In a section behind the posts were a phalanx of England supporters in their white jerseys. “I reckon the score will be around 30 to 12, the Wallabies way,” I told my friend.
And early on in the Test, despite the England opening penalty, it looked as though this overly optimistic prediction might work out. And the reason for this was that the Wallaby scrum seemed to be greatly improved on the disintegrating mess of the Perth Test.
From the first scrum, the Wallaby front row held up and managed to execute a slow-motion wheel, which gave the feed to Australia. From the following scrum, the England pack was penalised.
I’ve heard some mighty roars at the ANZ Stadium in my time, but the explosion of sound, like a hundred cannons going off at once, created an incredible moment.
In general, the Wallaby scrum held up throughout a tough night of scrumming. But it must be acknowledged that two of the penalties England kicked came from scrum errors by the Australian pack.
The fact remains, after watching the All Blacks and Springboks (who went off the boil in the second half of their Test against Italy) defeat two strong scrumming sides over the weekend, the Wallabies will be in dire trouble if their front line props and hookers aren’t available by the time the Tri-Nations Tests are played.
The improvement in the Wallaby scrum, though, was cancelled out by an unacceptable fall-off in the intensity of the Wallabies forward play in the rucks and mauls, and in their overall defensive play, which is usually a strong point in the team’s game.
It is a bit like a golfer with the yips with his putting getting this right and then finding that his driving game has turned sour.
Both England’s tries came from dreadful Wallaby defensive work.
Ben Youngs, a terrific Sevens Rugby player, scuttled from a short lineout when Dean Mumm ran straight for the number 10 and then swerved past James O’Connor for a telling try.
The try scored by Chris Ashton, a big, fast winger, also involved a missed tackle by O’Connor.
The dash for the try-line came after a long series of phases as England bashed away from one side of the field to another, until Ashton raced through near a maul to speed away for a great try.
England were too big for the Wallabies across the field.
They broke tackles and imposed themselves in the rucks and mauls. This size advantage was accentuated by the way England was able to slow down the game, generally when a scrum was going to be set, with runners in their blue shirts flooding on to the field (there seemed to be ten of them on the England bench!)
The point about all this is that this England side, aside from a couple of exceptions, would never pass a stringent skin-fold test. As one of the reserve props waddled on to the field, I remarked to the editors of The Roar sitting beside me: “He’s got the build of a darts player.”
These darts players were never subjected to the torture of having to run back and forward, across one way and then the other way, chasing backs and forwards moving the ball in hand quickly the way, say, the All Blacks tormented the big Wales pack so clinically and savagely at Carisbrook earlier in the night.
England were allow to dictate the pace of the game, through the stoppages system and the brain-dead kicking tactics of the Wallabies.
They kicked more in one half of this Test, make that one quarter of the Sydney Test, than they did in the entire 80 minutes ar Perth.
Why? Surely they weren’t under instructions.
And then there was the poor display from Will Genia, who was clearly affected by his strapped leg. Genia’s passing was not as crisp and long as we’ve come to expect. And then he compounded this by adopting the emperor penguin tactic of standing over the ball, as if he was trying to hatch it.
This business of letting the ball lie in the back of the ruck while a flat-line forward attack is being put into place is a complete nonsense, in my opinion. It allows the defence to re-group, settle and target the next runner.
I think I’ve seen only one try coming out of this slow-motion type of set-up.
So what was Genia doing?
Again, I find it hard to believe that he was playing to the instructions of his coach. I agree with some comments made yesterday on The Roar that Genia should have been hooked and Luke Burgess brought on to play, hopefully, in the manner he did at Perth and not how he played for the NSW Waratahs.
England got their victory, their first in Australia since 2003 and only their third in 16 Tests here since the first in 1963.
So this is a great achievement for Martin Johnson and his team, which included several promising younger players.
But this team cannot be compared in any way, across the positions, to Sir Clive Woodward’s side of 2003 which defeated the Wallabies at Melbourne and in the Rugby World Cup final. Woodward’s side, in my opinion, was the finest England side since 1870 and one of the great teams in the history of rugby.
Johnson’s team is overweight, not quick enough around the field, lacking in initiative in its tactics, and has its number 10 standing in the quarter back position most of the time. But like good dart players, they can be formidable if they allowed to perform their simple tactics and plays at the pace that suits them.
This gets us back to the Wallabies.
Again in The Roar there has been criticism of Rocky Elsom’s captaincy. He should have taken the shot at goal at the end of the game instead of opting for a five-metre lineout.
Always take the points is the golden rule of Test rugby.
