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England did not just beat Australia, they thrashed a side that two weeks ago defeated the All Blacks (ending a 15-Test winning streak) and a week ago beat Wales at Cardiff.
Admittedly, each side scored two tries. But it was the confident, skilful and ambitious way England played, including scoring a try from its own try line, that marked this victory as more than just a win.
It is undoubtedly a turning point, in the direction of another strong World Cup performance by England. But is it a turning point in the opposite direction for the Wallabies?
From the beginning of the Test there were several things happening with the Wallabies that did not seem right. James O’Connor missed his first three shots at goal. These were all kickable penalties.
Rod Kafer tried to be kind by suggesting they were from a long range distance. This is true. But they were not anywhere near as difficult as the kick that Kurtley Beale made to win the Test against the Springboks at Blomfontein.
The answer to the question who should be the number one goal kicker for the Wallabies is not O’Connor, talented though he is in running the ball. Deans might have to go back to Matt Giteau, with all his faults, except for the little difficulty that the Wallaby backline looks more purposeful and better defensively when Berrick Barnes is playing inside centre.
Quade Cooper perhaps? Well yes, he is worth a try – along with Barnes – but there is a problem. Teams are beginning to work out Cooper’s slick inside passes, the occasional long ball and the punt/pass to an unmarked winger. The skills that bemused the Springboks and the All Blacks did not take many tricks against England at Twickenham.
What was noticeable was his pathetic tackling. During the Super 14 tournament Cooper had the enviable record of missing more tackles than any other player. During the Tri-Nations he improved ever so slightly on this bad record. At Hong Kong he actually made some tackles and felt so emboldened by the Wallaby victory and his own part in it that he clipped Richie McCaw on the head as a reminder of who was the boss when O’Connor scored the winning try.
While McCaw was playing his usual high-tempo tackling and running match for the All Blacks in their thrashing of a confident Scotland side (forcing Scotland’s second worse defeat in Test against the All Blacks since 1905), Cooper was missing tackle after tackle after tackle.
Perhaps the worst miss by Cooper of many bad missed tackles was when the scoreline was 19 -6 early on in the second half. The Wallabies mounted a series of forward driving attacks. Will Genia was tackled short of the line. Mike Tindall forced a turnover. The ball was passed to the young England second rower Courtenay Lawes.
Cooper could have smashed him and set up a try. Instead Lawes stepped inside Cooper’s weak attempt at a tackle. He ran the big, young ex-Wigan winger Chris Ashton (a brilliant try-scorer at Sydney) in a gap. Ashton then ran the length of the field in the sort of heroic counter-attack you’d expect Kurtely Beale or O’Connor to launch, not a winger playing for England.
In my notes taken during the Test, I made the point that the Wallabies seemed to be kicking away a lot of ball. Where were the attacks that rattled the All Blacks at Hong Kong? More importantly, what was the point of these tactics? It wasn’t as if the Wallabies had any superiority in the forwards in the set pieces.
Kafer pointed out, too, that the two lines of attack, one flat and the other deeper, that worked so well against the All Blacks, Springboks and Wales was not in place against England. Again, why was a one-line attack presented against England?
England tend to have a rushing defence. This defence is far more vulnerable to a two-line attack that the normal drift defence.
Were the Wallabies tired after playing and winning two Tests in successive weeks?
Perhaps. I have argued for some time that Australian rugby players, at all levels, from schoolboys to the Wallabies just do not play enough rugby. The professional players are protected by an agreement with between the ARU and their trade union RUPA that limits them to about 25 games a season, maximum.
The Wallabies spend too much time in the gym and in camps, and not enough time playing rugby. The hero of the New Zealand Kiwi’s victory over the Kangaroos, Benji Marshall apparently played 34 (that is right, 34) games of rugby league this season. Rather than being exhausted and drained, his nimbleness of foot and mind created the two tries that gave his side another unlikely victory in the dying minutes of a long season.
A week ago we were all contemplating an unbeaten tour. Now this dream is over. It is inconceivable that Italy will pose too many problems next week. And judging by France’s lacklustre performance against Fiji, the Wallabies should be able to win the last match of the tour.
Nothing about these last two games is very important in the great scheme of things. But it was important to beat England. This was a match the Wallabies had set themselves to win. This was the match they needed to win to build on the confidence that came from – finally – defeating the All Blacks.
A win against England would have confirmed the current ranking of the Wallabies as the number two team in the world, and rising. The loss, and the manner of the loss, suggests that the number two ranking may be an aberration.
England play Samoa next week. Then they finish off their November Test season with a match against the Springboks. You’d expect England to defeat Samoa comfortably after Ireland halted a losing streak with a victory over Samoa 20 – 10.
But the outcome of England – South Africa will be more telling. The Springboks, playing their old-fashioned kick, chase and smash game played a strong second-half to haul back Wales 29 – 25.
Whoever wins between England and South Africa will go into the World Cup year of 2011 with the sort of momentum that the Wallabies seemed to be building up, until they played so poorly at Twickenham.
What a difference a fortnight makes in the fortunes of teams playing Test match rugby.