England v Australia

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England v Australia
29 November 2014
KO 14:30
Twickenham
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)

*****
Well 3 down - one to go. And this is a biggy. World Cup group rival....a win would be a nice mental strengthener.

So who do we start.

Have the coaches learned some lessons?...Farrell is not in form and not fit.
Also having a playmaker at 10 opens options up.

Can they issue glue to all the players so they can actually catch the ball...specifically in try scoring situations.

Damn iphone, sorry

nathan wrote:So do you lot agree with Barnes? Youngs and ford 1st choice. Lessons learned by the coaching staff?

Without really wanting to agree with Barnes(!) I think Ford and Youngs have the shirts now. Our tactical kicking was much better today. Having a player with the speed of May chasing is only good if the kick is bang on. Arrgh, agreeing with Barnes again!

nathan wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Rowntree is earning his money. Not sure about the rest.

Personally I don't get this, yeah this series has only been ok but every team goes through bad patches. If we're not careful we'll get into the same situation as football

Nathan I just think we still have lots of work to do on am attaching front. Lines, angles or running making breaks etc. Yes I know we have had injuries and it doesn't help at all but we just don't seem able to break open teams like the aussies did at ease at times today

And it's a vital part of the game.

nathan wrote:So do you lot agree with Barnes? Youngs and ford 1st choice. Lessons learned by the coaching staff?

Probably. Youngs needs to work exclusively on his pass though in case we decide we do want to play the attacking rugby we did last 6N again! And if Care gets back to last 6N form, he has to be picked, imagine that with an attacking 10 and a pack that isn't Poopie like Quins'

Found it hilarious to see Youngs on the England rugby youtube channel giving a "passing master class".

nathan wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:Considering how bad Australia played in parts I think we need to improve significantly for the WC, because they will.

I think Brooke's has shown he is competent at this level. If Cole comes back as good then we have 3 tightheads at international level (Thomas had done well in the 6 Nations too).

But how much of it was England forcing Australia into mistakes?

Some but there were a lot of unforced errors.

yappysnap wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Never thought I'd say this about an Aussie team in any sport but I feel a bit sorry for this lot... They play a really enjoyable brand of rugby but lose 3 from 4 on the tour.  Hard to believe they can't find a front 5 that can at least win their own ball, how many times do they have to play all the rugby and lose before they sort it out.

As for england, well, I guess this match was about the win, but we went back to 10 man rugby to do it. Can't say it got my juices flowing.

One win and the haters are out. Go watch league

And that's being a hater how exactly? I've been a fan of what England have been doing under Lancaster, I guess they played a sensible structured game in some respects today, I just prefer to see a bit more expansive rugby when we had field position.

ChequeredJersey wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:Considering how bad Australia played in parts I think we need to improve significantly for the WC, because they will.

I think Brooke's has shown he is competent at this level. If Cole comes back as good then we have 3 tightheads at international level (Thomas had done well in the 6 Nations too).

Why is there is assumption that everyone else will automatically play better but implication that we won't?

And on Hood's point re the set Piece, i made it one not straight throw and 2 scrums that were well on top, probably penalties to us under most other referees and disrupted dubiously in one case at least

Because I haven't seen much progression for us in a while. Where as they have a new coach and have been out of sorts. Edit: I didn't say we wouldn't progress, just that I think Australia WILL

So, what did we learn today?
Our pack will always dominate the Wallabies?
We still don't have an attack from our back line?
Ford looks like the better option at 10?
Barritt is a tough hombre (but we knew that already)
What else?

AMAZING !!!! we beat the aussies !

Lawes and morgan..legends
Barrit..not the man for the shirt but what a hero
Ford and Youngs...so much better

Step in the right direction 606v2, with Launchberry and Tuilagi back soon and hopefully Vunipola, Farrell and Care finding form the future isn't that bleak.

Of course we aint there yet but for tonight well done England !

What is about these touch side interviewers talking cowpat?

