Apart from man of the match fullback Mike Brown, England found little joy in their 35-11 win over Fiji at Twickenham yesterday to open the 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign.
Brown was as spectacular as the opening ceremony in scoring twice, narrowly missing a third, and saving one at the other end.
He ran 172 metres over the 80 minutes, well ahead of live-wire Fijian halfback Nikola Matawalu’s 71, England winger Jonny May’s 63, and behemoth Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo’s 48.
Maybe England didn’t feel at home having lost the toss to Fiji who had choice of dressing room and jersey even though England is host of the tournament, and Twickenham is their home ground.
So England had to use the much smaller away shed, and with Fiji opting to play in their traditional white jersey, England had to forsake their white jersey, and selected a boring two-tone red number.
And they played boring rugby, not anywhere near the standard required to finish in the top two of the tough ‘Pool of Death’ to qualify for the play-offs.
The Wallabies and Wales are in the same pool, and would have gained an enormous morale boost watching England really struggle. Their much-vaunted pack was subdued by the Fijians, forcing 11 turnovers to just four.
And if it wasn’t for South African referee Jaco Peyper allowing England’s backs to be constantly offside, the game would have been a lot closer.
There are no Usain Bolts among the England backs, but they consistently cut down their opposite numbers well before the advantage line.
And with the IRB at last copying the Super Rugby bonus system of a point for four tries and a point for losing within seven, England secured a precious bonus point for their four tries.
But one of them was a questionable penalty try, with England finally securing their fourth from benchman Billy Vunipola well after the final hooter.
Those are pretty ordinary stats when England owned 58 per cent possession, and 65 per cent territory.
And if the Fijians had a decent goal-kicker, it would have been 18-17 to England with 20 minutes left on the clock, instead of 18-5.
That would have been a totally different ball-game.
Two other players demand special mention, too.
Nadolo, at 196 centimetres, and 129 kilograms, brings back vivid memories of former All Black winger Jonah Lomu and the devastation he created during his stellar career.
Nadolo has scored nine tries in his last nine internationals and he will score many more if Fijian fly-half Ben Volavola doesn’t aimlessly kick so much.
To be fair to Volavola, with England’s backs offside so much, he was forced to kick on many occasions. If that happens again in this tournament, Volavola needs to make his kicks mean something, instead of just giving away possession.
But Nadolo looms as an excitement machine. His fan-base will grow by the game.
The second player worthy of mention is rugby league convert Sam Burgess, now a dual international.
He came off the bench at the 60-minute mark as inside centre, a far cry from his league days as a prop leading South Sydney to premiership honours last season.
Burgess only handled three times, but twice he expertly managed to unload to support, even though he was being hammered and covered by the Fijian defence.
So three games of 48 are in the bag with Georgia upsetting Tonga 17-10 and Ireland crushing Canada 29-0.
Early Thursday morning AEST, the Wallabies open their campaign against the Fijians. Coach Michael Cheika will name his squad tomorrow.
JimmyB
Guest
Would if I could.
JimmyB
Guest
You go girl!
Worlds Biggest
Guest
" And it’s a real surprise that no matter how many times Aussies get bitten on the bum they still gob off hilariously before the event " Apart from said authors, who exactly are you referring to Birdy ? Your letting a few comments and or articles distort the reality of the situation. Most if not all Wallabies fan are aware of the big task at hand in this group and you know that.
Jake
Guest
Birdy and little jimmy have taken the huge burden on behalf of their entire country to ensure the colonials don't get too cocky. They are still convinced that they are somehow our superiors despite Australia leaving tired old England in its wake years ago. Hilarious and delsusional
Eric Buckley
Guest
Ah ha! Just went back again and the stats have been adjusted. Someone got the scrum stats wrong. Now it has Tonga winning 4 scrums to Georgia's 9. They must have also done the same for a few other games where the total scrums are well over 30. I'll go back and check all the games again.
Eric Buckley
Guest
Are you saying the stat is wrong? Perhaps they got the stat wrong. It's from the official World Cup website and corroborated by the SMH. I didn't make it up. Would be very much appreciated if someone could direct me to the correct stat if that one is wrong. According to the same sites Ireland vs Canada had 60 scrums, and South Africa vs Japan 45. Using the same sites NZ vs Argentina had 12 scrums. So, don't blame me, point me to the correct stats if the official stats are wrong.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Watch the game.
