissfully comfortable up front, a damaging scrum by them leading to a crucial score.

It was far too late when England brought on men of toughness and dynamism who should have been on from the start ? James Haskell, Simon Shaw, Dylan Hartley and Harry Ellis to name just four. It was an enormous black mark against Johnson that when he finally brought on Shaw in the last quarter, he replaced Tom Palmer, who had at least played with some verve, and not the ineffective Borthwick.

Twickenham had been grumpy all day, understanda-bly so because 70 quid-plus is a lot to fork out for a team that has been in camp for ages, and yet plays with so little penetration and organisation. It was only very late on, with Riki Flutey making some space, that England as much as breached the Australian front line. Danny Cipriani did manage a few breaks and to blame him for this shambles would be almost pathetically vindictive. But when England won the occasional loose ball, was it really a good plan to have rather ponderous forwards standing at first receiver?

Australia deserved their celebrations. It was a good thing for England that the promising Luke Burgess was so hesitant at scrum-half ? a hesitancy often mirrored by Danny Care opposite. They know they are only just embarking on a real revival too. And they had a real problem in the midfield, where the ponderous Ryan Cross killed a multitude of movements. You have to ask why the Australian Rugby Union, with a choice from a galaxy of superb rugby league players, ended up with Cross. Although you also have to remember that Lote Tuqiri was injured. He really could have put England to the sword in rather horrible fashion.

Australia?s scrummaging escape was signalled early by the expression of pure bewilderment on the face of referee Jonker as the scrum bit the dust. But Matt Giteau, who had a kicking game while England had a hoofing game, had soon calmed any Australian nerves with three early penalties. England did make one decent attack early on when Cipriani made a break after looking up to find that, as usual, his back vision was populated by forwards . Flutey, Nick Easter and Lee Mears took the ball on and it took a splendid tackle by Giteau to stop Mears from scoring. But soon after, as Australia kicked clear, the promising Delon Armitage fielded the ball and put over an impressive drop goal.

England scored their try deep into the second quarter. It had all been going swimmingly for Australia when suddenly Adam Ashley -Cooper lost the ball in a tackle by Armitage ? this after England had made another odd lineout turnover. England drove from the resulting lineout and Sheridan was brought down just inches short. But they carried on, by now with Matt Stevens on as a blood replacement for Sheridan, and Stevens made two decent intrusions into a move which saw Easter drive over to score. Cipriani missed the conversion but added a penalty, so that England trailed by 12-11 at half-time.

There was even a brighter spot early in the second half.

Cipriani set up a position with a lovely break, although Australia?s defence held out, forcing Cipriani to miss with a drop goal attempt. But England came back, Cipriani put them ahead by 14-12 with a penalty, and now the stage was set, surely, for an England surge.

We had a surge alright, but it was not from England. The incredible Sharpe set up a glorious attacking position by charging down a kick by Care and Giteau put Australia ahead 15-14 with a penalty. And just on the hour came one of those moments where the significance of the play vastly outweighed the significance of the points. Australia destroyed an England scrum, Tom Croft illegally clawed it back with his hands and Mortlock, overcoming his astonishment at this effort by his own maligned pack, kicked a glorious long goal, as he became ever more influential with his power.

And it was 21-14 to Australia as the final 10 minutes approached ? and the Wallabies made their killing score. Again England ignored their normal jumpers and threw to the back and the ball went astray. Peter Hynes burst through, chipped through a kick which was flipped back to him by Hugh McMeniman, and Australia were on their way. They battered up the middle with alacrity, Giteau picked up a bouncing ball and Australia?s outside backs ushered in Ashley-Cooper for a try down the right, Giteau converting.

England showed some courage in the final quarter as their replacements tried to plot a revival. However, revival was not a word on English lips at Twickenham last evening.

