There’s no escaping the obvious, England’s Cook Cup-sealing second Test win over the Wallabies in Melbourne was as complete as it was clinical.
Eddie Jones brought his squad to Australia with the express intention of winning the series, and they’ve done that with a week to spare.
In doing so – England’s first ever three-Test series win – they’ve climbed to number two in the World Rugby rankings, while the Wallabies have slipped to fourth.
What it shows is just how far off the pace England were during the Rugby World Cup. Oh, how they’d love to find a time machine with the form they’re currently enjoying.
The tactics of again imposing themselves physically on the Wallabies worked a treat, with the locals put off their game from the outset, unable to establish the platform of points as in Brisbane the week before. By the time the Wallabies finally got their head in the game and found their first points, they were already trailing by ten.
From there, England simply dug in. And waited.
As they found last week in Brisbane, patience was the name of the game, and as long as their defensive line held, the inevitable Australian mistakes would come. Twenty-four turnovers the Wallabies conceded, but I’d hate to think how many of them came on the end of extended periods of phase possession.
And, of course, England’s line did hold. Their defensive effort has been nothing short of phenomenal this series and is clearly the hallmark of the Jones blueprint. On Saturday night in Melbourne the England defence was herculean from the opening whistle, and simply never gave Australia a sniff.
Depending on your stats source, England made 182 of 213 tackles, or 217 of 242 tackles. Whatever the number, making that many tackles in 80 minutes in the range of 85-90 per cent success is incredible.
Jones, before arriving in Australia, mentioned his players’ fitness levels needed work, and he simply wouldn’t even contemplate such a defence-heavy gameplan without having made gains.
Billy Vunipola played the full 80 making 20 tackles, while James Haskell (23 tackles) and Dylan Hartley (17) played all but eight minutes. Chris Robshaw also went off after 72 minutes after hitting I don’t know how many rucks.
Haskell and Robshaw combined for 27 of the 99 tackles England made in Brisbane, too, and played the full match.
The series win was a triumph of Jones’ planning over the comparative uncertainty of Michael Cheika’s preparations. There’s no doubt the former Randwick rake out-pointed his younger teammate by any measure you’d like to throw up: on the field, media mind games, clarity of selection, whatever.
Jones somehow managed to maintain the underdog status, despite the first Test win, and beautifully maintained the narrative of England being up against it. How many times last week did you hear the phrases, “coach of the year”, or “number two in the world”, or “on their own turf”?
Countless.
He didn’t quite have the same amount of time as he prepared Japan for their historic Rugby World Cup win over South Africa, but there can be little doubt Jones went into similar great detail about just how his side would pull the Wallabies’ game apart. And he’s not done yet; he’s already demanded a series whitewash of his team, and right now, it’s hard to know just how the Wallabies will stop that.
And that’s the worrying bit. Just where will the Wallabies’ spark come from?
The loss in Melbourne could be attributed to a number of factors; almost a self-fulfilling prophecy situation. A lack of go-forward platform begat a passive breakdown presence begat a backline forced to carry into contact, which once again found no way of making forward progress.
Changes will almost certainly be required for the third Test in Sydney, but I have no idea where to start. Reading the reactions and post-mortems since Saturday night hasn’t helped either, because aside from Samu Kerevi, Israel Folau, and Dane Haylett-Petty, every player should apparently be dropped.
And even then, Kerevi, Folau, and Haylett-Petty should play different positions in Sydney, so the stories go.
The reality is we’re all just guessing. Shuffling the deck chairs, if you like. I have no idea what rein Cheika can pull now, and I’d be pleasantly surprised if he’s worked it out by now anyway.
Besides, whomever Cheika picks, the England team will just back their white wall.
So it’s silver lining time. England – and Eddie – might be doing the Wallabies a massive favour.
If the Wallabies have any success in the Rugby Championship this year – let alone the Bledisloe – it might just be that the harsh lessons learnt during this Cook Cup series loss will have been the catalyst.
Cheika and his assistants – particularly attack coach Stephen Larkham – need to go back to the drawing board with regard to the attacking shape. Finding some would be a first step, and from there the variations and the alternate plans can be developed.
