Wow, that was quite a tight game in the end - I was certainly getting nervous at times. I was impressed with England's attacking attitude - if they could get a couple of creative centres (Flutey may fit that bill when he is fit), I think the could be even more effective. The English defensive line was also very impressive, coming at real speed and putting a huge amount of pressure on the AB's. Consistently getting penalised at scrum time seemed to really disrupt the AB's, but it was good for a change that it wasn't the AB lineout that looked under pressure.
The standout English forwards for me were Dan Cole and Nick Easter, both seemed to be everywhere around the field, while I was impressed by Youngs, Ashton, and Foden in the backs.
For me the standout AB forward was Sam Whitelock - he was outstanding around the field, and was great a lineout time. Hopefully he gets some more starts on tour, as he really is an outstanding young player. I thought Read had another strong game, he is just so consistent now. Mathewson looked good on his starting debut, making a few wee breaks around the rucks, and distributed well. I thought SBW had a good debut, breaking the odd tackles, making a few offloads, and he did look very solid defensively. Gear had a great game all round, while Rococoko and Muliana had very mixed games - Rococoko did a lot of work, but did drop the ball twice, threw a horrible pass to SBW, and made the poor kick that eventually lead to Hartleys try, meanwhile Muliaina made a nice break and a few good clearing kicks, but did make more than a few aimless kicks through.
