[EOYT] England vs. Australia 02/11/13

[Peat]

I, uhm... on the one hand, whoo! Beat Australia. Great composure to put things right, lot of players grew into the game. Decent impact from the bench. I mean, really, shouldn't be complaining about beating Australia any day of the week.

But, uhm... other hand, so many moments of very bad play. We definitely got the rub of the green with reffing decisions and Australia's implosion very unforced.

Very pleasing result, performance... I should probably stew on that and watch again before running my mouth.

 

[Largejanner]

Plucky performance by the Aussies against a very ring-rusty England, although they`ve lost their big one I can see them winning their other games against the 2nd tier NH teams quite comfortably.

 

[j'nuh]

So, England will probably drop Twelvetrees, resulting in a loss of confidence and a year of form out the window like with Sharples.

Whereas Ashton will keep getting his chances.

Such is life.

It was an okay performance from England. Made harder work of it than it should have been though, and we were quite fortunate really.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Can't really say either side deserved the win there. Australia getting away with many offsides and both England tries came as a result of a dubious call going England's way. England looked really directionless and seemed to be trying to force the game which doesn't work well if your ball handling isn't great.

Mike Brown, Billy Vunipola and Lawes in the loose were the best parts for England IMO. Lineout a shambles, scrum didn't actually look that convincing, kicking was terrible and defence was laughable at times. Would like to see how England would have performed without missing our injured players.

 

[The big Kangaroo]

I cant believe we just lost!!!!!!!! England played well in that second half but 14 points is allot to be given up by the officials. Not good for Aussie rugby think we really needed that win just to keep up the support for the wallabies. the thing was our sporting teams is everyone wants to talk about you when your winning but you fall of the radar if your not. dont think i have been this annoyed with a game of rugby since the world cup and traveling across the tassamn to see your team lose to Irlend does that to you haha. Can someone explain how own farrels try stood when the reffs saw the obstruction and more miss the tackle! a second is a bloody long time in rugby. going t kick up some controversy and say do you think refs have different respect levels for different teams I just dont imagine this happening if England played the Boks or the All Blacks?

 

[JohnAnimate]

As a neutral, I must say that's the most disgusting display of refereeing I have seen in a long time, lets hope It gets sorted out before 2015. All in all neither side looked good enough to win a test match.

 

[McTallshort]

Forwards were great apart from the lineout, backs were poor apart from Brown. Twelvetrees, Tomkins, Ashton and Yarde need to improve massively if they want to stay in a white shirt and I would consider dropping Youngs for Hartley at hooker.

As for the Aussies....good team in a fragile mindset cannot believe the lack of urgency they showed in the last 20.

 

[ratsapprentice]

People seem to be going pretty hard on the backs. They did ok on the whole.
Apart from Farrell, 36 and Ashton - who were all pretty poor.

Wilson and Attwood showed what a difference they make to the scrum and maul.
Dan Cole has continued to be mediocre - which is very disappointing considering how well he was going a year or so ago.

 

[dullonien]

Two big controversial calls by the ref/assistant ref. The first when Brown was in touch fielding the ball was a tight call, but it didn't directly lead to a try, just awarded field position. Still every reason for Aus fans to be annoyed with that, but the kind of thing that does happen in a lot of matches. The second for Farrell's try was a little unforgivable imo. Moore was obstructed, even if it was just a fraction. It's difficult to know for sure if Moore would have got to Farrell, but there's enough doubt for the try to be disallowed imo.

Still, Aus should look at themselves more than solely blaming the ref. Genia had an absolute shocker, with that charge-down for Robshaw's try unforgivable. Didn't look like it would have cleared his own man, let alone the English players charging it down! Couple that with numerous other basic errors, especially in that second half and they didn't really deserve to win.

England shouldn't get too carried away with the result, but a win is still a win. I thought the English backline lacked cohesion with Farrell, 36, Tomkins, and Ashton all having very average games. Forwards went better though, with Tom Youngs being the main exception.

 

[McTallshort]

Would also like to point out how poor the Aussie forwards were at the scrum and breakdown despite having what some people call "an out and out 7" thought Robshaw and Wood totally dominated the Aussie flankers and Billy carried better than any Aussie forward. The 2nd row went well but am slightly worried about the front row even though we again dominated the scrum during the whole match. Wilson and Hartley to start next week with a hopefully fit Corbs.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I don't think Farrell was too bad - ignore his goal kicking and he was decent enough. Of course his goal kicking is a big part of his game.
I expect to see Burrell and Wade in the next game, but I expected to see them anyway.
Brown showed why he should've been starting at 15 since he first came onto the England scene.


I don't think anyone will get carried away with it, bar the press (but that's a given). It was a scrappy game which could've gone either way. Some good performances, some not so good.
Hopefully we improve for Argentina next week.

 

[Big Ewis]

Even the article ***le on Planet Rugby reads "Fortunate England sees off Wallabies".

If I were English: a lot of real positives, world class play in a few departments. Definitely confident going into any other match, especially at home in Twickenham, but not exactly feeling invulnerable.

