The Wallabies kicked off their Northern Hemisphere Tour with a Test against England. England started well, the forwards doing the hard yards, but the Wallabies gained momentum and eventually ran out winners by 18 / 9.
A dominating second half showing from Rocky Elsom’s Australian side saw them secure a 18 / 9 victory over a spirited England outfit in their Cook Cup clash at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.
Coming into the match under pressure from the media, Robbie Deans’ men struggled during the first half but flicked the switch at the break and scored 13 unanswered points in the second forty to deservedly win the match.
Wasting a couple of second half try-scoring opportunities, the Wallabies should have settled the win earlier than they did in truth. A number of players stood out for both sides. Lewis Moody and Jonny Wilkinson were quite brilliant for England while Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Wycliff Palu were immense for Australia.
A game of two very different halves, England deservedly led at the break while Australia were always in control in the second stanza.
A positive start to the match from England saw their forward securing a couple good lineout wins through Tom Croft and captain Steve Borthwick, helping them to dominate possession and territory.
Just three minutes into game Wilkinson re-introduced himself to the Twickenham faithful by slotting a drop goal from 35 metres out.
Stung into action, Australia strung a number of phases together but were struggling to find any real gaps in the English line.
Another penalty attempt after nine minutes gave Wilkinson a chance to extend the England lead and the Toulon man duly delivered, putting England into a 6 / 0 lead.
The opening 15 minutes belonged almost entirely to the home side. Their forward work, particularly at the lineouts, was very impressive.
Give them enough possession though and Australia will test you. Enjoying their best set of phases, the Wallabies, through Cooper and Palu, were really starting to take the attack to the English line.
Eventually the pressure told. With the Australian forwards working well around the breakdown the England defence eventually slipped up and allowed Will Genia to sneak over for the games first try. Giteau’s missed conversion meant England retained the lead but the match had become a very even contest.
Another Wilkinson penalty followed five minutes later following some more good work from the England pack. Trying to bring Matt Banahan into the match using some clever kicks, England, Wilkinson and Shane Geraghty were mixing the tactics well.
For Australia Genia was continuing to impress while Peter Hynes and Adam Ashley-Cooper were enjoying counter-attacking whenever given the opportunity from an England kick.
Despite both teams coming into the game under pressure they both seemed committed to running the ball when they could and, as the game went past the half hour mark, it really started to open up.
The visitors finished the half strongly but the hosts defence held strong. Going into the interval with the score at 9 / 5 in favour of England, the first forty minutes had certainly lived up to it’s big match billing.
England’s kicking early in the second half was pretty poor and again Genia was prominent in putting them to the sword. Camping in the England 22 for the opening five minutes the Wallabies looked certain to score with captain Elsom being pulled up just inches short. The pressure eventually told though with Giteau comfortably slotting over his first penalty of the afternoon to make it a one point game.
It was all Australia in the opening exchanges with only a Moody steal preventing a seemingly certain Wallaby score. Cooper and Giteau, given plenty of ball, were starting to string together some of their trademark passes and finding more and more gaps in the England defence.
But it was a Geraghty error which nearly created the next Wallaby scoring opportunity. As England were just starting to come back into the game the Northampton Saints centre fluffed a kick with the left foot and, were it not for a poor kick from Mitchell, Australia could have been in again.
Almost immediately then Digby Ioane did everything except put the ball down. Fed into space by Genia the Reds centre powered his way over the line but lost the ball forward.From the resulting scrum though, with Duncan Bell now on in place of David Wilson, the visitors won a penalty and, courtesy of the boot of their talented ten, went ahead for the first time.
With the crowd spurring them on England looked to strike back and again it was Wilkinson who was pulling the strings. A clever chip and recover from the former Newcastle man nearly sparked something but Australia were able to keep them at bay.
A moment of sheer strength from Ashley-Cooper then finally provided the killer blow. Stringing phases together and dominating territory, Ashley-Cooper held off the challenge of both Ugo Monye and Mark Cueto to score in the corner.
England mounted a strong finish to the game but simply didn’t seem to have the firepower to score the try which would have set up the game for a big finish.
In truth the Wallaby defence was fantastic all day. While Wilkinson offered plenty the backline outside him, including Lion Monye and Bath star Banahan, just didn’t fire.
An exciting test, the result went the right way after a spirited second half showing from Australia.
Man of the Match: Will Genia certainly deserves the award. Wilkinson proved to everyone what a world-class performer he still is but it was the composure and skill of Genia which stole the show.
