All are able to agree that this is a series that many will never forget… whether we like it or not. It’s all happened so fast that half of Australia are still comprehending the fact that we have just lost a series to an English side coached by none other than Eddie Jones. I think that factor is what makes this loss the most painful.
I’m sure the majority of Aussies were genuinely looking forward to watching the joker-like grin encompassing the face of Eddie disappear, reminding the Poms just how painful last years World Cup was. But two games in, we are still waiting, after our boys have successfully fed the ego of every smug Pom alive.
An intriguing factor of this series has been is the juxtaposing views of the Australian and English media.
Here are some of the articles that demonstrate the views of both the pommies and the Aussies.
This first article is from The Express over in England, and shows just how much the series win fed the pommies’ ego:
Take a close read of what this article is trying to convince us. “Pantheon of Sporting Greats”. Well, it really depends on what “The Express” define as good enough to be in the Pantheon of Sporting Greats already, right?
The Article goes on to make some comparisons that really do not add up. The article reads:
“Think of Muhammad Ali on the ropes in the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman.”
“Think of so many Italian football teams who captured major trophies.”
“And now add to the pantheon the England rugby union team’s monumental and magnificent performance today, led admirably by coach Eddie Jones, as they became the first in history to record a Test series victory away to Australia.”
However, this preposterous comparison was not the only thing that caught my eye in this article. The words “Eddie Jones’ England” immediately stuck a chord with me. In every article that I have read, the success of the English Rugby Team has been pinned on their coach, the Australian Eddie Jones.
This second article that I came across further highlighted this new found confidence from the English. The same UK newspaper, The Express, revealed the hope that England would soon become number one in the world. There were several aspects of this article that drew my attention, many of which surrounding the hopeful comments made by the paper, and of course, coach Eddie.
Two wins over us at home, and now England think that they are going to be number one in the world. Eddie Jones has capitalised on this momentum to make remarks like this:
“Young kids will be sitting at home and rather than wanting to be Dele Alli or Harry Kane, they might want to be Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell or George Ford.”
In a complete contrast from the stories proudly brought to us by the poms rubbing this loss in our faces, the Aussie media have been nothing short of ashamed at the performance put up by our Wallabies in the last two matches.
The foremost article that I read expressing this came from the Sydney Morning Herald in which case the mood of the article was utter despair for our loss. They emphasised the feeling of hopelessness that has been brought upon Australian Rugby tragics, and also the fact that the dream run that Michael Cheika has experienced as Wallabies coach, is coming to an end.
“The honeymoon is over for Michael Cheika. It turns out the Australian wunder-coach and Randwick enfant terrible, is human after all, as Eddie Jones’ England secured a historic first series win against the Wallabies and bumped them down to third place in the world rankings with an emphatic, spiteful 23-7 second Test victory in Melbourne on Saturday.”
The article goes on to talk about the pain that we now face after having just come out of one of the best years that the Wallabies have experienced in a long while. However, the main gist of this article is to show the utter shock from even the Wallabies themselves in putting up a performance that we have not seen in a while.
“Eddie Jones’ brash, bad England were all over Australia for 30 frightening minutes, peppering their rivals with contestable kicks and bringing all of their bovver boy belligerence to bear on the match.
All the Wallabies could do in response was get drawn in to the spite-fest, and by the 30th minute they looked as frazzled as they have ever been under Cheika, their own plans paralysed before the imperious starch of the tourists.”
This article was a stark contrast to the English media, who applauded their side as heroes who performed ‘flawlessly’ to take a triumphant victory over the Aussies, as the media in our own backyard were disgusted at how we played in the series.
Slowly, these feelings of angst expressed in this first article became anger in an collumn from “Fox Sports”, where the article expressed concerns of arrogance engulfing the Wallabies:
“There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance in sport… On Saturday Night the Wallabies crossed that line”
It seems that many in the Australian media were not amused at the performance of the Wallabies, questioning their decision to play for a try, rather than take a guaranteed three points right in front of the sticks late in the second test.
“In the 64th minute the Wallabies, needing to at least draw the match to keep the series alive, shunned the chance for a gift three points straight in front of the posts, opting instead to kick for touch and go for the try.”
The article also went on to highlight the flaws of Australia’s woeful performance, focusing on the fact that while the Aussies took 68 per cent possession and 56 per cent of the territory, they still only had the one try when all was said and done. Another astounding figure from the match not mentioned here, that would not have eased the worries of Michael Cheika, is the fact that the Wallabies managed to lose a game with having to make a mere 62 tackles compared to England’s total of 213.
Overall, the article shows that “points are precious”, and that errors such as the one made in the match on Saturday night, can cost matches, as it could well have against England.
