Wallabies too strong for England

Eurosport - Sun, 16 Nov 12:31:00 2008

Australia gave error-strewn England a lesson in rugby basics on Saturday as assured fly-half Matt Giteau kicked 20 points to help them to a 28-14 victory at Twickenham.

Matt Stevens - England - 0

Australia gave error-strewn England a lesson in rugby basics on Saturday as assured fly-half Matt Giteau kicked 20 points to help them to a 28-14 victory at Twickenham.

The fly-half landed six penalties and converted Adam Ashley-Cooper's late try while captain Stirling Mortlock weighed in with a 50-metre penalty.

That shot came after England had been shoved backwards in a scrum - the area they were expected to dominate but which was littered with re-sets, free kicks and penalties and eventually went the Wallabies' way.

"I don't know what goes on in there but the forwards really stood up today," Giteau said.

England had plenty of ball but were too often static and crossed the line only once when number eight Nick Easter finished off a forward shove late in the first half.

"They've won away by 14 points but ultimately we let them off far too often, we took the pressure off them with our errors," England manager Martin Johnson said.

Australia were switched on from the start while England's ragged play allowed Giteau to notch two early penalties.

The fly-half showed his defensive talents when he hauled down Mears in the corner after a sharp Danny Cipriani break, then slotted another two kicks to make it 12-3 after half an hour as

England's indiscipline was heavily punished.

England scraped onto the scoreboard with an unexpected drop goal from fullback Delon Armitage but they were finding Australia's well-drilled defence a much harder nut to crack than the scratch collection of the Pacific Islanders last week.

They eventually got their forwards into the action with a drive after 34 minutes, though they fell foul of the video referee when Andrew Sheridan thought he had driven over.

Moments later they did score when they pounded the line for two minutes before Easter forced his way through.

Cipriani, who was badly off beam with his first two goal-kicks, eventually slotted one and there was a point in it at 12-11 to the visitors at halftime after Giteau missed from wide out after another daft offence by the home side.

England briefly nosed in front with a Cipriani penalty four minutes into the second half but despite enjoying plenty of possession in the Australian half, they rarely looked dangerous.

More errors allowed Giteau to restore the lead and Mortlock landed his long pot after Sheridan, who struggled all day, was penalised at a scrum.

Australia then cut loose from deep to score the match-clinching try. England, ragged in defence, were stretched when quick passing set up fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper to dive over in the corner.

"The stats are there in terms of posssesion and territory but we didn't score the points - we got a bit frantic," Johnson said.

"They didn't have to do a lot to score, they didn't break us particularly. We made breaks and made the errors afterwards.

"When you are in test rugby you may only have three or four opportunities to score a try and you've got to take one or two of them. Ultimately we let them off far too often."

England face South Africa in a rematch of last year's World Cup final next week while Australia visit France.

Reuters

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  1. How did Martin J get the job from Brian A
    this display w as no better than anything Brian gave us
    Putting trust in the hands of some who turned out on Sat was not very clever from a man who plotted Ashdown's downfall
    MJ would have got on better if he had worked along side Ashers but no he didnt want that because he 'can do the job better '
    Martin you must control the likes of cipriani and care etc or you and your credibility will be dented -- as well as Englands chances in the short term
    Looking foward to the next couple of weeks as indeed so is all true english rfu supporters are!
    Does anyone agrre with me?
    DJH SIDCUP

    From DJ H, on Mon 17 Nov 8:05PM

  2. The Aussies didn't win it - England handed it to them gift-wrapped in the form of penalties. The ref had a large part to play with his interpretation of the laws. That said, England should have adapted - something we are not good at, unfortunately.

    From Donald D, on Sun 16 Nov 12:30PM

  3. Hey you Aussies, it's a good job for you the Indians do not play rugby as well as cricket

    From Ken F, on Sun 16 Nov 9:27AM

  4. Saltiresi; Get a spell check on your machine is that whip or wipe you meant

    From Ken F, on Sun 16 Nov 9:25AM

  5. Saltiresi, if had England gone down by 300 points it still wasn't anywhere near bad enough for the Scotish to be thinking about anything other than the usual kicking they'll get in the 5 nations. Remember your place as the Italian's whipping boys.

    From Ian H, on Sun 16 Nov 7:16AM

  6. Perhaps now all the garbage spoken about Cipriani can stop. Matt Dawson reckoned he'd be the next Dan Carter. Looks like he's going to be the next Charlie Hodgson to me. Great at club rugby but lacks the ability/bottle to step up. I know his apologists will whine about coming back too soon from injury, but every time he has put on an England shirt he looks out of his depth. Get well soon Sir Johnny, we've got the most exciting back line for years and all our current fly half does is make the wrong decisions and give the ball to the oppo. As for his kicking, he couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo.