Dr Grey,

We learned Twelvetrees is not an international

We may finally have found our two wingers.

Thought Twelvetrees was ok today where did you feel he was lacking?

I need to watch again to see what Twelvetrees did throughout the game, but including the 6N is it a coincidence that we seem to be better in attack when he plays.. Even if he isn't doing a whole lot of wow stuff himself?

sirtidychris wrote:AMAZING !!!! we beat the aussies !
Lawes and morgan..legends
Barrit..not the man for the shirt but what a hero
Ford and Youngs...so much better

Step in the right direction 606v2, with Launchberry and Tuilagi back soon and hopefully Vunipola, Farrell and Care finding form the future isn't that bleak.

Of course we aint there yet but for tonight well done England !

GeordieFalcon wrote:Dr Grey,
We learned Twelvetrees is not an international
We may finally have found our two wingers.

Agree on most points. Seems we can always summon a forward pack to push the Wallabies around, kind of similar to the Andrew Sheridan game a number of years ago. But the score of that match was not so great and neither was this. The Wallabies are hurting and we still only win by 9, two tries apiece. And outgained by a bunch.
Still not making me feel all warm and fuzzy.......

He was appallingly disjointed in defence too many times and individual tackling is lacking and as an attacking option he just doesn't offer the level required.
He's slow and ponderous.

Farrell looked better when he came on at 12.

Still think we need what he offers. He ll be no England great but until someone like a Devoto or Slade come of age I would imagine he ll be involved. If we want tackling then yes Barritt wil do that but he s limited and offers a lot less in attack.

Farrell looked fired up, but twelvetrees actually made some very good tackles and made some good passes, not spectacular like Toomua's efforts but on the whole solid/good and for now that's an improvement.

Got to disagree about 36 too GF.

When he almost knocked his first touch of the ball forward I almost hit the roof. But he recovered well the rest of the game, and as others have said, he did some good things. He'd have scored if the ref hadn't made that terrible call on Watson's supposed knock on, and his lovely floating pass was the first time we've seen a miss pass from the centres make it out wide. I can't recall his defence being that bad.

I still think there's a place for him in the squad. The backline works better with him in it. Though Farrell looked good when he came on too.

Still, our players won't hit the line at speed!!!

One guy did it today, and that was Barritt in the build up to Morgan's first try.

It is so simple.

May was very good today. If he can keep that up 6 nations. If brown can get back to his best and if manu can get fit we have something to look forward to.

Ford and Young's will have serious pressure from Farrell and care to keep there places(good problem)

And our forwards can just maul teams in to submission ..

Its not all bad.

We had to win the last two and we did. Roll on the 6nations. I can't wait to play Ireland and Wales.

I'm a big Twelvetrees fan generally but didn't think he was that good today. Looked like he was trying to impose himself in defence and ended up out of position. Reckon he missed about 5 tackles.

Conversely I'm not normally a fan of Barritt but he was a bit of a hero today. If Barritt and Tuilagi play outside Ford in Cardiff then I'll be quite happy.

Very impressive performance today. England really did their fans proud

mystiroakey wrote:

And our forwards can just maul teams in to submission ..

.

We can maul the Aussies into submission certainly, don't think we will manage it against too many other teams though, especially not the Irish

Armchairexpert wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

And our forwards can just maul teams in to submission ..

.

We can maul the Aussies into submission certainly, don't think we will manage it against too many other teams though, especially not the Irish

It's swings and roundabouts though. The Irish aren't nearly as dangerous with ball in hand as the Aussies.

Armchairexpert wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

And our forwards can just maul teams in to submission ..

.

We can maul the Aussies into submission certainly, don't think we will manage it against too many other teams though, especially not the Irish

It DID work against South Africa...

Well done England...couldnt realy see Oz winning this. Theyre in complete disarray an just need to sign of this tour and get home. I'd have been concerned if England didn't win this with just about everybody having beaten them this year...NZ, SA, Argie, France, Ireland and now England. Doesn't get much worse...

