June International Test: Australia vs. England [2nd Test] (18/06/2016)

[The Jones Boy]

I would say to the non English fans on here, bear in mind that England have not had many games under Eddie Jones and it takes time to gel as a team. England have a powerful pack and a precision kicker.
That alone is a formula to win competitions and test series.
There is more to England but the strength is the pack and kicking.
Eddie is an ocker and he has been masterful in how he has handled the media in Aussie and schooled Cheika.
The players have given their all for him and the great Aussie weakness, their tight 5, have been found out again.
Jones is using what he has to the best of his ability and Aussie (Cheika) have been stupid and arrogant in their response.
How could you go into the 2nd test with no plan B.
What happened to the great Aussie ploy of phase to phase to phase, patience, patience, the Strike.
Gregan and co. used it to perfection for years on the way to an RWC win.
This nonsense of pass it out a couple of times and run it up looks like a a league idea.
Easy for England to man up and defend against.
Eddie outplayed Cheika and his team performed to the letter.
England have performed a rugby miracle.
Give them the kudos they deserve, this is still a young team and this is a MASSIVE result for them.

 

[Every Time Ref]

We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory! I think England were simply smarter and more clinical than Australia in the first test. We got points on the board early and should have slowed the game down and controlled it, taking penalties when they were on offer. We just weren't smart at all and the 2nd test we got even dumberer. We turned down two kickable penalties when the scoreline was 13 -7 or something. I think it's all very well having an expansive game plan, but a team needs to adapt and change as the game progresses. Australia should have switched to a more conservative game at times, kicking for territory, keeping it tight, pinning England in their 22. Instead we were running it from our tryline.. Lord knows what surprises Cheika has in store for us on Saturday..

Was the dumbness on the pitch or was it in selection? Look at the team Cheika put out and point to an international standard goalkicker or tactical kicker. You can't. He simply neglected kicking of any kind when choosing his team and gameplan.

It's not a case of Australia playing badly on the day, it's a case of Australia adopting a crap gameplan and having no plan B.

 

[smartcooky]

...the great Aussie weakness, their tight 5, have been found out again.

They sure have, and that is something they will have to deal with before the RC. The NZ, SA and Argie scrums are every bit as good as that England pack, and they will have their arses handed to them if they don't get it sorted.

.

How could you go into the 2nd test with no plan B.
What happened to the great Aussie ploy of phase to phase to phase, patience, patience, the Strike.
Gregan and co. used it to perfection for years on the way to an RWC win.
This nonsense of pass it out a couple of times and run it up looks like a a league idea.
Easy for England to man up and defend against.

THIS!

Take a close look at these stats


[TABLE="width: 500"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Australia
[/TD]
[TD]England[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Territory[/TD]
[TD]74%[/TD]
[TD]26%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Possession[/TD]
[TD]71%[/TD]
[TD]29%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ball Carries[/TD]
[TD]188[/TD]
[TD]66[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passes[/TD]
[TD]224[/TD]
[TD]62[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Running Metres[/TD]
[TD]501[/TD]
[TD]226[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Line Breaks[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Defenders Beaten[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Offloads[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]4
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rucks/lost
[/TD]
[TD]159/3 (98%)
[/TD]
[TD]51/4 (92%)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tackles/missed
[/TD]
[TD]62/9 (85%)
[/TD]
[TD]213/31 (85%)
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]


Those stats tell me that one team (England) defended very well against another team (Australia) who had p¡ss-poor execution, and no game plan (or if they had one, failed to execute it).

For the life of me, I cannot understand Australia's tactics in these two games. Time and again they went wide and tried to batter their way through the England defence, who had all those defenders out there because were not committing players to the breakdown. In effect, England simply decided to give Australia the breakdown contest, while they fanned out and backed their defence to stop anything from getting through.

Now even I, a lowly grassroots part-time coach in the lower grades, can tell you how to beat that defensive arrangement in two short phrases, "pick and drive" and "inside pass". There is an expression we Kiwis have been used to hearing from Richie McCaw, from Graham Henry and from Steve Hansen.... "you must earn the right to go wide". If England are not committing players to the breakdown, then that is likely to be a weaker point than the packed defence wider out. An inside pass to a player coming back against the flow attacks the weak shoulder of the defenders near the ruck. If you keep doing this and you keep making breaks around the ruck fringes, you will force your opponents to shore up that part of their defence, and the only way they can do that is by dragging some of their fanned out players closer to the ruck. That creates the space out wide,

 

[Zed]

It's not a case of Australia playing badly on the day, it's a case of Australia adopting a crap gameplan and having no plan B.

Yup I agree.

 

[austingtir]

Those stats are ridiculous and if you didnt see the game you'd really wonder how England managed to win that.

The defenders beaten by Australia is the one that really gets me.

 

[Aotearoa_]

It does make me chuckle with those stats, some people are serious when they say England can beat the All Blacks.

Interested to see what game plan Jones will go for this week.