Star man:Nathan Sharpe (Australia)

Scorers: England: Try:Easter 35Pens: Cipriani (2).Drop Goal:Armitage Australia: Try:Ashley-Cooper 68 Con:GiteauPens:Giteau (6), Mortlock

Referee:M Jonker (South Africa)

Attendance:80,688

ENGLAND Armitage; P Sackey, J Noon, R Flutey, U Monye; D Cipriani (T Flood 71min), D Care (H Ellis 66min); A Sheridan (M Stevens 34-40min; P Vickery 66min), L Mears (D Hartley 68min), P Vickery (M Stevens 54min), S Borthwick (capt), T Palmer (S Shaw 64min), T Croft, N Easter (J Haskell 58min), T Rees (M Lipman 64min)

AUSTRALIA:A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, R Cross, S Mortlock (capt), D Mitchell; M Giteau, L Burgess; B Robinson, S Moore, A Baxter, M Chisholm (D Mumm 65min), N Sharpe, H McMeniman (T Polota-Nau 79min), R Brown (W Palu 44min), G Smith

 

[Pfitzy]

Thanks Spooky! Music to my eyes

I forgot to add: watching Robinson give Stevens a gobful after smashing him was priceless too.

 

[Spook]

I couldn't believe it when Vickery seemed to want to walk away from the scrum. I was happy but not overly so as Vickery is a top bloke.

 

[Spook]

 

[Gagger]

There is only one test match I've been to that felt better than that, and it was the 1991 World Cup final. What a game. What a vindication.

In world sport there can't have been many who have carried the stigma that Al Baxter and the rest of the Aussie forward pack has carried for the past three plus years. We've all been guilty of heaping it on him and, and none more guilty than the Pommy press. This week it's been at fever pitch.

What a way to answer it. Front row shenanigans can be confusing, but watching the game first hand and listening to the ref by radio, it was very fucking clear what happened today. The Aussie scrum not only matched the self vaunted Pommie eight, it smashed it.

There were two tight head scrums today, both won by the men in gold. The second, in which Australia literally ran over England was right in front of me. It was the culmination of a number of scrums in which it became increasingly obvious that far from it being the Aussie pack hiding their inadequacies, it was the men in white who were fragile.

Within three packdowns Jonkers and his assistant refs had picked Vickery for tugging Robinsons bind and most importantly the whole England scrum for pulling back after the hit. So much for all the bitch tits whining from Stephen Jones et al about Australia's 'nepharious tactics'. Once England found they couldn't trick the ref into penalising the Wallabies as per popular wisdom, they had nothing. Literally.

In a bitterly ironic opposite to the 2005 game, both Vickery and Sheridan eventually left the field physically shattered, leaving Baxter and Robinson victorious and undefeated to the end.

As my old man said afterwards:

"We could have lost the game, I couldn't care. To see those two tight heads was all I wanted."

It wasn't just the scrum in which the Wallaby pack excelled. Restarts, line-outs and most of all defence were all met with a complete disregard of personal safety. The hits I heard through the ref-link were unbelievable. Chisholm, Sharpe and Palu (when he came on for a fantastic cameo), put in massive tackles phase after phase, without let up.

Twenty minutes to go and most of the players looked out on their feet, I'm not sure I've seen internationals so spent. Yet the big hits continued. They wanted this, more than I've seen a Wallaby team want another game since a semi-final in 2003.

Many aspects were far less than perfect. Most notably the tactical kicking. Save two, it was embarassing.

But what gave me a smile almost as wide as the scrum's dominance, was the constant ticking over of the scoreboard from pommy penalties. How fitting it was to see the country that brought us the Woodward/Wilkinson penalty machine and the the most vociferous objections to the sanction ELVs hoisted on their own pitard (a.k.a fucked with their own dildo). Giteau chip kicked us on throughout the match with a regularity that kept 80,000 poms quieter than I have ever heard them.

No, it didn't make for the most beautiful game. But hey, they're the rules the north wants to defend. And when in Rome......

But here's the thing that's most satisfying of this whole win. It was built on the grit of a forward platform that any side who want a shot at greatness must have. The frilly bits Australia can do, it's a few positional changes and a few passes going to hand. But the forward performance we saw today was one that could well enable greatness.

What a day

A few photos from my crappy iPhone camera below (did I mention I was there?):

 

[Spook]

Martin Johnson's England exposed as Australia take advantage of indiscipline
England 14 Australia 28

By Paul Ackford at Twickenham
Last Updated: 10:26PM GMT 15 Nov 2008

Previous1 of 2 ImagesNext Touch down: Australian full-back Adam Ashley-Cooper puts the game out of England's reach at Twickenham Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Brick wall: Australia's defence managed to repel waves of England attack Photo: Reuters
So now we know. This England side has a long, long way to go before it is competitive against the better sides in the world. Forget that little run out last week against the Pacific Islands. That was no Test at all, a flabby, meaningless encounter which told us next to nothing about Martin Johnson?s men. This one did. This was the real deal, and England came up woefully short in too many areas.

