Wallabies open Grand Slam Tour with win over England at Twickenham

[travelling_gerry]

From Darren Walton in London, England
November 08, 2009



The Wallabies have completed the first leg of a possible Grand Slam after scoring a tense 18-9 victory over a gallant England at Twickenham on Sunday morning (EDT).

In a gripping encounter, Australia trailed until the hour mark before fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper clinched the first leg of rugby's Grand Slam with a powerhouse try eight minutes from time.

Ashley-Cooper, who scored Australia's sole try in last year's Twickenham triumph over their old foes, was mobbed by teammates after carrying four defenders over the line and planting the ball in the left-hand corner.

Matt Giteau nailed the sideline conversion to put the issue beyond doubt.

However the Test could have ended in disaster for the Wallabies, who are bidding to emulate the 1984 Australian side which famously completed a Grand Slam sweep of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

With 27 players unavailable - but with Australia's World Cup nemesis Jonny Wilkinson back for his first Test in 18 months - a depleted England looked poised to spring a massive boilover after taking a 9-5 lead into half-time.

Wilkinson, incredibly also playing his first November in seven years after a storied career dogged by injuries - scored all of England's points through a drop goal and two penalty goals.

Ultimately, though, he was upstaged by a superb man-of-the-match display from Wallabies halfback Will Genia, who was again magnificent in just his fourth Test start.

"I'm proud of the boys," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said.

"They had to work hard through the first half. We had a sense that it was coming but we haven't always shown a lot of patience in recent times, and belief, to be fair.

"But, in this instance, we showed a lot of courage. Defensively, we worked hard and we used a bit of nous just in terms of field position.

"Ultimately, that weight of territory and possession told."

Wilkinson showed his intentions early, drilling a third-minute drop goal, the first points from their returning hero sending Twickenham's capacity crowd into raptures.

The veteran five-eighth doubled England's advantage in the 10th minute after winger Peter Hynes was harshly penalised for an apparent dangerous tackle on England fullback Ugo Monye.

Australia's first promising movement broke down when Wycliff Palu was penalised for not releasing, but it wasn't long before the Wallabies were again on the attack.

After some patient build-up from the Wallabies forwards, Genia crossed for his maiden Test try, the diminutive No.9 dummying his way over from close range in the 21st minute.

Giteau's missed conversion attempt left England 6-5 ahead.

Another Wilkinson penalty gave England their four-point half-time buffer, but Australia really should have led at the break.

England's midfield defence looked vulnerable throughout the match, but the Wallabies continued to be their own worst enemies, either infringing with possession or turning the ball over through a lack of composure.

Close to half-time, Stephen Moore sent Benn Robinson on a storming run but, unaccustomed to find himself in such space, the Wallabies prop butchered the try when he failed to pass to Peter Hynes, who was free on his right just 15 metres from the England line.

It was more of the same from the Wallabies straight after the break when Rocky Elsom was unable to put Hynes over in the right corner after some relentless Australian attack inside the England 22.

Giteau added a 47th-minute penalty to reduce the margin to a point as Australia, with a mountain of possession, dominated the second half.

But England's spirited defence held firm and, time after time, the Wallabies were unable to drive home their advantage.

Winger Drew Mitchell kicked away possession inside the England quarter and then, after tackle-shedding 15-metre surge, Digby Ioane spilt the ball over the line.

Giteau finally put Australia ahead for the first time on the hour with an angled 25-metre penalty after England collapsed the scrum before Ashley-Cooper struck late.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html

[mudskipper]

November 7, 2009


Australia fly-half Matt Giteau insisted that the Wallabies always believed that they could turn things around in Saturday's 18-9 victory England.

The Aussies, who had gone into the game having lost six of their previous seven games, found themselves 9-5 down at the interval at Twickenham - despite scoring the only try of the first half, through Will Genia.

However, Robbie Deans' men dominated after the interval and Adam Ashley Cooper's 70th-minute try ultimately decided the game in their favour. Given their recent form, Giteau was unsurprisingly thrilled that the Wallabies had maintained their composure and belief after an awkward opening 40 minutes.

"It's been well reported how disappointed we were after the Tri-Nations and we put a big emphasis on this game - I think we underlined that with our performance in the second half. I think we kicked a lot better, got good field position and our line-outs functioned a lot better," the No.10 told Sky Sports after the game.

"At half time, we felt we were doing enough but we were giving away too many penalties. We were also creating chances but we just needed to be more disciplined and hold on to the ball. We knew that if we did that the chances would keep coming.

"It certainly didn't feel comfortable at any stage because I think England were threatening all game. I think it's a different England side, they're always looking to attack and they opened us up a few times. So it was never comfortable but we did create a lot of opportunities. We just didn't take them and hopefully we'll take them the next day."

While Giteau played his part in Australia's victory, kicking eight points as well as turning in an excellent defensive display, it was his half-back partner Will Genia who walked away with the man of the match award for an excellent all-round display.

Genia may be just 21 but he has already drawn favourable comparisons with Australia's legendary No.9 George Gregan. Giteau feels it is too early to be mentioning Genia in the same breath as Gregan but he has nothing but praise for his young team-mate.

"I don't want to place too much pressure because George Gregan's a legend of the game and a legend of Australian rugby but Willie's a great player, as you saw today. He's got all of the skills and, defensively, he's very strong. It's only early in his career but he's playing very well," he said.

Giteau was also reluctant to get carried away when it came to his country's chances of becoming only the second side to complete a clean sweep on a tour of Great Britain and Ireland.