Got to say it was good to get the win, but we're still not the finished article. Hopefully we can keep this group together and add back Burrell, Tuilagi, Corbisiero, Cole, Launchbury, Parling, get Care and Farrell back to top form and pushing hard and then throw in Burgess (and Armitage? ) for the Six Nations and we've suddenly got a really strong 27/28 man squad to work with ahead of the World Cup.

I think in this series, Morgan, Youngs and Ford, along with May and Watson are the big winners and I'd have no problem starting the 5 of them in Cardiff. If Vunipola, Care and Farrell hit top form between now and then, then they can take the 20, 21 and 22 shirts for me and we can really build some healthy competition before the World Cup, rather than just handing the shirts back.

The pack looks strong, but there are also better players to come back. Corbisiero and Cole can both come back in if they are ready by the Six Nations, but only if they are 100% right. They're experienced enough now that they'll lose nothing by sitting it out, and then they can come into the squad at the end of the year, it depends on fitness.

Launchbury has proved he's class before, and he can come into the reckoning with Attwood and Lawes. We can either go "horses for courses" in the second row, or just pick on form. All three can do a great job and won't let us down.

The question marks for me are flankers and centres, and it's about trying to get the right balance. I'm happy with Robshaw at 7 and Tuilagi at 13 (when fit), so for me it's finding the best 6 and the best 12 to play with these players.

In terms of 6, I think we could do with another carrier in the pack, but that's not Wood and that certainly isn't Haskell (despite his size). So either we start with Vunipola and Morgan, or we look at Ewers or Waldrom down at Exeter. None of those options thrill me, so unless we see some performances from Burgess here we should stick with Wood and Robshaw for now.

In terms of a 12, Barritt was a hero at 13 today and his defence is obviously crucial. He and Manu have formed an effective and established partnership before (by England centre standards), and in the cauldron of the Millenium Stadium (shuddering as I remember our last visit), maybe he would be the best option for that game. With running threats inside him and outside him, Barritt can just offer what he does, rock solid defence, willing runner and good skills at the breakdown in case Tuilagi or Ford get caught in possession. If we can get a good attacking game going with Barritt in the side, then his defensive skills would be more useful than having another attacker for the sake of it. However, were the attacking game to falter with Barritt at 12, we could then look to bring in Burrell, Twelvetrees or Eastmond to change things up later in the tournament.

I'd say 5 games to nail down these two key combinations (flankers and centres), while everything else seems to be falling into place nicely.

You know exactly what you're going to get from Barritt and our gameplan is built around forward domination then his tackling is more of an asset than Twelvetrees apparent superior ball skills. I could be wrong but did I hear that he made 18 tackles today, which is immense and Lawes with 12 before the hour mark is equally impressive.

We need to look past trying to play an expansive game and concentrate on our strengths which is our physicality, we've never been a free flowing team and never will be. With home advantage we've consistently battered Australia, Wales and Ireland up front, the options we havefrom the bench in the pack after the hour mark just hammers home that advantage.

Playing Wales in the 6N and the World cup are two different beasts, when it comes to the crunch we'll have 80,000 fans roaring the team on.

Well I'll accept other people's opinions of Twelvetrees but in my personal opinion he just isn't the answer and isn't good enough to be an international 12.

I think we have better options in Barritt (limited but much more effective and consistent) eastmond, burrell (power and shows intelligent lines etc which aussies centres showed is essential Today).

With Many back I'd be looking for Eastmonds sniping game or Barritts limited but wholehearted blood and guts game outside ford.

Does any one think we will see Christian Wade back in the side for the 6ns?

I do think that May and Watson have nailed the shirt for now.

12Ts not relly struck on him to be honest. Burrell, Joseph, Eastmand, are all inmy opinion better than 12Ts.

Well done England. Haven't watched it or read about it yet, but going on the scoreline looks like a decent win!

Griff wrote:Well done England. Haven't watched it or read about it yet, but going on the scoreline looks like a decent win!