Because what’s clear after these last two outings is that while other teams have moved on from their Rugby World Cup methods, the Wallabies have not. They’re offering up easy pickings for opposition sides currently, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see teams letting the Wallabies play all the rugby, while they just defend and wait for errors.
New Zealand could do exactly that and have a field day converting those inevitable errors into points.
It’s all fine and good for Cheika to deflect and say he has to take responsibility for the series loss, just as he did after the Rugby World Cup final. But there also has to come a time – soon, you’d hope – where the Wallabies themselves can see that whatever it is they think they’re doing for 80 minutes quite obviously isn’t working.
Jerry
Guest
Greg Martin "How good is it winning when you're the home country?" Greg Martin's record - 2 home series, 1 loss, 1 draw.
Timbo
Guest
There was no disrespect in the 'Hakarena.' The English were laughing at themselves. The fact that a fair few Kiwis couldn't see this (although in fairness a large number did) is a separate point that everyone will have to draw their own conclusions about.
OJP
Guest
Bakkies ?
Jokerman
Guest
Well said, Ken. The bigger the ego, the bigger the fall. It's a weakness and some don't see it that way. Cheiker shows weakness in his armour. Mckenzie showed it to me too. Cheiker is in mind which is quite limited. The mind likes to see things how it would like it to be, against the truth. When Foley had his try correctly disallowed in the first test Cheiker couldn't believe it. It was a try in his mind. His mind just wanted it to be that way. That is weakness because you're removed from the truth. How can you execute a perfect plan when the landscape you see is an effective illusion? The ego then crept into the Australian team. Instead of taking three points they went for the try. They were almost puffing themselves up like one of those deep sea fish. The fish do this to scare their preditor. The ego in humans do this to try and cover a weakness. Unconsciously or not. Had Australia been more with their essence and knew their strength they may have realised that the three points were there and should be taken. And also use the time to reassess. But as they had been pushed around a little they wanted to show their attitude and in doing so they showed their ego, their weakness.
Paul
Guest
He took 3 catches in game 2. I think we can get by with Fardy, Simmons or Carter, and the odd throw to Skelton at front or Hooper/McMahon at back for 40-50 mins before Skelton is replaced with a jumper. Perhaps don't have Palu and Skelton on the same time. Have McMahon at the back and When Skelton comes off so does another backrower (whoever is busted) and bring on Mumm and Palu.
ThugbyFan
Guest
Hi Neil, good points there and I think you will find most bloggers here are not that much pi$$ed off that England won, as everyone knew they were a good side just Aus underestimated how good, but that the WB were so one-dimensional in the two tests. Conversely England completely switched their tactics at the rucks between the two tests, which not only shows good coaching nous but the professionalism of the players to do it so well. I was almost throwing my beer glass, cheese and crackers at the tv screen on Saturday, in frustration of the woeful non-kicking no-pressure game of the WB. Would that have won the WB the match, who knows but the defeat would have more acceptable. In hindsight I doubt it as their mindset was rubbish. And to be honest, the Poms could have countered by going back to contested rucks if needed and in all likelyhood smash the WB there (as in the 1st match). That's all history. Next test in Sydney, lots of walking wounded and hopefully some lessons learned. Let the game begin and WB by 14. :)
Col in paradise
Guest
Phipps for sure has to go...go with the youth...take the risk..we have nothing to loose now...but actually I just think Cheika has been over rated and it is now showing against a well coached and strong side...
Browny
Roar Rookie
Ok, so we drop Phipps and Foley. What does that leave us with? The inexperienced Frisby and an out of form Leali'ifano starting before we finish the game with the 'youthful' Joe Powell and.... um... Jono Lance? Has he recovered from injury yet? Or perhaps theRebels' pairing of Stirzacker and Debraczini? The line "too many *insert australian franchise here*" when talking about NATIONAL team selection just screams of unfounded state bias, the sort of tin foil hat stuff that really takes any credibility out of what they say. A little like if someone says "I'm not racist, but..." and your initial reaction is "oh, here we go" as you can guarantee there's about to be some filth/garbage pouring out of their mouth.