Their biggest crime was the avalanche of penalties they coughed up in the first period. Australia went in at half-time 12-11 ahead when they shouldn?t have been in the game at all. England had most of the ball, yet the minute Australia got near England's goal line some idiot gave away a penalty and Matt Giteau banged over three points.

There are no excuses for this. Some might argue this England team is one in the making, that one day they will rid themselves of these unforced errors, but various England managers and coaches have been saying that for years. To make the whole day worse, England kept giving away free points in the second half when they must have received an almighty rollicking from Johnson at half-time. To make one mistake is bad enough. To make error after error of judgment was nonsensical.

And what does this say about on-field leadership? No individual could be more committed to England?s cause than Steve Borthwick, the captain, but he had another mixed afternoon in general play and he does not come across as the character to grab this team by the testicles and squeeze. Borthwick can?t be held accountable for each indiscretion, but he sets the tone and the discipline and both were not of the required standard.

That said, there were plenty of good moments for England. The forwards were forceful at the breakdown and in carrying the ball. Andrew Sheridan, Lee Mears, Nick Easter and Matt Stevens were very effective here. Danny Cipriani, too, made two scintillating breaks, one in each half when confronted by Wallaby forwards, to create havoc in Australian ranks. But England were unable to find the killer finish. Giteau got across to haul down Mears early in the match and elsewhere it was the magnificent scrambling defence of Australia which kept England at bay.

England were 14-12 in front after 50 minutes but Australia who grew in stature. A combination of Giteau, Ryan Cross and Stirling Mortlock fashioned a try for Adam Ashley-Cooper and they held it together as England tried in vain to get back at them.

Mortlock was magnificent for the Wallabies. He knocked over a difficult long-range penalty just after the hour mark and he invariably made the right call or the right play at the right time. Mortlock did by instinct what England failed to do by calculation.

Full marks to the Aussie scrum. In the first period referee Marius Jonker was afraid to make the calls to allow one side to establish legitimate superiority, but in the second half it was England who were under pressure. Phil Vickery was penalised for illegal binding and the Wallabies nicked one against the head and shunted England into all sorts of disarray at another. I had doubts about Al Baxter and his mates before the match, but, when he wanted to be, Baxter was strong on his own ball.

Maybe the improvement in Wallaby scrummaging could serve as a lesson to England because there is major surgery necessary before South Africa and New Zealand turn up. The midfield pairing of Jamie Noon and Riki Flutey failed to ask questions in attack and once again the England forwards took an awfully long time before their unloading game began to work.

Cipriani, too, remains an enigmatic figure. Those two scything runs of his were magical but his tactical kicking was mediocre and he failed to nail the points with his boot. One attempt at a drop goal almost in front of the posts which went wide was nightmarish. Cipriani represents England?s problem. They are good in parts, very good at times, but they lack consistency and they do not have the edge which successful Test sides possess.

Still, at least we had a real Test match. Twickenham was tingling yesterday and there was no sign whatsoever of the dreaded Mexican wave. That will be no consolation to Egnland, though. A 14-point defeat represents a real stuffing.

Match details

Scores: 0-3 Giteau pen, 0-6 Giteau pen, 3-6 Armitage drop, 3-9 Giteau pen, 3-12 Giteau pen, 8-12 Easter try, 11-12 Cipriani pen. 14-12 Cipriani pen, 14-15 Giteau pen, 14-18 Giteau pen, 14-21 Giteau pen, 14-26 Ashley-Cooper try, 14-28 Giteau con

England: D Armitage; P Sackey, J Noon, R Flutey, U Monye; D Cipriani (T Flood 71), D Care; (H Ellis 66); A Sheridan (M Stevens 34-42), L Mears (D Hartley 70), P Vickery (M Stevens 64), S Borthwick, T Palmer (S Shaw 64), T Croft, T Rees (M Lipman 64), N Easter (J Haskell 59).
Australia: A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, R Cross, S Mortlock, D Mitchell; M Giteau, L Burgess; B Robinson, S Moore, A Baxter, M Chisholm (D Mumm 65), N Sharpe, H McMeniman (T Polota-Nau 79), G Smith, R Brown (W Palu 45).
Referee: M Jonker (South Africa).