Thanks Griff

Congrats to your boys too. Good day for the NH!

I think both our sides are happy to win, but have plenty to work on. Good end to the Autumn though.

Does any think that the result today will have any impact come the 6s game in Wales?

As a complete aside from the result, God I hate Barnes!  Has anybody ever been as bitter that he was in the shadow (Rob Andrew) of another player?  People say that Sky is biased in favour of England but this guy pisses me off every time he commentates.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You know exactly what you're going to get from Barritt and our gameplan is built around forward domination then his tackling is more of an asset than Twelvetrees apparent superior ball skills. I could be wrong but did I hear that he made 18 tackles today, which is immense and Lawes with 12 before the hour mark is equally impressive.

We need to look past trying to play an expansive game and concentrate on our strengths which is our physicality, we've never been a free flowing team and never will be. With home advantage we've consistently battered Australia, Wales and Ireland up front, the options we havefrom the bench in the pack after the hour mark just hammers home that advantage.

Playing Wales in the 6N and the World cup are two different beasts, when it comes to the crunch we'll have 80,000 fans roaring the team on.

I agree the tackle count especially by Barritt and Lawes was impressive.  Even Ford made a lot of tackles, which is terrific for a Pygmy.  

The problem, and to me this is a big problem, Aus had TWICE the possession and THREE times the yards (please note the refusal to use metres).  Being out-gained by such a huge amount is hardly the recipe for success.  Clearly we don't need to run all over teams if we truly will go back to traditional English Orc Rugby, but yardage parity or better is a better jumping off point for the RWC.

doctor_grey wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You know exactly what you're going to get from Barritt and our gameplan is built around forward domination then his tackling is more of an asset than Twelvetrees apparent superior ball skills. I could be wrong but did I hear that he made 18 tackles today, which is immense and Lawes with 12 before the hour mark is equally impressive.

We need to look past trying to play an expansive game and concentrate on our strengths which is our physicality, we've never been a free flowing team and never will be. With home advantage we've consistently battered Australia, Wales and Ireland up front, the options we havefrom the bench in the pack after the hour mark just hammers home that advantage.

Playing Wales in the 6N and the World cup are two different beasts, when it comes to the crunch we'll have 80,000 fans roaring the team on.

I agree the tackle count especially by Barritt and Lawes was impressive.  Even Ford made a lot of tackles, which is terrific for a Pygmy.  

The problem, and to me this is a big problem, Aus had TWICE the possession and THREE times the yards (please note the refusal to use metres).  Being out-gained by such a huge amount is hardly the recipe for success.  Clearly we don't need to run all over teams if we truly will go back to traditional English Orc Rugby, but yardage parity or better is a better jumping off point for the RWC.

The same happened last week but in our favour v SA. But we lost.

Cyril wrote:

Griff wrote:Well done England. Haven't watched it or read about it yet, but going on the scoreline looks like a decent win!

Thanks Griff

Congrats to your boys too. Good day for the NH!

I think both our sides are happy to win, but have plenty to work on. Good end to the Autumn though.

Far from a good performance from Wales. A full strength Bok team would have taken us to the cleaners I suspect. But saying that, we all have to cope with times when we are stripped of our best players and today the Boks didn't have the depth.

Anyway, back to this thread: apologies if this has been discussed earlier, but anyone else think that Burgess may have transferred over a bit late if he plans on making the World Cup? Effectively he'll have 3/4 of this season and then perhaps a bit of next season.

The tackling and defence in general was good, but it bothers me that we look so much more comfortable in defence than attack. At times it seemed to me that we kicked the ball to Australia because we didn't really know what to do with it. They by contrast seemed much more decisive and instinctive. We relied on our defence to clobber them and score points from mistakes/ infringements.