But, more importantly, he failed to get his team to quicken up their play when he saw England intent on slowing down the game. The All Blacks did this against Wales, tapping and running penalties outside their 22.
They also moved the ball around quickly and ran back most of the kicks.
The result was that the Welsh forwards, a pack like England that has players with, how shall we say it in this PC age, generous proportions around their girth, was literally run off its feet.
Robbie Deans will have to toughen up the second row, get some mongrel into a revamped back row, toughen up the tackling, get quicker service from his halves and more running from his backs for next week’s Test against Ireland.
Heads will have to roll.
As he told reporters after the Test, the result and the way the two team’s played was “significant for both sides.”
amband
Guest
easy Thelma, develop rugby in greater western Sydney and stop looking to private schools alone for talent
johnny-boy
Guest
Simple solution, give Giteau the more difficult kicks and Cooper the easy in front ish ones. Giteau obviously has a mental relaxation flaw when taking the easy ones. But no, it will be the same old we believe in him blah blah bloody blah sports psychology babble - and we will disgracefully lose more tests and the Code will sink further as wishy washy people management turns our team in to blancmange. Deans record is showing himself up as a fraud. Great one week when the pressure is on players to pull their finger out or else, but pathetic the following week. He obviously has no ability to turn good players in to a dynamic winning team. It's looking more and more like he's been bludging off the brilliance of McCaw and Carter thru his career. When are you going to deliver Deans ? Ever ?
MikeN
Roar Pro
Those of you who put all the blame on Mumm for that first time are just showing how little you know about defensive tactics. Mumm was heading to put pressure on the 5/8. This was a team defensive breakdown. The next person in in the lineout must hold back to fill the channel when the outer person is putting pressure on the 5/8. Also as I have already said we are meant to have a sweeper in defence. The gap, once the pom got through the first line was huge. Too big for one person to provide adequate defence. The Pomms surpprised us by going wide, the previous week it was close in stuff, so our guys forgoty their defensive assignments and all headed wide. The Pommie halfback could have scored that try with his eys shut once he got through from the lineout.
taylorbridge
Guest
Or Higginbotham. a great no 8 /7/6 if not injured Mummshould have been hooked but only after Rocky who should have been hookedafter 20mins. Maybe they tried to but he was sleep walking and didnt hear. Watch him closely. Rocky is a non contributor in comparison to Pocock , Brown, Sharpe, Daley Faiinga and Mafu maybe even Mumm.
taylorbridge
Guest
Agreed, Rocky is useless.
taylorbridge
Guest
I agree with you. The English pack showed they were more mobile and aggressive. Is Rocky Elsom worth having in the team . I think he is the most uninvolved ( again,continuing his Super 14 lack of interest unless there is a try on ) form. Any one of the English forwards played with more involvement. I watched the game again with the intention of solely watching Rocky. He just does not contribute in comparison to the others. I believe he is simply lazy.
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
No not RK, this mob are their own Jinxes. Aaaargh - no pride nor guts, none of the virtues of our game on exhibition - bloody tragic. The sooner we start cancelling contracts and introducing performance pay the better. This is probably the lowest we have ever been, at least we used to have a go but there is something whiney and whingy about this lot. They have no ambitions in the sport other than drawing a paycheque. Time to clear the passengers out.
MikeN
Roar Pro
Spiro One important thing about Saturday was that Deans likes to have hid half back play the sweeper role in defence and Burgess is brilliant at this. Many times you see Burgess pull off a great last line of defence tackle, the type of tackle needed in England's two tries. Where was the sweeper, once the first line was broken it was daylight ahead (OK O'Connor was there but the sweeper would have presented both attackers with more to contend with). Genia still has a lot to learn.
johnny-boy
Guest
Give Giteau the difficult kicks from out wide. Bray commented Giteau says he enjoys these pressure kicks but obviously on the easy ones, his mind can slip. A simple solution so hopefully such a disgraceful loss doesn't happen again is to give Quade Cooper the supposedly in frontish easy kicks. There is obviously a mental off switch in Giteau there, so rather than stubbornly stick with the pathetic sports psychologist b..... about threatening his confidence and believing in him blah blah bloody blah yadda yadda yadda - just relieve him of it and give it to Cooper and everybody is happy. I reckon Giteau would be too. However, unless there is some sort of quantum change in attitude and focus in some Wallabies we are totally screwed for the Tri-Nations and World Cup, until there are enough losses that they start to worry about their positions in which case they might pull out a blinder, only to play p***ss weak un-australian rubbish again the following week. Some international season to look forward to. Grrroooaaaann.
