England vs. Australia - A Win Is A Win

England versus Australia, the rivalry goes back for centuries and it has provided us with some of the best matches in rugby history and whilst some may feel that yesterdays QBE International at Twickenham wouldn’t be marked as one of them, it was a hugely significant and important victory for England. Before the 2003 World Cup Final England had a huge winning run over all Southern Hemisphere sides and with that came a belief that any one of them could be beaten, at any moment, even in their own back gardens. Today, we all know that we are two years away from a home RWC and developing a similar record needs to start now and that is why yesterday’s victory was so important.

Game Time at HQ

The headlines today are great to read, my personal favourite is ‘Forward Progress’ from a certain Mr Lawrence Dallaglio in The Times and the articles that accompany these are positive but also realistic at the same time. The Australians are un-happy about that obstruction and the fact that Mike Brown’s toes clipped the white line on route to Chris Robshaw’s try. Clearly if it was the other way around I’m sure that we all would be up in arms, however it is what it is and regardless England ground out the win the hard way. With the firepower and X Factor in the Australian XV things could have been so different and we could have been reading ‘England Stumble At The First Hurdle’ and ‘What Next for Lancaster’s Men?’ so personally I am going to delight in the positivity of the moment and enjoy what was a significant win over Ewen McKenzie’s squad.

Andy Farrell... take them to the hurt arena

Summarising 80 minutes of rugby is never easy but I think that it is fair to say that yesterday’s game was a match of two halves... one was fairly even and one belonged to England. In the first things were tight, England were ambitious and had a strong intent to play rugby however they weren’t able to shake off the Wallabies. In the set piece and at the breakdown England were the stronger of the two teams, digging their claws into the Wallabies and making them pay for infringements. As expected England’s physicality was right up there and they were certainly fulfilling Andy Farrell’s wish of taking Australia to the hurt arena. However in those crucial 10 minutes before half time they let the try slip in, Tomma crashing over the top of Billy Twelvetrees after a crucial missed tackle from Chris Ashton earlier in the move. Neither men will enjoy watching it back and both will need to improve defensively before next weekend, if they are picked. After that score worryingly you felt the momentum and whistle of George Clancy shift in the favour of the Wallabies and the final few minutes of the half were worrying.  

Traditionally the break is the time where both teams head into the changing room to re-group, re-hydrate and restore any broken body parts before coming back onto the field to attack another 40 minutes of rugby. Well yesterday the Australian dressing room was surplus to requirements as they decided to stay on the pitch to do all of the above. Perhaps they wanted to enjoy the splendour of the 2003 World Cup Winning Team Parade!!? Or perhaps their dressing room was simply too small? Either way it was certainly an interesting move, not one that Twickenham has ever witnessed before and clearly not one that benefited them!

Half time - the changing room on the pitch

In the second, England took it up a gear, led by Mike Brown and Chris Robshaw, who crucially scored the try (albeit with the help of a missed decision or two) that set the platform to march onto victory, because after that score it was all about England. Owen Farrell showed a huge amount of maturity to bounce back from a poor first half with the boot and was rewarded with one of his best tries in an England shirt and a more consistent kicking display in the second. However as we all know it is never truly over until the final whistle is blown and Australia did have opportunities to work off their set piece and obtain the converted try that would have taken them to 20 apiece however our England XV were relentless and would not let up until the win was secured.So what did we learn from this victory? Well clearly it wasn't perfect and there are likely to be some changes next weekend; however the foundations are all in place and ready to be built on. The centre partnership between Billy and Joel didn’t shine, it was a little stuttered and certainly lacked the defensive solidity that Brad and Manu provided, is this surprising (?) well not really. However it is something for Stuart to think about given his alternative options; the name Luther Burrell certainly springs to the forefront of my mind!! Our line outs were slightly shaky at times; however I’ll leave it to the England analysis team to find out whether this was due to Tom Young's throwing or nervy hands from Courtney Lawes!? Either way Dylan Hartley could be given the nod next weekend to face the Pumas.

Stuart has some thinking to do

However let move onto the positives shall we; deserving Man of the Match Mike Brown was outstanding... steady under the high ball and absolutely first class in attack, Quins fans have known how good he is for years and now everyone else in England does too. Double Vunipola is clearly a strong recipe for success and Mako’s work in the scrum was certainly greatly improved since that Lions test. The work-rates of Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood were simply world class, both making tackle, after tackle, after tackle and giving away very little, they really are a great partnership and finally Ben Youngs added pace and tempo when he arrived onto the field.  

England will certainly play better over the next two weeks, personally I believe that they will have the upper hand over Argentina however the All Blacks, well they are a different kettle of fish altogether. For the team the hard work starts all over again, the analysis will be in depth and thorough and the challenge of the Pumas will be taken very seriously. Personally I am going to delight in the win but not lose sight of the bigger picture; we still have 2 more QBE Internationals to go, against 2 strong sides and for Stuart and his squad it is a case of job done and one tick in the box. Before next weekend I've no doubt that changes will be made, players will come in and the starting XV could make for interesting reading. As always Twickenham Stadium, the home of English Rugby, was resplendent as ever and I can't wait to do it all over again next Saturday and be writing about another impressive England victory! 

One very happy captain

Enjoy my full set of match day photos here; Out On The Full Flickr