That isn't necessarily the worst way to go because knock out rugby is generally a cagey affair, but I'm still left feeling a little dissatisfied, despite England winning well (it could have been much better if certain things had gone our way.)

mystiroakey wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You know exactly what you're going to get from Barritt and our gameplan is built around forward domination then his tackling is more of an asset than Twelvetrees apparent superior ball skills. I could be wrong but did I hear that he made 18 tackles today, which is immense and Lawes with 12 before the hour mark is equally impressive.

We need to look past trying to play an expansive game and concentrate on our strengths which is our physicality, we've never been a free flowing team and never will be. With home advantage we've consistently battered Australia, Wales and Ireland up front, the options we havefrom the bench in the pack after the hour mark just hammers home that advantage.

Playing Wales in the 6N and the World cup are two different beasts, when it comes to the crunch we'll have 80,000 fans roaring the team on.

I agree the tackle count especially by Barritt and Lawes was impressive.  Even Ford made a lot of tackles, which is terrific for a Pygmy.  

The problem, and to me this is a big problem, Aus had TWICE the possession and THREE times the yards (please note the refusal to use metres).  Being out-gained by such a huge amount is hardly the recipe for success.  Clearly we don't need to run all over teams if we truly will go back to traditional English Orc Rugby, but yardage parity or better is a better jumping off point for the RWC.

The same happened last week but in our favour v SA. But we lost.

Good point. The way the Aussies play (and Ashley-Cooper was excellent) means they will always make yards. It's what you do with it. We made plenty of yards and territory vs the Boks but didn't make it count. Today, England played a better game. I'm confident that Ford and the midfield will continue to make progress.

PS Anyone else finding the forum slow and timing out today?

NZ routinely win comfortably while having less possession, making less yards and tackling more. It's not about how much time you have with the ball, it's about making the most of it when it matters.

doctor_grey wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You know exactly what you're going to get from Barritt and our gameplan is built around forward domination then his tackling is more of an asset than Twelvetrees apparent superior ball skills. I could be wrong but did I hear that he made 18 tackles today, which is immense and Lawes with 12 before the hour mark is equally impressive.

We need to look past trying to play an expansive game and concentrate on our strengths which is our physicality, we've never been a free flowing team and never will be. With home advantage we've consistently battered Australia, Wales and Ireland up front, the options we havefrom the bench in the pack after the hour mark just hammers home that advantage.

Playing Wales in the 6N and the World cup are two different beasts, when it comes to the crunch we'll have 80,000 fans roaring the team on.

I agree the tackle count especially by Barritt and Lawes was impressive.  Even Ford made a lot of tackles, which is terrific for a Pygmy.  

The problem, and to me this is a big problem, Aus had TWICE the possession and THREE times the yards (please note the refusal to use metres).  Being out-gained by such a huge amount is hardly the recipe for success.  Clearly we don't need to run all over teams if we truly will go back to traditional English Orc Rugby, but yardage parity or better is a better jumping off point for the RWC.

Wasn't most of that yardage running it back from deep plus about 2 big breaks? Not worried about the possession because we dominated the kicking game, breakdown, scrum and lineout, the possession and territory areas that have any genuine relevance. Watching Robshaw make 4 turnovers was fun

doctor_grey wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You know exactly what you're going to get from Barritt and our gameplan is built around forward domination then his tackling is more of an asset than Twelvetrees apparent superior ball skills. I could be wrong but did I hear that he made 18 tackles today, which is immense and Lawes with 12 before the hour mark is equally impressive.

We need to look past trying to play an expansive game and concentrate on our strengths which is our physicality, we've never been a free flowing team and never will be. With home advantage we've consistently battered Australia, Wales and Ireland up front, the options we havefrom the bench in the pack after the hour mark just hammers home that advantage.

Playing Wales in the 6N and the World cup are two different beasts, when it comes to the crunch we'll have 80,000 fans roaring the team on.

I agree the tackle count especially by Barritt and Lawes was impressive.  Even Ford made a lot of tackles, which is terrific for a Pygmy.  