The Battered Slav
Guest
You really have no idea. There wouldn't even be time to pack 65 scrums in a game.
The Battered Slav
Guest
Thank heavens we have you here to keep us in check Birdy. It's certainly not like the English are known for their arrogance and sanctimoniousness when it comes to sport. You should hear some of the water cooler conversation at my workplace, there are one eyed supporters everywhere. Not sure why you feel the need to come on here and play policeman, seems pretty boring to me. Anyway, enjoy the cup, and don't let us terrible Aussie fans spoil it for you (however if we are spoiling it for you, maybe you could, oh I don't know, go away or something?)
Ted
Roar Rookie
Yes England were not great and breakdown was poor and disorganized At least in that aspect Wallabies may be fortunate that it is Robshaw at 7 . In this game , 2 games v France and one Ireland , there is no evidence of a consistently dominating scrum. In nearly all defeats by Eng the points directly from scrum dominance have exceeded the margin of loss. If this becomes a neutral field this is good news for Wallabies. However England's backs are underestimated - and finally with some talent they are playing a quite different role to recent English backs. Against the grain I have been a big proponent for Burgess inclusion, if Lancaster is brave , he will start him, and cover him off with replacement if necessary. Burgess is no one dimension 12 . His mistakes will be more than offset by his straight running with offload built In. And then there is his mullering tackling - it's not often the crowd watch each of them wondering if the victim will get up. Get up or not, they will vary their next plays. But most of all it is his field and team presence. he is a natural leader with charisma and unreal calm. All his colleagues want to go over the top beside him. That's why Lancaster took the Burgess gamble. I hope he only has 20 min v Oz . .
Ted
Roar Rookie
Agree totally. No problem Ref awarding a penalty try but with the chaos of the Maul it should be protocol to review the maul play. Players joining ahead of ball carrier cannot be any different to a forward pass or knock on review. If seen and acknowledged by ref it's penalty the other way. . I don't agree with Argument of two much TMO if it proves the facts it's good . But the repeated replay time over and over should have a time limit for decision. If not clear then Ref acts accordingly at that point.
Birdy
Guest
I'm not 'gobsmacked' that Australian supporters don't like England. I'd be 'gobsmacked' if they did. It is a constant surprise, though, that the two leading rugby journalists on what is otherwise a very enjoyable sporting website seem to value distortion and abuse over analysis, and constantly make fools of themselves. And it's a real surprise that no matter how many times Aussies get bitten on the bum they still gob off hilariously before the event.
barryoh
Guest
Why do you spend time coming onto an Australian sporting opinion website to tell us all time and time again how gobsmacked you are that supporters of Australian teams might not love England? At what point will the realisation hit that you may not be sprayed with the love on this website that you crave? You always seem so shocked - this time it was 'open mouthed' which was unfortunate.
Eric Buckley
Guest
I got the stats from the Sydney Morning Herald and put them into a spreadsheet. I just double checked the Tonga vs Georgia stats here and it shows Tonga won 30 scrums to Georgia's 35. Unless I'm reading this wrong, that indicates 65 scrums for the game. I'd love to be corrected if you would as that stat alone floored me.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Fair enough jimmyb, hadn't read it properly, apologies.
Mad Dutchman
Guest
-- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Mad Dutchman
Guest
I haven't seen any supposed Wallabies fan arrogance to rival the "England and Fiji will easily beat the Wobblies". Noted though that finally some English fans got over their overly sensitive initial reaction and admitted England played poorly. I think the Poms will get better. I think the Wallabies will do very well to beat them - they are a bit of a bogey team. However, even if England do win, there is no way it will be easy nor can I imagine an easy victory the other way. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yeah well if the Fijians do go back to running then they might cause a splash but they got a lot wrong and will again struggle up front. I don't think the short prep is an issue because it didn't look as physical as I expected and any short prep may be overcome by oz not having played a while. But they weakened badly towards the end and oz have been successful at applying their bench bar Auckland. Just don't think Fiji have enough firepower to overcome those shortcomings.
JimmyB
Guest
With respect, did Ireland look a class above England when they lost to them a couple of weeks ago? I didn't see the game, but I've heard that Ireland were excellent yesterday, but how good were Canada?
JimmyB
Guest
Yep, those stats appear to be way off base.