England V Australia. 7th Nov. Twickenham. KO 2:30. SS2

toomevara

England

U Monye; M Cueto, D Hipkiss, S Geraghty, M Banahan; J Wilkinson, D Care; T Payne, S Thompson, D Wilson, L Deacon, S Borthwick (capt), T Croft, L Moody, J Crane.

Replacements: D Hartley, D Bell, C Lawes, J Haskell, P Hodgson, A Goode, A Erinle.

Australia

A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, D Ioane, Q Cooper, D Mitchell, M Giteau, W Genia; B Robinson, S Moore, B Alexander, J Horwill, M Chisholm, R Elsom (capt), G Smith, W Palu.
Replacements: T Polota Nau, M Dunning, D Mumm, D Pocock, L Burgess, R Cross, J O'Connor.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)


Reckon this is going to be a really interesting game. England pack, particularly the front row look very weak. Strange second row pairing too. That backline looks fantastic, question is though, can the pack win quick ball to allow them to kick into action? Well at least the injury crisis means we've got an England team that'll need to actually play to win the game rather than attempt to strangle the life out of it..

Aussies have had their own travails with injury and there are rumours that Deans and Giteau have been at loggerheads. To be honest cant see anything other than an Australian win, but its a fascinating prospect whichever way you look at it.

Oh and of course there's the little matter of the return of the reborn Jonny Wilkinson. Reports from the England camp state that he and Geraghty are really firing together in training.....

Podge_irl

Will give a great indication of where Australia are at the moment in the greater scheme of things. Kind of hard to judge them - a lot of good teams lose to SA and the ABs!

Judgement Day

A hard one to call but I can't see past England on this one but so much depends on how their raggle taggle bunch of forwards perform. If it comes down to a penalty kicking contest between Jonno and Giteau I know who my money's on!

wicklowdub

Not looking forward to this game, watching england trying to build off a ruck is like watching rugby in slow mo, cant understand why Armitage is not in this squad. Hopefully the Aussies get ahead and England have to try and move it a bit quicker.

ironingbored

Am I right in saying the England game is not on BBC?

handsomecake

australia by more then ten

corny

Australia by 15.

wicklowdub

ironingbored wrote: »

Am I right in saying the England game is not on BBC?

Sky Sports - the Wales v All Blacks is on the beeb

handsomecake

corny wrote: »

Australia by 15.

i see your 15 and raise you 17.i think it will be a hiding

corny

handsomecake wrote: »

i see your 15 and raise you 17.i think it will be a hiding

Should be. Just checked and the bookmakers think the Aussies are better by only 4. I might invest!

danthefan

They've finally dropped James O'Connor, he's going to be very good but nowhere near being there yet.

Stev_o

Hoping England win, should in theory be a very good game consider both teams backlines.

Also welcome back Wilko a complete rugby legend wish him all the best in todays match.

Peter B

Betfair odds 3.1 for England to win.

Stev_o

And Wilko knows only one way of reintroducing himself back into HQ by scoring a drop goal 2 minutes in.

Stev_o

Thompson is having a great start so far his throwing has been crisp and accurate hope it continues for him.

Jimmyboss

Poor defence from England

Stev_o

Pillars non excistent there for England letting Genia get a easy try

Eng 6 Aus 5

(George Clancy made a howler of a decision aswell not picking up Coopers kick out on the full and instead giving the throw to Australia)

jayteecork

hi,
sorry about jumping in here but i didn't want to start a new thread.

anyone know what channel(if any) is the Wales/NZ match on?

Doesn't seem to be on Sky.

thomond2006

BBC2 or RTÉ, start at 5pm.

Jimmyboss

Couldn't agree more.....looks like England learned from Croker with the high balls to the wing

Stev_o

Say what you want but Wilko is still one of the best OH's in the world for his tackling alone, has driven back any Australians coming down his channel.

Score updates? Stream went down

Stev_o

Deleted User wrote: »

Score updates? Stream went down

9-5 to England.

Peter B

Stev_o wrote: »

Say what you want but Wilko is still one of the best OH's in the world for his tackling alone, has driven back any Australians coming down his channel.