The problem, and to me this is a big problem, Aus had TWICE the possession and THREE times the yards (please note the refusal to use metres).  Being out-gained by such a huge amount is hardly the recipe for success.  Clearly we don't need to run all over teams if we truly will go back to traditional English Orc Rugby, but yardage parity or better is a better jumping off point for the RWC.

Depends on where the game is being played. If we were making them play hard in their own half then its all good

What the stats also don't show is the playing style of the team. One team could play flat, running onto the ball and straight into the defensive wall in a very short distance, compared to a team running from deep who run for further until they reach the defensive line. It doesn't necessarily mean they get further. Just that the metres with ball in hand is greater.

Well Done England.

At no point did it look like Australia were going to win so the possession and territory don't bother me too much, you set up to win not to dominate the yardage. When the first line of defence is Lawes and Barritt you can allow the Aussies to have the ball who i'm sure dominate possession in almost every game they play anyway.

It's horses for courses, we know how to beat the Aussies so why change a winning formula, the front five is more than enough, it's not against other teams but it's then that you alter things.

Well done England.

So hard to stay up for this match, flaked out there towards the end much like the Wallaby side on this AI tour.
I still believe that for all the yardage (for Doc) made they are still blowing more chances to finish the plays off... i.e. final passes flying over the winger's heads, poor handling when the line seems open. Wrong options putting our players under even more pressure... then getting punished.

Maybe I am being too harsh, nathan and Hammer. Maybe the players were too tired (or had the flu!) but this caps off a dreadful week for Australian sport. However, it naturally pales into insignificance with our other big loss. Still shattered about that. So, so hard to believe that's happened.

However, as I was saying at HT - full credit to England for their swarming abilities and their ability to apply pressure at those crucial moments.

Your pack totally shunted us around the park yet again (always so disappointing to see and I can't ever see that changing) and Morgs was like a wombat on super steroids throughout the match. I was impressed with May again and also Watson. Both have made the step up to International rugby very well. That must really build up some confidence when you get your preferred centres into the mix. It will be a much more potent backline then.

I don't want to harp on about it but Izzy had a bit of a shocker. He just seems so hot and cold. The fumble led to the turn over which led to the 2nd try and that pass to Horne near the end was disappointing from an Oz perspective. AAC made those great forays but alas... they came to nothing apart from the run which led to Willy's try.

So, enough ranting. Congratulations to England and their loyal fans. You did more than enough to take this one out and survived a few scares towards the end. It was a very dedicated performance and you should all be feeling better over the last couple of weeks knowing there will be scope for further improvement... despite what some pundits are saying.

From an overall NH v SH perspective. I can't remember the last time our top 3/4 teams were so close to there top 3.  The 6nations will really battle hardern us.

I think its been a poor year for SA, Oz, NZ and England on a relative basis and that has allowed Scotland, Wales and the biggest improvers Ireland squeeze the gap. Oz has had by far the worst year, followed by NZ, England then SA. Wales has more or less remained the same, the key difference finally a win over a SH side.

The upheavals in the oz rugby family have obviously been the biggest contributor to Oz's woes this year. NZ are not the side they were last year with a draw and a loss and several close wins. South Africa have had ups and downs but  are not as consistent as they were last year.

I believe the influence of Cotter and Schmidt at Scotland and Ireland is one of the significant factors but fans of those two sides will know better. NZers expected the two to perform better under those two and they have so theres something in that.

England will have been hit by more than most by injuries and have simply stagnated. They should have put Oz away easier than they did. That's as bad as Oz will get.

SA, OZ, NZ and England all suffered from inconsistency of selection for one reason or another in key positions.

9, 10, the centres and even wings were chopped and changed throughout the year with such frequency that combinations just weren't allowed to flourish. Who are the 10's for SA, Oz, NZ and England? At least two were tried from each team with mixed results, and years end who has that position nailed down for the World cup? None I'd suggest, whereas with Ireland, I'm pretty confident Sextons the man.

As a report card compared to last year?

