England has defeated Australia by a comfortable margin at Twickenham by 37 points to 21, the hosts outscoring the visitors by four tries to two in a hotly contested match.
The encounter was played at a fierce pace throughout and was a game that certainly epitomised the old saying, ‘a game of two halves’ as the Wallabies had the better of the first half before the English pulled away in the second.
All the wash-up from England vs Wallabies:
» Match Report: Wallabies waste early leads
» What changes should Australia make for 2017?
» Vote on our DIY Player Ratings
» Re-live the match with our live blog
» Watch all the highlights from the match
Here are my talking points from the match.
Tactical kicking
The Wallabies look to play an exciting brand of rugby and of course it is enjoyable to watch and brilliant when in full effect but it would seem to me a touch of conservatism might serve the Wallabies well at times and help to conserve the players’ energy levels through 80 minutes.
The English kicking game was superb in this match and assisted them in working their way back into the match after a sluggish start and keeping the pressure on Australia when the English were in front.
Set piece
A very solid area for the Wallabies against a formidable set piece side, punctuated with a tighthead that the Wallabies scored their first try from. An area of concern at times, it was a strong performance in these areas to finish off the season.
Lopeti Timani
He had a great game in my view and certainly adds plenty to the Wallaby efforts, particularly with ball in hand with several strong runs. With David Pocock heading overseas next season, Timani looks to, and probably should be, the longterm Wallaby No.8.
English confidence
Despite a poor first half by their own standards, the English managed to keep themselves within touching distance before a vastly improved second half effort allowed them to secure the victory.
Watching the match, I did not feel the English were in much danger of losing the match regardless. They look a well organised and confident outfit who obviously believe they can and will win, and have developed some impressive depth to boot.
Under Eddie Jones this unit continues to improve and there is little doubt that they will be knocking on the No.1 rankings door in due course.
Wallaby depth
Coach Michael Cheika has blooded a number of new players this season, several with great promise however it will continue to be an area to work on after limited impetus from his bench in this match, unable to foot it with England in the second half.
Of course the long season is a consideration and an argument could be made for the timing of his use of the bench however I can imagine he will have a close eye on his decided key areas come Super Rugby next season as he looks to continue to build this Wallaby side.
In the end, the Grand Slam dream was not to be for the Wallabies, nor a semblance of revenge against the English side which had defeated them 3-0 at home in June.
The Wallaby players have now ended their long season and will look forward to a well-earned break before kicking into the 2017 Super season though I imagine Cheika and his staff will be putting in a few Christmas hours this year as they assess 2016 and look beyond.
Those were my talking points from this match, what are your thoughts Roarers?
RobC
Roar Guru
Thanks DC nice wrap This is late as I was only recently able to catch the game in its entirely. I thought ENG were clever. Equally as important they won collisions in attack. They were clever because they played to their strengths in the opposite way the WBS do ENG spread the WB defence wide, then decisively ran right through the middle. Simple coaching, tactics and execution. Helps to have a sharp shooter to collect cheap points, which then promotes a positive outcome in the BD. Some close calls which gifted ENG some points, but that's how the ball bounces. Awesome game. Looking forward to a revenge match when WBs finally get their act together and when the fake Italian is back on field. Maybe by that time Lukhan Tui is wearing Gold to square off.
Daire Thornton
Guest
Eddie Jones has always been a motor mouth. Other coaches like Jake White, Warren Gatland and others have also been at it for a long time. Some examples from an Ireland point of view: Jake White - in November 2005 White told the Irish media that no Irish players would get into the South Africa squad. A few days later Ireland hammer SA 32 – 15 in Dublin. Warren Gatland - Caused a little controversy when he claimed that the Wales players disliked the Irish players more than any other nations. There have been many examples over the years. Graham Henry's comments on Wayne Barnes post the 2007 world cup were fairly scathing. He basically claimed Barnes was a cheat. I have to say though I kinda agree he is a terrible ref in any case.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
College basketball starts in the USA. My Duke missus watches rugby, so I have to make time for some college hoops.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
This is a fascinating point! I would think that teams have people analyzing the way their opposition plays and also how specific referees call the games. This is one area that I had criticized the Jaguares at the SR18 with passion. They claimed to be surprised at the way SR is being refereed. How come? But if people like Peyper can change a lot in a few months, then all bets are off. Either he was told to change or correct something about his calls or he is systemically inconsistent. But the latter would have been picked up. So, it seems that he could have changed. Why?
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
They say the truth doesn't hurt. This is not a true statement. Discuss.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Hi Kirky, If the game can be decided by a few calls from the referee, then the team did not play good enough to win. My opinion, is that you have to play in such a way that you take away the referee from it. If a penalty, or one scrum or one try make the difference, then you were not dominant enough. I still haven't had the time to watch it, and I continue to be sorry for the Wallabies. However, I am surprised at the current level of animosity towards Cheika. He has not changed, I think he is not good enough for this level. It has been like this for a while. Or you Australians forget he damaged a coaches box some time ago? This year, the Boks and the Pumas collapsed. Scotland and Wales continue semi mediocre. And France, England and Ireland are playing better. Australia finished second in the RC but that was misleading, the other (non Black) teams were terrible. The one thing I am most disappointing is in the soccerization of the sport. Now, we even have people like Eddie the Talk thinking he is Jose Mourinho. I never liked football for its attitude, despite being Argentinean, and I don't like the direction rugby is moving. It doesn't have to be pompous old chaps running the show, but rudeness is not the opposite of political correctness.
