Australia v England, 18 June

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AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND
18 June 2016
20:00 AEST (UTC+10)
AAMI Park, Melbourne

Live on [tbc]

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: [tbc]
Television match official: [tbc]

A. Head to Head

45 Played 45
25 Won 19
1 Drawn 1
19 Lost 25
968 Points 713

B. Recent Form

11 June 2016 - Suncorp, Brisbane: Australia 28–39 England

3 October 2015 - Twickenham, London: 13 – 33 to Australia

29 November 2014 - Twickenham, London: 26 – 17 to England

2 November 2013 - Twickenham, London: 20 – 13 to England

17 November 2012 - Twickenham, London: 14 – 20 to Australia

13 November 2010 - Twickenham, London: 35 – 18 to England

19 June 2010 - Telstra Stadium, Sydney: 20 – 21 to England

12 June 2010 - Subiaco Oval, Perth: 27 – 17 to Australia

C. Teams

AUSTRALIA 

Israel Folau; Dane Haylett-Petty, Tevita Kuridrani, Samu Kerevi, Rob Horne; Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps; James Slipper, Stephen Moore (capt), Sekope Kepu, Rory Arnold, Sam Carter, Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, Sean McMahon.

Replacements (three to be omitted): Tatafu Polota-Nau, Toby Smith, Greg Holmes, James Horwill, Dean Mumm, Wycliff Palu, Ben McCalman, Liam Gill, Nick Frisby, Christian Leali'ifano, Luke Morahan

ENGLAND

Screw being grounded!

Ha ha ....great victory enjoy tonight, then we focus on white washing them.

And Marra,

We havent even introduced Robinson and Hammersley yet....

FEAR US!

Cumbrian wrote:That beats any slam as far as I am concerned. Fantastic, need to go on and whitewash them now!

What a spell for English rugby. Everything is clicking into place, the excellent youth development is supplying player after player ready to step up. I am sure nobody will admit that we have any world class players but mark my words. This is just the beginning.

Anyone who says you don't is either blinded by jealousy or just plain stupid.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ha ha ....great victory enjoy tonight, then we focus on white washing them.

Plenty of rotation will be needed in the pack. Haskell looked run into the ground at the end. Billy, Mako, Cole and Robshaw played excellently but have had very long seasons. Kruis has been slightly quieter these last two games than the 6 Nations, perhaps some fatigue creeping in there as well.

Brown is looking tired too. I'd be very happy to see 11.Yarde 14.Nowell 15.Watson given a chance.

Well this England side knows how to tough it out and win ugly. A lot of the kicking as people have said was good, but we did too much of it and invited wave after wave of attack. Would have been good to hold onto the ball and just get a spell of possession in that second half. Amazing rearguard action, and the subs came on and gave a bit of impetus when we needed it.

You look at the two scorelines and they certainly don't tell the story, but winning is a great habit so credit to Jones and the boys. Terrific stuff.

Congratulations to England and their fans on here.

Brilliant win and deserved series win.

Whitewash possible next week?

milkyboy wrote:Well this England side knows how to tough it out and win ugly. A lot of the kicking as people have said was good, but we did too much of it and invited wave after wave of attack. Would have been good to hold onto the ball and just get a spell of possession in that second half. Amazing rearguard action, and the subs came on and gave a bit of impetus when we needed it.

You look at the two scorelines and they certainly don't tell the story, but winning is a great habit so credit to Jones and the boys. Terrific stuff.

As I said earlier, defensive shifts like that today are worth 12-14 points in my opinion so to me anyways, it is a true representation of the difference between the two sides.

eirebilly wrote:Many may say that the scoreline flattered England but I don't think it does. That defensive effort was simply worth 12-14 points on its own.

The Aussies arrogance in not taking the kickable penalties is what cost them I feel.

I said at the start of this series that I felt England were the better side and that they would win the series comfortably, I feel somewhat justified in that prediction as now they have won the series.

Massive congrats to England and their fans

And congrats to you eirebilly for a rather bold ...and now accurate (!) prediction

So are you confident of the whitewash now ?

GeordieFalcon wrote:I like that Hartley is keeping them very grounded aswell though!

He's spoken very well after each game.

What a game. Have to say I was screaming for the subs and couldn't believe he left it so late.

There is so much improvement to come.

Probably not the greatest game to watch as a neutral, but wow in the context of everything that surrounded the game it is a massive massive result.

Ozy will improve. They missed a trick without the 2nd play maker and should have had more muscle in the pack, so maybe this will provide them the opportunity to change.

I'm expecting changes next week for us, though the prize of 3 zip will concentrate the selection.

Well played England.

I do love my bold predictions alfie but I am sure I am bang on with this one and England will get the whitewash. They will want to finish as they started, no quarter will be given in the final test next weekend.

Go take some beers bud and enjoy the win.

Just wish us Irish some luck against the Boks

king_carlos wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ha ha ....great victory enjoy tonight, then we focus on white washing them.