In my opinion he is the best rugby player ever to grace a rugby pitch. Playing well today.

Stev_o

England desperately need fresh legs on now, id chance my arm and bring on Lawes Hartley and Haskell now.

cruiserweight

Stev_o wrote: »

England desperately need fresh legs on now, id chance my arm and bring on Lawes Hartley and Haskell now.

Haskell and Bell on, the first thing that Bell does is give away a penalty in the scrum to give Australia the lead

Jimmyboss

Oz in front, now we'll see what England are made of...

Aidric

superb hit by Elsom on the one dimensional Banaghan.

jayteecork

Monya has no strength.

cruiserweight

Great strength from Ashley-Cooper, kept his legs pumping and dragged two men over the line with him

LightningBolt

Savage try there from Cooper, some determination.

hardCopy

Monye is very very poor

wixfjord

Aidric wrote: »

superb hit by Elsom on the one dimensional Banaghan.

Hopefully (or hopefully not for Ireland) Banahan will be seen as what he is. A thundering oaf with no kicking game.

LightningBolt

wixfjord wrote: »

Hopefully (or hopefully not for Ireland) Banahan will be seen as what he is. A thundering oaf with no kicking game.

Agreed, I've watched him in rucks and he is terrible. I know he's a winger.

Stev_o

Id say England would of preferred loosing 9 11 then this. Pity really they have looked good at parts but time and time again they are just relying on Wilko and Geraghty to make something of nothing. Least they know who should be starting the next test though. Back three needs a serious re think again, Foden will probably get a call up and Strettle will probably come in somewhere.

cruiserweight

Lols on the commentary "The clock is a lover to Australia and England are caressing it to 80 minutes"

Aidric

wixfjord wrote: »

Hopefully (or hopefully not for Ireland) Banahan will be seen as what he is. A thundering oaf with no kicking game.

Hardly surprising, it's the type of player England have lavished in the last few years. Oh hai Mike Tindall.

jayteecork

anyone else think Matt Giteau is the spitting image of b-movie actor Michael Rooker?

Stev_o

Game over. Aussies just about win it, i guess in one way England can be glad they didn't get a thumping considering there present situation. But ffs Martin Johnson out of all the people in the world should grow a pair remove Borthwick as captain and player and get someone dynamic in there. They had some good moments and players like Wilko Moody Haskell Thompson and Hartley did well but they really do need a shake up in selection.

A-Train

Aussies played well in the 2nd half should have finished off more tries, there scrum half impressed, the Rock once again put in some hits!

For England Moody played well.

thomond2006

What was final score lads?

How was Wilkinson's game?

wixfjord

Aidric wrote: »

Hardly surprising, it's the type of player England have lavished in the last few years. Oh hai Mike Tindall.

Its the Sky Sports school of rugby management. Because the Rugby Club and idiots like Stephen Jones tips these guys as great players in the GP they think they should automatically be international players. Stefan Armitage, Tait, Cipriani, Deacon, Crane, Lawes, Foden, Bell etc are good players but not international standard, yet anyway.

Stev_o

thomond2006 wrote: »

What was final score lads?

18-9

Not bad given the circumstances IMO.

corny

Good game for a relatively low scoring one. England are really lacking in attack. Garaghty and Wilkinson have lovely hands but no one runs off them so whats the point. Too many times they just crabed across the field from one touchline to the other while the Aussies stood off and watched.

For the Aussies. I'd be sure 18 points won't be enough to beat us next week so they need to be a bit more clinical in creating and taking their chances. I suspect they will so they'll fancy their chances. Their kicking was very poor in patches too.

razorblunt

From the first half the impression was England could only win by the Aussies continuing to play poor when they upped their game in the second half it was no contest, the England forwards were very poor bar Moody and Haskell, the second row pairing of Deacon and Borthwick is appalling!