Moment of the Match: It ultimately decided the match so it really has to be Adam Ashley-Cooper’s fantastic finish in the score for Australia’s second try.
Points:
England: 1 Drop Goal & 2 Penalties Johnny Wilkinson
Australia: 1 Try Will Genia, 2 Penalties & 1 Conversion Matt Giteau, 1 Try Adam Ashley-Cooper
The Teams:
England: 15 Ugo Monye, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Louis Deacon, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 David Wilson, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Ayoola Erinle.
Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Digby Ioane, 12 Quade Cooper, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota Nau, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 James O’Connor.
Date: Saturday, November 7
Venue: Twickenham, London
Time: 16.30 SA Time (14.30 GMT)
Expected Weather Conditions: Chilly conditions with sunny intervals, maximum temperature of 10°C and an expected minimum of 6°C.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Goooooooo…. fark, difficult to choose either… What will it be… Bleekbene or Shackledraggers…
Gooooooooooo Rugby !!
Yip, Who to support.
Carol always supports us then Old Griquas 14 in Sydney played rugby in SA.
Okay will be neutral today.
Good luck to both teams.
2@ Puma – Damn man….. last night our predictions and worst fears came true about the sub-standard Bokke Dirt-Trackers…
I warned exactly about what could and indeed did transpire…
Why can we see the folly but our National coaches can’t??
GBS
Onthou jou Bru picks!!
En ons kan wag tot Maandag vir daai Pink Floyd song
Pionier van Vryheid is deur na die finaal van die @lantic 7’s.
Welgedaan, goed om te sien hoe die platelandse spanne die groot honde bietjie byt.
Midelburg HTS en Monument tans in in stryd 14 – 14, en lemoenetyd.
4@ Koningkie – Fanks for reminding me…. jussie, toe vergeet ek juis mos gisteraand se picks…
… en jy sal my moet herinner oor daai Pink Floyd song….. dit was al klaar by een oor in en by die ander uit…
21 – 14 vir monument – 3 minute oor.
Monument deur na finaal. Final score 28 – 14
@7
hehehe
En ek onthou nog hoe windgat jy gister was oor hoeveel devices jy het om op die internet te kom as die krag afgaan of so! Toe gaat staan en vergeet jy!! En dit nadat jy los voor was na die 1ste twee games!
10@ Koningkie – Man, ek werk toe mos aan die Nommergoed en die Reply Button hier op die site gisteraand, terwyl ek wag vir die game…. en toe waai die picks uit die kop uit.
Sou anyway verkeerd gepick het want my kop het gesê die Tigers maar my hart die Bokke… sou met my hart gegaan het
Ek sal maar eers kyk hoe lyk Saracens se span voor ek weer die 4de “bok” span back!!
3 – GBS
Exactly. Knew with those selections we were in trouble.
Should ALWAYS select the best players. Even for this game our very best 2nd side should have been selected.
Now we missed a great chance to play our 2nd best side this eoyt to see how we will stand for next year if any get injured, or may not make the WC 2011. This was the time to try out those players. Very daft not to have done that.
What a embarrassment just pleased they wore WHITE….HEHEHE and not the green and gold with the Bok on.
12 – KingPaul 😆 Me too boet.
Now on Superbru there is Portugal and Namibia playing. Who plays for Portugal? 😀 I have no idea at all. Maybe they all play in Europe for clubs there. Probably should have picked them. Then wanted to support our boys next door. LOL.
hello all 🙂 predictions ?
Puma,
Portugal remain in the top 20 !
Hello RP
Just have never seen them play. So have no clue how they play or who are their players 😉
All Blacks to win by 12. Easy Peasy… 😆
Come out, come out, wherever you are !
The Poppy Appeal is a lot of Poppy-cock!
Hehehe
Flok, dan blog ek maar alleen…. sniff, sniff….
OK, game underway
hello puma
i think the wolves have a passion for rugby
oohh dear drop goal !
England 3 / 0
Droppie Wilkinson
MIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAG ALMAL.
I can see the Poms klapping the Cons.
Helloooooooo, RP and Loskoppie… thought I was going to blog alone
puma
i want abs to really dish it to the welsh – shut up gatland’s whining 🙁
Who the hell does Jonny W think he is? Morne Steyn?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooit GBS.
gbs
that sounds decidedly dodgy !
Greetings everone, go England. This is for Carol as she always supports us.
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