    From Ian H, on Sun 16 Nov 7:12AM

  7. England vs Australia - What a ******* shambles. The first English game I've seen since RUWC 2003 and it looks as if it'll be another 5 years before I sit thru another one. Prediction: Next week lose by 30 pts and the week after lose by 40 pts with this team must be at least 12 changes. Retain Armitage, Flutey and Mears!

    Al David

    From David, on Sun 16 Nov 2:12AM

  8. Not Printable-Lots of cheap shots, nothing substantial.Last 2 RU WCs Australia knocked out by England.Tennis, and?Don't see Aus doing much either especially with Leyton Spewitt on their front line.Australia F1?Webber?Results speak for themselves.I can understand you milking a win against England though.Your recent sporting history means that you're bound to take any small crumb that comes your way.Funny how many points were kicked though considering I thought the kicking game was taboo when England employed it.Good to see the Aussies learning a thing or two from the English.

    From Blighty4me, on Sat 15 Nov 8:55PM

  9. As I said earlier, it was all so predictable, having said that, there is no doubt Cipriana will develop into a very good international, Flutey also looked good, along with Sackey, the rest of them were rubbish, my thanks to Sheridan, your performance made it so much easier for Aussie, the Wallabies were well drilled, disciplined, and wanted it more, it's not all bad news, the way the 'yarpies' made heavy work of beating Scotland there is still some hope of beating a southern hemisphere side, love & best wishes,
    Ned Kelly

    From jcastledineruiz@..., on Sat 15 Nov 8:50PM

  10. You win some, you lose some

    From Donald D, on Sat 15 Nov 8:28PM

  11. A very boring game refereed to a standstill by one of the worst international refereeing performances since the 2003 World Cup Final.
    It seems that the Southern Hemisphere want to get rid of the set scrum eh? So lets penalise the good scrumagers out of the game.
    Very sad.

    From terence.barr, on Sat 15 Nov 8:14PM

  12. I don't think the ELVs have had any significant effect of improving the game... so maybe it just WAS a tactic to give the southern hemisphere an advantage over the northern! But then again, why couldn't the northern hemisphere also trial the laws as SA, Oz and NZ did? Regardless, I think it has just led to a proliferation of bad kicking!
    As for England - unimaginative as usual. Danny Care is not a test-standard scrum half - his service was abysmal and his decision-making even worse. There just seemed such a haphazard look to the play. The Aussies weren't exactly outstanding but they were much more controlled and effective with their possession.
    Cipriani attempting a drop-goal with no pending penalty and England applying pressure just yards from the Aussie line...? That was REALLY shocking, along with much of his kicking! England really need to present a much more cohesive and organised performance next week otherwise I'll be taking loads of flak from my Bok friends!

    From oyster250, on Sat 15 Nov 6:55PM

  13. tom brewster - ok Golf is from north of the boarder so substitute it for Tennis - same thing different day same @#$%

    From not printable, on Sat 15 Nov 6:36PM

  14. go on the aussies ENGLAND WHO cannot wait til the six nations scotland will wip their arses

    From saltiresi, on Sat 15 Nov 6:28PM

  15. ALL ENGLISH FOOTBALL
    PREMIER LEAGUE – FA CUP – CARLING CUP
    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – UEFA CUP
    ALL MATCHES ON WEB: PREMIER LEAGUE, LIGA, SERIE A, BUNDESLIGA AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - UEFA CUP
    ALL THE HIGH-LIGHTS OF PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES

    From , on Sat 15 Nov 6:16PM

  16. inventing sport and been good at it is two very different things.....!!!!!

    From Rezo b, on Sat 15 Nov 6:09PM

  17. inventing sport and been good at it is two very different things.....!!!!!

    From Rezo b, on Sat 15 Nov 6:09PM

  18. Err...i think you'll find that golf is from Scotland, not England. Get your facts right.

    From tombrewser, on Sat 15 Nov 5:37PM

  19. Rugby - Golf - Cricket - the great English sports ...and where the bloody Hell are the English? Licking their wounds again and hanging their heads in shame and carrying their balls in their pockets

    From not printable, on Sat 15 Nov 5:24PM

  20. well just for the records the southern hemesphere needed to change the laws and use southern hemesphere refs to beat the english forwards and that was after the aussies and new zealand failed AGAIN in the world cup .These games mean nothing so make the most of it while you can. and another thing this is rugby union and not rugby league. I'm just waiting for the day you get your way and rugby union no longer exists

    From GEOFFREY, on Sat 15 Nov 5:24PM
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