Browny
Roar Rookie
I'm coming to the belief that you don't necessarily need one designated pilferer and that a more effective strategy is to have a pack where 1-8 can all do their share or the work. I don't think we're getting enough out of 1-6 and we don't really have any 8s. Our issue isn't that we didn't field a "true number 7", or reading in between the lines that Michael Hooper once again started at openside, but rather that our pack as a whole didn't function as it should. Let's remember that the DIY Player Ratings from that second test had him as the best forward (with only Fardy and McMahon joining him with a 'pass mark' of above 5) and while I can't the results from the first test myself and many others had him as best on ground for us. Liam Gill, George Smith or even a fit David Pocock in his place wouldn't have changed the result of the last two tests.
Ngati Tumutumu
Guest
Quite right Moa, In the first test I thought the decision was right take the points give yourself a chance to win. In the second they needed to accumulate points as the English defence was going to be hard to breakdown. It all comes to the top 1% in those situations you want your captain to be able to make the right decisions in those pressure moments. But It is always easy to make the right decision in hindsight I guess. I just come from the realm where accumulating points at every opportunity is the way to play the game.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
I certainly don't Unc. But judging by some of the posters I see on here, they seem to have an attentive audience ....
ken
Guest
Yep agree, unless chieka gets rid of the passengers...We wont win a game
Uncle Eric
Guest
Don't tell me you believe the fantasist nonsense perpetrated by the intellectual pygmies at Fox Sports Neil??
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Well 5-6 is better than almost any other coach. How are the stats unreliable? They tell what exactly happened in regards to results. I'm pretty sure half his losses against the all blacks were in the last season. Not beating the all blacks doesn't automatically mean somebody is a bad coach. Especially considering he has one of the best coaching records against them. Surely a team that consistently defeats the opponents they should and occasionally defeats those above them, is getting the team to consistently perform. If a coach was not able to coach the wallabies to defeat the all blacks of springboks, they'd finish non RWC years with 9 wins and 5 losses. If they did that every year they'd have a winning percentage of 65% and be one of the winningest coaches of all time for us. If you want to beat the all blacks consistently, surely the first step is consistently beating lower ranked teams. If you're not doing that, then you're no chance. But I get it, you don't like Eddie.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
JOC is not available. I'd have Tomane over Horne in a heartbeat. Speight too. Both are injured.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Fair comment Chivas, it's the in hindsight silliness of it all though I don't actually find it that funny...it could have been done better than that...I was looking forward to a good laugh as well but it kind of looked like a cheap Blackadder or Monty Python skit that falls flat.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
As an England fan Chivas, I love watching Farrell line up for similar reasons and unlike Biggar's kicking ritual, he doesn't give me the twitches! I think most teams struggle against opposition that can vary their tactics throughout a game as you say - and the AB's are often the best at it. It amazed me that Australia didn't change their play during the second test. The word hubris has been banded about in relation to the Wallabies and I wonder if they actually thought chucking it about 'had' to finally bust inferior opposition or they just lacked the capability to mix it up. Equally intrigued by the next one. Called it before the series that I was confident England would take one test - but that I could also rationalise a sweep to either side. Ergo, no real idea. Even after two record wins i can still rationalise two very opposite outcomes. It's what makes this series great entertainment.
PeterD
Guest
Spot on Neil Back as you may have noticed I have challenged this total nonsense that England/Great Britain don't win anything in any sport by a number of posters on this blog. When I've listed the amount of stuff we have won in the last 15 yrs it's obvious that we are now past Australia as a sporting nation in most sports and are rapidly catching up or going past them in others for example 7 gold medals in the world championships in swimming for G.B. exactly the same amount as the Aussies.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Just on the point of junior rugby, anyone else notice this rugby blog is completely ignoring the current World U20 comp going on right now? Could it be because Aus & NZ are only featuring in the 5th place play off? Anyone else notice Aus sports media again doing what it does best (worst) even here. There's a clip of 'Aussie U20 score one of the tries of the tournament' but nothing else at all about the comp and how Australia have failed or any room in that post to comment It's sometimes no wonder there are so many Australian sports fans who walk around with some very strange perceptions.
pete and paul
Roar Rookie
ABs have played many 'bully' packs, that includes England and more often SA...but it isn't brawn that wins games, it is brains and nous....something that appears to be lacking in both AUS and ENGLAND oh and SA