Ireland- A
Scotland- B
Boks- C
AB's- C-
Wales- C-
England C-
Oz- D

I'd probably put France in at C though they disregard whats said about them anyway.

Overall I don't think the general international level wasn't very good this year. The AI's threw up some pretty dour stuff but particularly in the SH we all just couldn't decide who to put on the field half the time.

T/man Hi,it is a mistake comparing year on year especially as despite what has been said
much of the planning is for 2015 RWC.

Injuries have been a big factor in selections and trying to put team squads together it
seemed this year.England for example started the season[NH]in September and it seemed
every day another injury.

England has the largest pool of players in the world followed by France probably,given
that no two of the 12 clubs use the same game plan.Problems are bound to occur also
that NH weather conditions effect styles of play unless enclosed pitches etc.

You have duplication in players in positions with differing skill sets,example forwards
tend to be set piece orientated static rather than dynamic.Mid field do you have the
classic NH style a cruncher at 12,a creator at 13[applies to SA to].

Or the classic NZ and to lesser extent OZ pattern a 10/12 who can both defend and
has kicking skills/dual playmaker with 13 co -ordinating defences and creating his
outside backs.

Wales,Ireland,Italy,Scotland have smaller pools so the choices are more concentrated.
Nz/Oz tend to have more mobile forwards plus great backs,NZ usually have a solid set
piece as well.OZ usually an adequate one,SA massive forwards and until recently
kicking as opposed to running backs.

NZ has great depth and the very real advantage of skills taught at a very early age[5or so]
Every team ITM,Super,7`s,supports the national side playing the same styles ,coaching etc.
SA to of course but they select from overseas based players unlike Nz/Oz.

Australia in 2013 were very poor in the early part of the year due to injuries and internal
strife.Under Mc Kenzie by the end of the years AI`s he had built up a winning run into
july 2014 and even first RC game.
A mixed RC with the draw v Nz,win v SA,loss v Argentina,then "BEALEGATE" sacked coach
or resigned.Because he had neither support of his team or the ARU a dreadful AI`s streaky
wins v Barbarians then losses to Ireland,France,England.

England in contrast have gone from a 3-0 loss to NZ,then the hype we will win our group
then its Final of or winning RWC.[which of course they may well do]

Because theres no opposition on our side of the draw,then suddenly after losses to Nz,Sa,
streaky win over Samoa there no hopers,now of course all has changed with todays victory.

If the Ai`s have shown anything and its been the most intense for years with all the tier 2
sides competing too.On there day ANY side is capable of toppling a name side,and tier 2
sides will bring you down to there level because they have nothing to lose.

That isn`t meant as a sleight but watching Italy and Samoa it really was a case of just
competing without hopes of winning.

France what can you say typical good one game,poor the next,Ireland full value for
there IRB rating.Scotland improving,Argentina ditto,Wales outstanding defensive
games poor finishing.[excellent win today lads]Italy solid setpiece limeted other wise.

England good forwards but little cutting edge currently may change when injured return.
Australia a work in progress and with oversea players back next year?get a scrum there
in business.

South Africa a holding operation until injured players get back on line next year they
will be there or thereabouts.

Finally NZ least it be for gotten a lot of near squeaks 2013 to this year has been affected
by injuries quite badly especially in the backs.Only Aron Smith and Ben Smith amongst
starters unaffected,with Nonu,Conrad Smith,Savae,Carter,Dagg,Cruden.Kerr -Barlow,
PIatau,Crotty,Cory Jane all injured at one time or other.

Not to mention forward injuries too,4 wins versus England,2 v Argentina,2 and a draw
v OZ.Win and loss v SA and that only a conversion difference,plus determined resistance
from Wales and Scotland.A 12,1,1 record is very creditable.

Especially now going into 2015 the way players have been absorbed into the team without
to many problems NZ still seem to be best placed of the worlds sides.[no doubt that will change next year]

Finally congratulations to England and Wales and a rapid recovery to Jean De Villiers