Jemo

I have to say, I like that wilkinson geraghty axis, bit like how warwick and rog played off eachother last year. Other than that, very little looking good for England. I had heard a lot about banahan but oh my he is terrible. How he got a look in at international level is mesmerising when guys like strettle and foden are around. Monye looked uncomfortable at fullback, I should move back to wing next week with Foden coming in at full back. Care also had a good game, the quality of ball going to wilko and geraghty declined a lot when he left the field.

As for Australia, they have a few talents dotted around the team. Quade cooper in the centre was wreaking havoc in midfield whilst rocky was letting loose some frustration to good effect . Smith looked good too along with their props. I think our biggest concern next week will be that scrumhalf, he really got involved and sped things up beautifully. I'd pick TOL to tackle him head on. Sexton/Rog to pound them in the air and we should pick up on a few dropped balls, they werent great in this facet.

Sangre

Jemo wrote: »

I have to say, I like that wilkinson geraghty axis, bit like how warwick and rog played off eachother last year. Other than that, very little looking good for England. I had heard a lot about banahan but oh my he is terrible. How he got a look in at international level is mesmerising when guys like strettle and foden are around. Monye looked uncomfortable at fullback, I should move back to wing next week with Foden coming in at full back. Care also had a good game, the quality of ball going to wilko and geraghty declined a lot when he left the field.

As for Australia, they have a few talents dotted around the team. Quade cooper in the centre was wreaking havoc in midfield whilst rocky was letting loose some frustration to good effect . Smith looked good too along with their props. I think our biggest concern next week will be that scrumhalf, he really got involved and sped things up beautifully. I'd pick TOL to tackle him head on. Sexton/Rog to pound them in the air and we should pick up on a few dropped balls, they werent great in this facet.

Smith was left for dead several times. Rocky was good, but not great imo.

Its hard to judge England as their pack areso weak. I think it is fair to say though that Banahan is not destined to be one of the great wings. I have always thought Monye was one-dimensional and he looked completely uncomfortable in that game, although he was out of position.

I think any rugby fan will be happy to see that Wilko had a very solid game, there were some huge defensive plays from him. I thought his distribution was very nice as well.

subfreq

As an Aussie that was a desperately frustrating first half but obviously very happy with the concentration and discipline that turned it around in the second.

Never seen George Smith have a shocker before so that was a first.

The Cooper/Ioani axis exceeded my expectations and I hope Digby is fit for next week.

Genia obviously the outstanding player of the day.

Why I love Deans though is that for the first time in a generation our tight five and scrum look like they could dominate any match. As an Aussie you really don't get to say that very often.

Next weeks game will be very, very close. Could all come down to how much faith Declan has in some of the emerging players.

I am really coming around to the idea of BOD playing at 12 to help develop the next 13 and if he does do that then Sexton should also play. Keep the Leinster understanding together. You could play either Fitzgerald or Earls outside him.

I don't think he will tinker that much but it would really give Ireland an edge.

What a game it will be next Sunday. Just hope the weather holds as teh backs on display will be awesome.

Judgement Day

It can only be better than today's match - entertainment my ...ole. Surely with the wealth of talent in English rugby, Martin Johnston and Co. can come up with better than this? Jonno cannot win the match on his own. Monye was an absolute disaster....I could go on but ....:mad:

Webbs

razorblunt wrote: »

From the first half the impression was England could only win by the Aussies continuing to play poor when they upped their game in the second half it was no contest, the England forwards were very poor bar Moody and Haskell, the second row pairing of Deacon and Borthwick is appalling!

Disagree somewhat in that yes Moody played well in that he tackled like a demon and did well at ruck time but he just isnt a 7 as he doesnt show up enough in the rest of the game.
I have always been a real critic of Borthwick but I thought he had a good game today, the problem was there was no foil in form of a dynamic 2nd row.
Think Aus were just OK, real potential though and if they click they could be very good in the backline

Digifriendly

subfreq wrote: »

Why I love Deans though is that for the first time in a generation our tight five and scrum look like they could dominate any match. As an Aussie you really don't get to say that very often. .

Considering England were missing their first choice front row I think you may be exaggerating a bit here. Apart from Moody and Haskell when he came on England's pack were quite poor I thought.