Plenty of rotation will be needed in the pack. Haskell looked run into the ground at the end. Billy, Mako, Cole and Robshaw played excellently but have had very long seasons. Kruis has been slightly quieter these last two games than the 6 Nations, perhaps some fatigue creeping in there as well.

Brown is looking tired too. I'd be very happy to see 11.Yarde 14.Nowell 15.Watson given a chance.

Too be honest , that's my gut instinct Carlos. He will have eyes on the 3-0 but what better opportunity now to put some of the others out to start, like Launchbury, Clifford, Hill etc.

He may feel, the series is won...he'll gain more by blooding more of the young lads than winning 3-0 with the same side. Though imagine if the young pretenders were to win...and make it 3-0

The tackling from ford and Young's was just fabulous to watch.

Well done England! Huge result and to be honest after about 10 mins in I felt that only one team could win it. Disgusted that the Wallabies have managed to lose this test series in first two games, but if they can play well next week and take at least one win I'll be a bit happier. Totally outplayed in both games by a smarter and better organised England side.

England vs NZ.. now thats a game I'd like to go to this Autumn.

Wow! Fantastic stuff there - I was getting concerned when it was just a 6 point lead but what a kick by George and try by Farrell. Good strong refereeing display with the TMO replay correctly interpreted by Joubert as Farrell being within his rights. Was pleased Aus didn't kick their penalties as that could have changed things. Awesome stuff!

The Farrell non penalty was very bizarre. Nigel will want to forget that one.

Bloody hard job officiating these games but knowing when to intervene and when to button it must be very difficult.

What's going to happen with the Hooper throwing sand at Haskell incident?

This didn't seem to bother Haskell, and I'm sure there's no law "you won't throw sand", but wouldn't it be similar to spitting at an opponent?

We'll have to wait on the citing commissioner, but it seems very much unlike Hooper.

For all the whining of the Aussie press, their players play a fair game.

Hooper fair?

Stunning defensive effort by us.

Who got MotM?

LondonTiger wrote:Stunning defensive effort by us.

Who got MotM?

Robshaw

kingelderfield wrote:The Farrell non penalty was very bizarre. Nigel will want to forget that one.

Bloody hard job officiating these games but knowing when to intervene and when to button it must be very difficult.

Why? He was side on and saw a player being taken out. It was only the footage from front on that could see that Foley changed direction so not really Owens fault. He simply saw Foley go down and thought that Farrell may have taken him out so asked for the TMO to intervene.

Was just very happy that Joubert saw this and acted appropriately, Owens could even get some credit for referring it...

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Stunning defensive effort by us.

Who got MotM?

Robshaw

Fair enough, I was torn between him and Haskell. And Robshaw did execute one of the two best kicks in the game.

Nothing Fair about Hooper, he has a side to him!

He must be cited for that.

I thought Joubert made some strange decisions in our favour. For me the Farrell/Foley incident was not a penalty either way.

also thought Australia were unlucky with the penalty reversal, and Haskell lucky not to be binned at the end of the first half.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Nothing Fair about Hooper, he has a side to him!

He must be cited for that.

What happened?

Supposedly he threw a handful of sand into Haskell's face. Haven't seen it myself.

Edit: awesome win. I thought we were lucky not to have a yellow at the end of the first half (when Joubert gave advantage). Farrell made a good point that it was very slippy out there which meant we could put pressure on and wait for the handling error.

did not see that. Though I did not watch the half time stuff or afte match.

The sand in face clip is on Brian Moores Twitter account

rozakthegoon wrote:The sand in face clip is on Brian Moores Twitter account

Nobody will be viewing it then.

N

eirebilly wrote:I do love my bold predictions alfie but I am sure I am bang on with this one and England will get the whitewash. They will want to finish as they started, no quarter will be given in the final test next weekend.

Go take some beers bud and enjoy the win.

Just wish us Irish some luck against the Boks

Wishing you all the Luck of the Irish

Reckon you might well take them too...

GeordieFalcon wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ha ha ....great victory enjoy tonight, then we focus on white washing them.

Plenty of rotation will be needed in the pack. Haskell looked run into the ground at the end. Billy, Mako, Cole and Robshaw played excellently but have had very long seasons. Kruis has been slightly quieter these last two games than the 6 Nations, perhaps some fatigue creeping in there as well.

Brown is looking tired too. I'd be very happy to see 11.Yarde 14.Nowell 15.Watson given a chance.

Too be honest , that's my gut instinct Carlos. He will have eyes on the 3-0 but what better opportunity now to put some of the others out to start, like Launchbury, Clifford, Hill etc.

He may feel, the series is won...he'll gain more by blooding more of the young lads than winning 3-0 with the same side. Though imagine if the young pretenders were to win...and make it 3-0

He may make some changes ...but the way Jones is talking he really wants the whitewash. Don't think he will be thinking about blooding youngsters - unless he thinks they'll help him win.

