England scrum demolished as Wallabies savor sweet victory

[travelling_gerry]

England scrum demolished as Wallabies savor sweet victory

November 16, 2008 - 3:24AM


England 14 Australia 28

The Wallabies served up some sweet revenge with a gritty 28-14 victory over England in today's Cook Cup Test at Twickenham.

An inspired second-half revival and a record goalkicking performance from five-eighth Matt Giteau were enough to give the Wallabies their first win over England at rugby's spiritual home since 2004.

The backs-to-the-wall triumph, after the Wallabies had fallen 14-12 behind in the 51st minute, was a payback of sorts for England's shock World Cup quarter-final win over Australia in France 13 months ago.

And it was an especially satisfying win for the maligned Australian scrum, which scored a clear points victory over the vaunted English pack which had mauled the Wallabies front row in Marseille, and equally so at Twickenham in 2005.

In a powerful display, the Wallabies forwards - led up front by props Al Baxter and Benn Robinson and hooker and man of the match Stephen Moore - were awarded three scrum penalties, and, tellingly, also secured two scrums against the feed.

England loosehead Andrew Sheridan, the architect behind his side's World Cup win in Marseille, cut a dejected figure after being replaced with 13 minutes remaining, his pride battered and his side's scrum on its knees.

The match was in the balance at halftime, with Australia clinging to a 12-11 lead after England had clawed their way back into the contest in the key five minutes before the interval.

Giteau booted Australia to an early 6-0 advantage with two penalty goals in the opening six minutes.

South African referee Marius Jonker called time off in the 17th minute to bark out some instructions to the two front rows following a series of scrum collapses.

``You need to get the scrum up and take responsibility,'' he ordered.

England upped the tempo midway through the half and only a Giteau trysaver on hooker Lee Mears denied the home side the game's first five-pointer in the 20th minute.

England eventually posted their first points through a 35-metre drop goal from fullback Delon Armitage two minutes later before two further penalty goals to Giteau in the 26th and 32nd minutes pushed the Wallabies out to a 12-3 lead.

England were denied a try by the video referee shortly after when replays were unable to determine if Sheridan was able to ground the ball in a desperate tackle from Wallabies halfback Luke Burgess.

But Australia could not keep England No.8 Nick Easter out in the 35th minute as the hosts narrowed the gap to four points.

A penalty goal to five-eighth Danny Cipriani a minute before the break set up a tense second half.

England hit the lead briefly through a second Cipriani penalty, but Australia responded in style, producing some enterprising counter-attack to take play deep into the opposition quarter, where Giteau slotted another penalty to nudge the Wallabies back in front.

He added a sixth - equalling Michael Lynagh's record as the most by an Australian in a Test match against England - to leave the Wallabies ahead 18-14 on the hour.

Mortlock's 48-metre effort gave Australia further breathing space before the Wallabies drove the nail in England's coffin with a converted try to fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper 12 minutes before fulltime


AUSTRALIA 28 (Adam Ashley-Cooper try Matt Giteau con Giteau 6, Stirling Mortlock pens) bt ENGLAND 14 (Nick Easter try Danny Cipriani 2 pens Delon Armitage drop goal) at Twickenham. Referee: Marius Jonker (RSA).
AAP
Source: The Sun-Herald


http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...319019458.html

[travelling_gerry]

[Swee_82]

Looking forward to seeing the replay this arvo.

Saw another article where Martin Johnson was speculating on what could have been if some Wallabies had been sent off for 'early scrum collapses'. Time to get over that one mate. It may not have been a pantsing, but it looks like Trestle, Moore and Benny had your measure this time. Could have been alot different if your blokes had been sent off for continual infringment at the breakdown- might have got to score a few more tries, would have been nice

Go the Wallabies, I eagerly await Fleet Street's response

[Thequeerone]

Looking at the penalty count anything the English says sounds like sour grapes for cheating - haven't seen the game yet

[Swee_82]

I haven't seen the game yet either, but it sounded kinda ridiculous, since Jonker was having a word with both front rows early on and definately sour-grapes-ish.

Edit: found the quote, and I got it a bit wrong, but this version makes even less sense to me- made what worse?

"We did things that were obvious penalties, three or four were blatantly silly. We've got to look at ourselves," said Johnson, who added South African referee Marius Jonker would have "made things worse" if he'd sin-binned Australia players for early scrum collapses.

The award for random comment of the week goes to Martin Johnson.

[shasta]

I haven't seen the game yet either, but it sounded kinda ridiculous, since Jonker was having a word with both front rows early on and definately sour-grapes-ish.