 

[cyclopath]

I thought Burgess was fantastic but knew he would cop flack for being caught with the ball too much. To me it looked as though his runners weren't giving him options. I thought his passing was sublime mostly, as was the rest of his game. He was close to my MOM, if it wasn't for our pack.

Spot on the mark, Noddy. WHEN he passed decisively, it was crisp and accurate. Problem - either he's not looking for the options, or those outside him are not communicating to him, but too often he seems lost, with no idea what he's going to do, and gets smashed. This is just not good enough. His box kicking is poor however, and overplayed.
The forwards were terrific, and I don't need to rehash what's been written here already. Nathan Sharpe - where have you been hiding this game? More please. Front row - enjoy the victory. I had to replay that scrum about 10 times - beautiful!
Giteau - goal kicking excellent, general play so-so. Morty terrific, Cross defended really well, but butchered 1 good attack.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - no need to repeat the mantra, nothing has changed.
Play Mitchell at FB please - he's gotta be better.
Hynes - a bit pedestrian.
Problems - WAY too many turnovers, and too many easy yards around the fringes at times, but the second line defence stood up. kicking again poor, and not really getting better.

 

[Sully]

The English Scrum seemed to believe that all they had to do was drop the scrum and the free kicks would follow! it was great to see from the first scrum of the night the Poms lost the hit and I'm not sure if they won one all night. Did anyone think that should never have got the ball from the scrum before there try. It clearly went through the 90 and should have been reset for our feed. Good to see TPN get a run at flanker for about 30 seconds and how good was Mumms hit when he came on. Cipriani seemed a bit of a sook for going off after Palu gave him a gentle hug to introduce him to SH #8 play. :lmao:

 

[Aussie D]

The English Scrum seemed to believe that all they had to do was drop the scrum and the free kicks would follow! it was great to see from the first scrum of the night the Poms lost the hit and I'm not sure if they won one all night. Did anyone think that should never have got the ball from the scrum before there try. It clearly went through the 90 and should have been reset for our feed. Good to see TPN get a run at flanker for about 30 seconds and how good was Mumms hit when he came on. Cipriani seemed a bit of a sook for going off after Palu gave him a gentle hug to introduce him to SH #8 play. :lmao:

I was screaming for that (very quietly as I live in an apartment complex and didn't want to wake the neighbours) scrum to be reset and was peeved that they didn't show a replay of it - I missed the half-time wankfest so don't know whether Tune and Woods mentioned it. I assumed that somehow the Poms got the ball out before it went through 90 and eventually to 180. I was loving the scrums all night.

Thought Mortlock had a good defensive3 game but had a bad case of tits-for-hands at the worst possible moments in attack. Also, Cross offers nothing at this level and needs to be cut loose. Yes, he makes some good tackles but falls off a lot too.

 

[Sully]

Twice I was screaming for cross to pass the ball as he ran diagonally across field.

 

[barbarian]

I thought Burgess was fantastic but knew he would cop flack for being caught with the ball too much. To me it looked as though his runners weren't giving him options. I thought his passing was sublime mostly, as was the rest of his game. He was close to my MOM, if it wasn't for our pack.

Spot on the mark, Noddy. WHEN he passed decisively, it was crisp and accurate. Problem - either he's not looking for the options, or those outside him are not communicating to him, but too often he seems lost, with no idea what he's going to do, and gets smashed. This is just not good enough. His box kicking is poor however, and overplayed.
The forwards were terrific, and I don't need to rehash what's been written here already. Nathan Sharpe - where have you been hiding this game? More please. Front row - enjoy the victory. I had to replay that scrum about 10 times - beautiful!
Giteau - goal kicking excellent, general play so-so. Morty terrific, Cross defended really well, but butchered 1 good attack.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - no need to repeat the mantra, nothing has changed.
Play Mitchell at FB please - he's gotta be better.
Hynes - a bit pedestrian.
Problems - WAY too many turnovers, and too many easy yards around the fringes at times, but the second line defence stood up. kicking again poor, and not really getting better.