Well maybe Alfie, I guess we'll see.

Has he done an interview, id like to see what he says about the game.

mikey_dragon wrote:

rozakthegoon wrote:The sand in face clip is on Brian Moores Twitter account

Nobody will be viewing it then.

I love Moore on Twitter. Hilarious. Especially his trolling of piers Morgan

LondonTiger wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Nothing Fair about Hooper, he has a side to him!

He must be cited for that.

What happened?

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/rugby/watch-michael-hooper-throws-sand-in-james-haskells-eyes-during-fiercely-contested-scrum/83277

Alex_Germany wrote:What's going to happen with the Hooper throwing sand at Haskell incident?

This didn't seem to bother Haskell, and I'm sure there's no law "you won't throw sand", but wouldn't it be similar to spitting at an opponent?

We'll have to wait on the citing commissioner, but it seems very much unlike Hooper.

For all the whining of the Aussie press, their players play a fair game.

Hooper? He who should have been red carded at Twickenham in the Autumn? Fair?!

Good, yes. Fair, nope

Well done England

bsando wrote:Well done England! Huge result and to be honest after about 10 mins in I felt that only one team could win it. Disgusted that the Wallabies have managed to lose this test series in first two games, but if they can play well next week and take at least one win I'll be a bit happier. Totally outplayed in both games by a smarter and better organised England side.

England vs NZ.. now thats a game I'd like to go to this Autumn.

We aren't playing them, though :/

I for one would LOVE us to finally get the monkey off our back and beat South Africa

Astonishing how fast things change because its not such a different team to the ones that Lancaster sent out, but now there is that fantastic won't be beaten by anyone thing going on that we haven't really had since the glory days of 2003

Obviously England and EJ made all the right decisions. But was anyone else a bit surprised that the bench wasn't used more earlier?

I could see that Haskell was exhausted - but had been playing so well. At about 60 minutes I was thinking "bring on the bench", but only Lawes and Care came on.

I think he was waiting for us to gain some territory. Not a great time to bring on subs when camped on their line.

Also when he brought Lawes on at the very first scrum he packed down on the left, Itoje switched to the right side - but got his shoulders wrong and left the TH prop isolated and penalised.

coach will always be nervous about the disruption of the substitution causing a hole in the defence.


My biggest surprise was the block headed thinking of the Aussies in repeatedly turning down what looked like easy kicks.

The tackle stats are off the scale
Haskell 21 -3
Superman 20-4
Billy 18-2
Hartley 17-2
Mako 17-3
Farrell 16-3
Nowell 13-1
Ford 10-1...

Yep. Brainless decision to go for the corner so often.

Does this answer the question of 10 and 12, as in another playmaker/kicker/thinker over a bosher?

I've long been an advocate of it for England as it offers a lot more control over the game and can bring in width when needed. And with Ford and Farrell in the starting XV, Slade in the wider squad and the likes of Devoto and Mallinder in the Saxons and U20s respectively, there is a core from which they can move forward and develop.

I still think they need a physical presence in the backline to offer that direct threat and target for the forwards whilst holding any drift defence. Personally I'm a fan of a Manu type 13 with the 2 playmakers but I appreciate this is very harsh on Joseph who is very much improved. But I think they have lacked that directness you need at times. The problems is that if you go down the line of a Manu type figure at 13, who is there after him that can play that role in the outside channel? Because putting all your eggs in the Manu basket hasn't exactly worked out the last couple of years.

I think Jones acknowledges Josephs form and the fact that he has a like for like replacement for him in Daly, hence the original selection of the boshers at 12 in Teo and Burrell.

I just don't know if it would work for England.

It's curious how journalists can't get their head around the idea that there are two international front row players - one a prop, the other a hooker - with similar names. Dan Cole is called Dan Coles here, and I'm sure I've seen him called Dane Cole too.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/australia-rugby/australia-v-england-june-2016-test-series-england-take-historic-first-series-20160618-gpmgdd.html

On paper a fit (both of them) Slade/Manu combo would be pretty tasty.

What we have now works, but is at least partially driven by the fact that Ford is just brilliant at many things but rubbish at place kicking and Farrell is solid at most things but brilliant at scoring in 3's.

Hooper incident doesn't look anywhere near as bad from a different angle.

https://streamable.com/e13o

Edit: just realised the link Alex included earlier has been changed to take this camera angle into account.

LondonTiger wrote:My biggest surprise was the block headed thinking of the Aussies in repeatedly turning down what looked like easy kicks.

I kept being delighted by that, only to start worrying immediately that we would screw up. Then to be delighted that we didn't.

Very peculiar decision making.

lostinwales wrote:On paper a fit (both of them) Slade/Manu combo would be pretty tasty.

What we have now works, but is at least partially driven by the fact that Ford is just brilliant at many things but rubbish at place kicking and Farrell is solid at most things but brilliant at scoring in 3's.

If it isn't broke why change it, I think Manu like Burrell would struggle with the defensive set up.