Jonker was onto the Pommy tactic of pulling the scrum backwards on engagement too. He warned them a couple of times. That comment from Johnson is a scream after a performance like that. Even the slightly pro-Pom commentator said the England scrum was "in dissaray"

[Thequeerone]

Anyone else really miss the praise thing

[slomo]

just finished watching the game, gits outstanding with the boot, englands penalty count really let them down the front rowers certainly got their own back after all the press about how england were going to dominate, stirlo dropped a couple of balls at important times of the game the one in the first half looked like it could of been a certain try, burgess looked a bit indecisive at times.......as gits said after the match in his interview "we werent great this week and we still have things to work on." but it was a sweet victory....look forward to see what martin johnston has to say about "fortress tickenham" now

[TommyM]

Nathan Sharpe has turned in I think his greatest performance ever in the gold jersey. Absolutely sensational. The beard and Friar Tuck has to stay...

[travelling_gerry]

Just awoke after the late night. My thoughts:-

Ditto TommyM - Sharpe was everywhere. MOM performance.
Mortlock - Shocker hands but pulled off some great tackles.
Poms - 8 penalty infringements in or near the 22 and how come there wasnt some Yellow Cards?
Scrum - Ref was onto the Poms when they were not engaging or pulling back. And if Baxter deserved to get a yellow 2 years ago from a scrum then some Pom should have been binned when Australia split their scrum and had his hands in there.

[Burgs]

Agreed Tommy, not sure what else a Lock has to do to get Man of the Match, he was outstanding.
The Front Row did their job, from where I was sitting I would say it was a half each, first to England, second to Australia. In the cold light of day I hope they realise they didn't go that sensationally, I feel the Italy performance was still better. Fives across the board from me and an uneasy feeling that this will mean more of the same through percieved vindication rather than a changing of the guards.
Mortlock at #12 is fuctional for first phase and defence but not up to it once Gits is in a ruck, a couple of decent runs though.
AAC I felt was also strong througout, in fact both back three's were probably the best unit of either backline.
Just enough success with the returning of kicks that will see it continue, I mourn for the days of multi phase plays and Backs actually backing themselves more often than kicking it.
Burgess obviously had a sub-par, if unlucky, match and if he was filthy last week I would hate to be his room mate this week! Maybe he needs a day off to chillout instead.
To be honest, I think Australia where pretty ordinary and we can be thankful for how much pill England coughed up. They were responsible for their own turnover and most of ours too with some fantastic, if questionable at times, stripping of the ball that shouldn't happen at this level.
If England played as they did in the last 5-10 minutes all match they would have easily accounted for us. For their sake I hope they notice it and stop this obsession with drop kicks when in good attacking positions.
Yes, a win on enemy territory, but in the "a win is a win" category, the AB's would have flogged us.

[robyn <3]

Nathan Sharpe has turned in I think his greatest performance ever in the gold jersey. Absolutely sensational. The beard and Friar Tuck has to stay...

You are so damn right! Sharpie was fantastic and he was needed that game. He was just amazing! He hasn't been his best this season and I'm SO happy he sorted himself out. MOM for sure. Hehe if it's the beard that does it then the beard can stay!

Burgess should have been subbed off WAY before the 80 minutes was up. WAY WAY WAY! It was just appalling. The indecisiveness is not his fault really, it's lack of experiance and we needed some experiance.

The wings didn't get the ball very much. Only when the poms kicked it and we ran it back. Together Drew and Hynes got 23m. Shame really...

Mortlock was getting me very upset. He gave away TWO pentalties during the rucks and I was freaking out. But he was awesomely good in defense, so it evened out. He should not be at inside centre though.

England was dominating a bit during the first half at the breakdown. Shame about Brownie's finger, hope it's not serious. Palu had a massive impact when he came on. I was amazed, he came on for a scrum, just stood at the back and we won it, and got a penatly or something!

RYAN CROSS LEARN TO PASS THE RUGBY BALL! For Pete's sake, ball hog, we would have got a try (THROUGH DREW who was outside him I think) if he learned to pass and not slow it all down and have a ruck... meh. Don't take the world on by yourself!

And... I apologise Baxter. (Dear God that was painful) I was wrong and you had a good game. (Not that he will ever read this )

I also discovered that rugby and sugar and caffiene should not be mixed after midnight Good game. LINEOUT's were fantastic! And the scrum terrorised the pom pack, who thought they could mess around and not get caught. HA!

I need 7 more wallabies shirts to wear around London now

[TOCC]

Burgess should have been subbed off WAY before the 80 minutes was up. WAY WAY WAY! It was just appalling. The indecisiveness is not his fault really, it's lack of experiance and we needed some experiance.

i think you will find Burgess's indecisiveness had more to do with lack of options rather then lack of experience..

At times Burgess would look up to pass it and no one would be calling for the ball, on top of that it was evident that part of Englands game plan was to rush up on Giteau which meant Burgess couldnt always pass to him either.

It was frustrating to watch, but it wasnt exactly his fault.

[slomo]

steven moore was man of the match,........

[gotheforce]

two executions in one week- the bali bombers and the england rugby team. Beautiful.