Agree with everything except your analysis of Hynes. I thought he played very well with limited opportunities- made two try-saving tackles after Cipriani broke through, and made one crucial turnover when England were building in our half.

Agree on Burgess, he clearly had few options in attack and made the best of a bad situation. I thought our biggest problem was how after two phases our play completely broke down, and we had no chance of penetrating. As soon as the Poms slowed it down, we became totally clueless- no-one running at all. This is where I thought Gits was very quiet, as he needs to get his hands on the pill on these occasions.

And yes, the scrum went 180, and I don't know how Jonker didn't see it. I certainly was shouting loud enough so that he could here me.

 

[Rugby Rat]

Woo Hooo...

Good stuff. Great to see big Al, Moore and Robinson continue good form. Particularly Big Al.

Sharpie played very well. How good was the charge down and soccer skills. That turned the game.

Nice defence. A few holes here and there but all in all very solid.

Negatives...Gitts schooloys errors at critical moments. In particular when he kicked the ball out on the full. If it was SA or AB's then that moment would turn the game in the opposition's favour. Still he did bring his goal kicking boots.

Gitts pass to Morts after the break from our Qtr is a very hard one to get perfect. When I played blindside and ran off the hip of the 10 into the clear it was that pass as full speed that would stick or not.

Palu was there or thereabouts after he came on. Made the English think a bit.

All in all it's getting better and I was a bit weary after staying up last night to watch how my $50 fared.

WOO HOOO. Stoked.

 

[spectator]

Magnificient result! Agree with all the positive comments by everyone. Thought the 10 commentary was pretty ordinary.

MOM - Sharpe and Baxter - simply for defying the massive amounts of criticism they have received over the years and putting in blinders. Plenty of good players in the forwards though with Moore just behind them.

Palu off the bench was very effective and he had a ripper of a game. Smith probably didn't look as dominant because everyone else stepped up so well.

Still some work to do in the backs. Morty looked like an old man in the first half but was superb in the second. Still not sold on Gits as a 10 but his goalkicking was superb. Burgess does some great things but is guilty of overplaying his hand a bit too much. I would still have liked to have seen Lucas on tour as a backup. Just think he may be a steadier player. Cross may not be the long term answer to 13 and wouldn't mind seeing AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) there with Mitchell given a chance at 15.

Bottom line, a fantastic result and well done the front row!

 

[TOCC]

I thought Burgess was fantastic but knew he would cop flack for being caught with the ball too much. To me it looked as though his runners weren't giving him options. I thought his passing was sublime mostly, as was the rest of his game. He was close to my MOM, if it wasn't for our pack.

Spot on the mark, Noddy. WHEN he passed decisively, it was crisp and accurate. Problem - either he's not looking for the options, or those outside him are not communicating to him, but too often he seems lost, with no idea what he's going to do, and gets smashed. This is just not good enough. His box kicking is poor however, and overplayed.
The forwards were terrific, and I don't need to rehash what's been written here already. Nathan Sharpe - where have you been hiding this game? More please. Front row - enjoy the victory. I had to replay that scrum about 10 times - beautiful!
Giteau - goal kicking excellent, general play so-so. Morty terrific, Cross defended really well, but butchered 1 good attack.
AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) - no need to repeat the mantra, nothing has changed.
Play Mitchell at FB please - he's gotta be better.
Hynes - a bit pedestrian.
Problems - WAY too many turnovers, and too many easy yards around the fringes at times, but the second line defence stood up. kicking again poor, and not really getting better.

Agree with everything except your analysis of Hynes. I thought he played very well with limited opportunities- made two try-saving tackles after Cipriani broke through, and made one crucial turnover when England were building in our half.

Agree on Burgess, he clearly had few options in attack and made the best of a bad situation. I thought our biggest problem was how after two phases our play completely broke down, and we had no chance of penetrating. As soon as the Poms slowed it down, we became totally clueless- no-one running at all. This is where I thought Gits was very quiet, as he needs to get his hands on the pill on these occasions.

And yes, the scrum went 180, and I don't know how Jonker didn't see it. I certainly was shouting loud enough so that he could here me.

i think hynes was also far from pedestrian, on top of what you have already said, he was instrumental in setting up Australias try, he put a grubber through, McMenimen regathered it and offloaded it back to Hynes, this play took us from 40m out to right on the tryline, which then lead to the try.