Derm
Roar Guru
Losing to England - unforgiveable? A little hubris, perhaps? England aren't that bad and Australia aren't that good. Let's face it, Oz haven't been putting together the results for a number of games, not just this one. It's why France have overtaken them in the IRB rankings published today.
Matt
Guest
Over reaction is a natural thing when you are a Wallaby supporter. I remember watching a tri nations test match a few years ago. All blacks and Boks. Was one of the most ferocious and intense games I had ever seen. This game had come after the Wallabies usual insipid start to the test season. I thought to myself that the Wallabies were going to get absolutely smashed in the tri nations, that they just could not compete with that kind of attitude and ability. Well, I was wrong. The Wallabies competed adequately then, and will again this season (God/Allah willing). Our depth has been exposed, but as others have mentioned, not many sides could lose as many (important) front liners as we have, and still be cohesive and dominant. If we are all about World Cups, I would rather us learn a few lessons now, than in 2011.
Mr Saunders
Roar Guru
Did the scrum improve, Sam? Minutely perhaps, if at all, but it was clear that Cole still had an easy, easy edge over Daley. Also, Payne isn't recognised as a scrummager in England and Lawes replaced the bulkier Shaw, so it's not like the English pack last week was/is the world number 1 tight unit. I think England viewed the scrum as a means to an end, as opposed to an obsession.
Mr Saunders
Roar Guru
Maybe it was a nervous response?
Mr Saunders
Roar Guru
Geez, I wouldn't like to make a guess without seeing the teams, pothale. On one hand Ireland do look quite bedraggled (as sides are liable to look at this point in their season south of the border), but on the other hand their 3rd string side could have beaten a very motivated Maori side, which is no mean feat. Ultimately it's hard to judge on the basis of the test v NZ in light of Heaslip's red card and the fact I missed the test. Also, is Muldoon injured? If he is then that means an entirely new, and inexperienced, backrow. I'm sure Australia will be motivated following their disastrous loss to England, but equally surely O'Driscoll and company will be equally motivated to leave a positive impression? I suspect the forward battle will be relatively equal given the pathetic tight work of Australia, but who will have the greater motivation to win the collisions? If the Irish pack gain parity their backs are good enough to make the extra ground count. Conversely, if Ireland lose the collisions as England did in the 1st test... it could be a long night. Australia won't want to be humiliated two weeks in a row. Initially I would rate Australia 15 poitn favourites, but Ireland should never be written off... so... I'm gna mount a fence and avoid coming off it too far either side. Lineouts and scrums equal and Ireland to work hard but end up fatigued due to new combinations and general tiredness. I hope you can ram this prediction down my throat. Good luck.
Derm
Roar Guru
Some one posted their Australia line-up earlier. While we're waiting for both coaches to announce their teams, here's a possible Ireland line-up to face them: 1. Daley v Healy 2. Faingaa v Fogarty 3. Weeks v Buckley 4. Chisholm v O'Callaghan 5. Sharpe v Tuohy 6. Elsom v Ronan 7. Hodgson v Wallace 8. Pocock v Henry 9. Burgess v O'Leary 10. Cooper v Sxton 11. Mitchell v Trimble 12. Giteau v Wallace 13. AAC v Darcy 14. Turner v Bowe 15. Hynes v Murphy 16. Edmonds Court 17. Slipper Cronin 18. Mumm O'Donoghue 19. Brown Jennings 20. Barnes Stringer 21. O’Connor O'Driscoll 22. Beale Kearney
Derm
Roar Guru
Now that's good, Mr S. Very sharp. Enjoy the holliers - mine don't come around for a another four weeks, but all this sunshine helps the waiting. Before you leave, what's your prediction for the Oz/Ireland match?
Red Rooster
Guest
Dream on JCM - he could not keep a nobody from the starting position at Bayonne where he was a bench player for two seasons. There was a delightful match where French prop Sylvain Marconnet popped him skywards, all 135kgs, and then drove him backwards. He will certainly provide entertainment but I am not sure for the right reason - that is if he makes the starting xv fro the rebels.
Mr Saunders
Roar Guru
'Ioane Genia Mortlock Horwill Moore Polota-nau Alexander Robinson' Genia and Ioane played v England. Mortlock and Horwill haven't featured in months so versus England two props and two hookers were absent. Are you sure you're English, kpm? Have you checked your passport recently?
Ben J
Guest
Test rugby is about winning, nothing less. In contrast the Boks played poorly but still won. To lose a home game again England is unforgivable. Robbie Deans has just showed that he can do the Yoda coach speak but on the field his "work in progress" is sadly becoming a mirage.
Lion Red
Guest
Rodzilla and Somerville will be an interesting and impressive proposition for opposing Super 15 forward packs!