Daire Thornton
Guest
Yarde's try was a try. Good review from the TMO. The ball never left his hand.
ClarkeG
Guest
Rightly or wrongly the referee saw it as a maul - it is a close call and the 15m is a close call as well. And because he saw it as a maul then that meant Douglas was joining the maul from an offside position. The referees signal and explanation were quite clear I thought - " no 4 from the side" - but you are right in respect that if the play had gone past the 15m the lineout is over and if there was no maul then yes Douglas could join the play from any direction.
JimmyB
Guest
My god, you're a prat.
JimmyB
Guest
How the hell do you even know if Justin is English or not you prat? Why don't you just park your xenophobia and crawl back under the rock you came out of?!
JimmyB
Guest
You're actually beyond parody.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
CUW: I don't think there's much inherently wrong with the Wallabies, a hell of lot of their woes is in the way they line out and position themselves, all they need is a good Coach to do this, and a dramatic shift in their attitude base right around a whole 180, and you'll see a change dramatically. The Wallabies scrum and set piece ain't too dusty really as they showed against England the other day, and with a good Coach that would only get better. Cheika unfortunately is just not doing the biz' in more ways than one. I'd like to see Aussie get a top New Zealand Coach and treat him right and not like the last two who graced this scene. That I think is the only way you're going to get where you'd like to be, as the New Zealand method is used by almost every International team of note, with the majority having Kiwi Coaches also, ~ England as Eddie the Mouth reckons are not employing the Kiwi methodology, but in fact they are, I watched with interest the Pom/OZ game and it was all there before us! Unfortunately, where does that leave Ccheika, ~ out sadly, but he's taking the Wallabies nowhere.
Red Kev
Guest
Typical Foley lover comment. "Winning games off his boot". Kicking goals that any other bloke would kick isn't "winning games off his boot" buddy. Get real! Typical chip on his shoulder kiwi looking to have a dig at Quade. Get over it buddy!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Justin: you call a meeting between the World number one side by a country mile and the second ranked World number two side by a country mile, a tragedy, ~ mate all that means is a delay of the inevitable till 2018 when your boys will probably be around 4th place the Kiwis in their accustomed possie' which means you get done later rather than sooner. The Poms have only beaten the All Blacks once out of the last six times played so why would it change? They left Town early a couple of weeks ago as they didn't want the Poms to be on a downer facing the Aussies when they beat you! The only pre requisite should be that they play you guys at Eden Park in Auckland as, the Number 1 side should have right of venue choice!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
There's not a hell of a lot wrong with Foley at 1st 5, he's not the best around but there's no one in the same street as he in Australia, and you Foley bashers have a pretty short memory, ~ How many games as Bernard Foley won the Australians by his boot and scoring tries? ~ Think back to the Wales game in the last World Cup when the Welsh played good rugby with a second string Team through a shocking injury list, and Foley kicked six penalties to win! He did it quite recently also,~ admittedly he missed a couple of sitters against the Poms on the weekend just gone though, but hey! the guy's human! There's no other 1st 5/8 in Australia of note, Cooper shouldn't be anywhere near the Wallabies squad, get rid of him, and a few others who don't deserve to be there.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Max: He played in New Zealand for a while also but didn't cut it, but he gave up the Tasman Franchise to come to Australia hoping to get in the Wallabies squad just like that because he never had a show ever of getting in the All Blacks, ~ Didn't work out as he had to hang around for Naturalisation etc and couldn't get a game, so he tried to get back in with Tasman in New Zealand and they just politely told him to 'eff off'. Very ordinary player.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Rob! you're exactly right mate, but remember Peyper tends to run with a different set of rules than most other Refs~
Max Power
Guest
Naivalu moved to Australia of his own choice following a religious mission here. He chose to play rugby once here but didn't move here for it. Also, Nemani Nadolo is Australian and chose to represent Fiji after moving overseas because he couldn't get any Super game time in Australia. Same with Ben Volavola, it's a two way street.
Max Power
Guest
Despite his age when he chose the Wallabies Speight isn't a great example seeing that his grandfather, the former president of Fiji, encouraged him to choose the Wallabies.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Justin, I don't know where you get your assumptions from, but I still regard Ireland as a better team that yours all round so when they beat you next time you play them, you guys may go to 3rd with the Paddys to 2nd and of course the top of the table won't change as the staus quo will remain the same, but as you say it is disappointing that the All Blacks didn't get to beat you while they were up there, shame that! You guys seem to think you have a mortgage on that second spot and that's being cocky but the cockiness will dissolve when it comes around as to be the best, you have to beat the best, and Eddie the Mouth won't get away with his stupid one upmanship with Shag Hansen like he tried with Cheika, Hansen and his crowd are far more switched on than Michael Cheika and Eddie the Mouth and Eddie knows it.