If I were Australian: injustice displayed its ugly head today, I'm gutted, we really could have (should have ?) won this. But my team just doesn't look as scary these days, though...we could have come back to tie this perhaps, whether England were up 7points unjustly or not.

As me: not happy with this match.

 

[Jaguares]

I cant believe we just lost!!!!!!!! England played well in that second half but 14 points is allot to be given up by the officials. Not good for Aussie rugby think we really needed that win just to keep up the support for the wallabies. the thing was our sporting teams is everyone wants to talk about you when your winning but you fall of the radar if your not. dont think i have been this annoyed with a game of rugby since the world cup and traveling across the tassamn to see your team lose to Irlend does that to you haha. Can someone explain how own farrels try stood when the reffs saw the obstruction and more miss the tackle! a second is a bloody long time in rugby. going t kick up some controversy and say do you think refs have different respect levels for different teams I just dont imagine this happening if England played the Boks or the All Blacks?

I also saw the obstruction, the referee has robbed to Aussies. Wallabies had to win this game.

 

[Peat]

I don't think Farrell was too bad - ignore his goal kicking and he was decent enough. Of course his goal kicking is a big part of his game.

The buzzcocks he wasn't. His passing - how often did he get flat and interest the defender before passing it? Very rarely. He just shovelled ball on to Vunipola who understandably didn't make too much distance with a pair of Aussies lining him up. The only times he did do it he ballsed it up. Forward pass to Twelvetrees. A pass behind Flood. How much chance did his centres have to really get forwards there? As for that loopy pass to Ashton - good vision - took far too long to execute. England's attack ball in hand was not good enough and a huge amount of that onus has to fall on Farrell. Don't think his tactical kicking was much for most of the game as well.

Mike Brown is the only guy who should be sure of starting the next game in that backline. I'd probably stick with it, give it time to gel, but it was pretty woeful and Farrell was culprit number one. I almost don't care about his kicking. Crap happens, although hopefully it will boot the myth of his excellent in the nads. That was not a good game as a distributing fly-half. Not a decent game either.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Maybe I just have really low expectations for Farrell

 

[Big Ewis]

Maybe I just have really low expectations for Farrell

he tries really hard, but he's not a natural talent. Because he works so hard, he can actually help on defense, even run in a try, why not. Then his kicking is typically top notch, definitely world class. But he's not anything special in any possible measure.
.....
Plus he looks like a psychopath when he kicks.

 

[dullonien]

The buzzcocks he wasn't. His passing - how often did he get flat and interest the defender before passing it? Very rarely. He just shovelled ball on to Vunipola who understandably didn't make too much distance with a pair of Aussies lining him up. The only times he did do it he ballsed it up. Forward pass to Twelvetrees. A pass behind Flood. How much chance did his centres have to really get forwards there? As for that loopy pass to Ashton - good vision - took far too long to execute. England's attack ball in hand was not good enough and a huge amount of that onus has to fall on Farrell. Don't think his tactical kicking was much for most of the game as well.

That's how I saw it as well. I'd be a little concerned if I were an England fan, because with his dad there he appears to be their default first choice, despite Flood and Burns being better options imo, especially when looking long term in the case of Burns. Ultimately I don't think England will get the best of their outside backs with him directing things.

 

[Crapspray]

Really disappointed with Twelvetrees' game. I hope it's a hangover from Gloucester's form and not a long run thing. He wasn't the only thing wrong in the backline, but he really should have stopped Toomua for the Aussie try. Dare I say it... Barritt would have. As much as I want to Lancaster to select on form, I hope he gives him another game in a more settled backline.

Wade in (Ashton wasn't too bad, but still not good), Trinder given a run out, Hartley in, Wilson in, and Corbs back.

Also, was anyone else confused with England's defence being so narrow? The Wallabies were always going to spin it out wide to Folau, so they were outflanked several times and lost 20yds a go. The line-speed wasn't anywhere near quick enough to cut it off in the centres as well.

 

[Crapspray]

That's how I saw it as well. I'd be a little concerned if I were an England fan, because with his dad there he appears to be their default first choice, despite Flood and Burns being better options imo...

He has been in better form than both in the premiership and HC, so he deserved his start today. Next week? Perhaps not, but I'd be hesitant to drop him on the back of one performance. Burns is nowhere near good enough form, and Flood has never been enough to address the wider backs problem; as was shown against Australia last year and Italy in the Six Nations.

 

[dullonien]

He has been in better form than both in the premiership and HC, so he deserved his start today. Next week? Perhaps not, but I'd be hesitant to drop him on the back of one performance. Burns is nowhere near good enough form, and Flood has never been enough to address the wider backs problem; as was shown against Australia last year and Italy in the Six Nations.

Fair enough. I do think Flood is underrated by many though. He really draws the defence with how flat he plays. I'd question those around him and the tactics if they can't get the outside backs into the game off of him.

I've not seen much of Burns this season, but if he's not playing well then that's fair enough.