"It's definitely possible but it's a bit too early to start talking about it yet. We've got Ireland to come next weekend and then after that it's Scotland and Wales so it's far too early to be thinking about it," he said.

Meanwhile, England flanker Lewis Moody that Australia's superior match sharpness had ultimately proved the difference between the two sides.

"We battled hard all game - Australia were slicker than we were. We defended a lot of the second half and the tries we conceded were quite soft in the end. But they were more clinical than us on the day.

"The ball they had, they used better. We never gave up, and it was frustrating to lose at the end when it was close with 20 minutes to go. We've just got to build on it from here."

Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, who accounted for all England's points, was also doing his best to remain upbeat at the full-time whistle, arguing that the players deserve credit for the defensive resilience they had shown during the second half.

"We spent a lot of the game defending against a lot of momentum. When you give a very good side that kind of ball in that area of the field, to do what we did defensively was great," he said.

"The great thing is that this is a fantastic squad in attitude and energy and where we are prepared to take this. It's our first turn, and we're going to use it to bring us tighter."

England team manager Martin Johnson had no complaints about the final scoreline and is also of the opinion that there is still plenty more to come from his side.

"Overall, they deserved to win. But there were chances for us to do more. In the second half, they dominated territory to such an extent that they're going to score points," he admitted.

"But that team is playing its first time together - Australia have come straight out of the Tri-Nations and a Test match."


http://www.scrum.com/england/rugby/story/105101.html

---------- Post added at 08:27 ---------- Previous post was at 07:54 ----------

AAC SWEET TRY TIME, assisted by some nice swift passing by Will Genia and Matt Giteau....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3g9zeojfes&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- AAC Try[/ame]

[Hoolly Doolly]

genia was great.getting tired of gits and his glory runs for tries and starving guys outside of him .pass the ball dammit! take a leaf from wilko who played a great game. ioane(when he got the ball and in def), elsom,aac,palu,robinson and moore played well also
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[pieter blackie]

Genia was great and Benn Robinson was my Australian man of the match His scrumming was a determining factor and the way he was running around the park was good entertainment the win could have gone either way and luckily for the Wallabies it went there way.

Jonny Wilkinson was my overall man of the match. His tackling was outstanding and also the way he read the game and putting players into holes is briliant.

Ps Gits was Selfish he played below par and were out of position so many times he might as well wear the 12 jumper of maybe no jumper at all

[Hoolly Doolly]

yeah wilko got chisolm a beauty among a heap of other great tackles.chisolm needs a dose of harden the **** up.what pussy.anyone else notice how many tackles mitchell dropped off.
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[chook]

genia was great.getting tired of gits and his glory runs for tries and starving guys outside of him .pass the ball dammit! take a leaf from wilko who played a great game. ioane(when he got the ball and in def), elsom,aac,palu,robinson and moore played well also
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Odd you say that since its Gits who passes the ball to Adam Ash unselfishly for the try. THere was a slight gap he could have had a 'glory run' at and didn't take it. Damn that boy is selfish!! Adam should never have got that ball. England should have won. They were the better team.

[sandgroperrugby]

Wilkinson definitely challenges Carter as the best Fly-Half in the world. His defence last night was second to none and his kicking game as always was outstanding. With a couple of better centres running off him we would have been in big trouble.

The Wallabies now have to play the two best teams from the NH in consecutive weeks. Can they do it?

[TOCC]

no way in the world does Wilkinson challenge Carter, Wilkonson is a fantastic kicker and defender, thats where his repetoire finishes, Carter ticks both of those boxes and also has a great passing and running game.

The English backline was completely stagnant last night, they tried playing there 12 at 5/8 to open it up but his passing was equally as shit.

[PerthGirl]

Thought that Wilkinson's attacking was pretty good last night. After the drop goal I thought England were going to be playing their normal safe, boring game but I was impressed with the way they went on the attack. Luckily the Wallabies were up to it, Genia was fantastic! It was worth only having 3 and a half hours sleep last night to see the win. Go Wallabies!!

[tragic]

Wilkinson is good, but I don't think he challenges Carter, either.
Gloriously happy for the win and the boys!
Wilkinson's 3rd minute droppy was a terrible moment, but one which had to be expected. I mean, we weren't expecting tries from England, were we?
And while we might wonder how we would have done against a non-injury-ravaged England, in the end there's no point wondering - we won, they lost.
Genia was outstanding. AAC's tackle-breaking runs are getting even better. Robinson might need to be training with the forwards AND the backs in future However, I'm still not convinced about Koo-wade right now. He seemed very light-weight against the English defence, and his fancy stepping didn't impress them, either.

[Hoolly Doolly]

Odd you say that since its Gits who passes the ball to Adam Ash unselfishly for the try. THere was a slight gap he could have had a 'glory run' at and didn't take it. Damn that boy is selfish!! Adam should never have got that ball.

took him nearly the whole game to figure out passing the ball!
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[chook]

And thats your argument? Does the time clock dictate when and how a pass should be thrown?

[tic]

I'd like to throw in a compliment for Quade Cooper too. I thought he had a good game last night - particularly first half. He seems to be maturing and this tour will do his confidence a lot of good.

AAC was also fantastic (as usual). Genia was pure genius - the halfback we have been lacking for years.

[Sheikh]

What was the line-out like? The report I read on the BBC website said that England dominated that.

[TOCC]

it started well, went to shit and then came good again