England to whitewash Australia

NTA

England played to their strengths, and executed more often than not. We played to our strengths, and didn't. Goal kicking was also disappointing from Foley - he makes those kicks, we're only 5 down with a quarter to go.
 
I know the 6N was a while ago now, but the core disciplines England possess were in evidence from their time together: Basic, direct rugby, which has had a bit of polish put on it by Eddie in terms of ambition. Box kicks go up and are chased hard, they get points in the zone, and then make the opposition chase the game. When they get a bit of space, pass the fucking ball; don't just kick it every time.
 
And it looks like he's worked on their fitness, too. Haskell was fucking everywhere. It was like there were three blokes out there wearing red headgear. He or Itoje should have got MOTM I reckon. Some very important tackles by the former, and some good aggression by the latter.
 
The scrum wasn't at all physically dominant by England, but Cole was very smart in letting Sio think he was going to hit him head on. First couple of scrums he let Sio over extend, then they won a penalty by completely changing direction as a unit. So good to watch as a prop, even though my lot were on the wrong end of it. 
 
Still, England's backs can't defend well against pace or width, and I don't reckon the Pommy guy (Burrell?) would have brought Foley down for that try, though we'll never know because Arnold is a knob. Poor debut from him.
 
Dane Haylett-Petty had a pretty good debut I thought. Did his work, ran hard on the wing, and contested ball in the air from kickoff. Kerevi did well too I reckon, showing that he's got a decent pair of hands and a bit of acceleration.
 
Forwards need to look at their discipline. Just some schoolboy shit at lineout time from Simmons (again) and then a couple of stupid ones from Pocock and Fardy as well.
 
I am still amazed that Poite didn't card one of the Pommy replacement props for that ruck within 2m of their line after Folau broke out and offloaded to Phipps. In the subsequent play they were all over it, and denying us a tryscoring opportunity. Have no problem with Sio's card as that is Poite's style at scrum time, and no-one can gainsay it.
 
Think Arnold needs to go for Horwill. Simmons might be injured anyway, so Skelton probably comes onto the bench with Mumm and Horwill starting.
 
Given the style we played, it didn't lack a big bopper at 8 because the forwards weren't doing the damage. Pocock got 2 or 3 turnovers to stop the Pommy momentum, and Hooper was scoring tries. Fardy was in it for the niggle.
 
The worrying bit is we didn't secure ruck ball consistently, and when we had England on the back foot they just fanned out and didn't bother. That bit was VERY Eddie Jones, but also a smart move in terms of conceding penalties. Need some inside ball from Foley rather than drift-and-pass because Eddie will be expecting that next time.

SimonAdd

Great post, agree with all of that Nick. England's defence looked stretched by the Aussie pace, we're just not used to playing against anything like it. A few more balls go to hand from Aus and they could still have won. Although I thought we looked more comfortable when Burrell went off; he's just not a smart defender. 
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Billy Tell

I really enjoyed that game. It was a fantastic fightback from England. It's English forward vs Aussie backs, except the English backs are just a bit better than the Aussie forwards.
 
Hopefully, Aussie win next week, so we can get a decider.

Chris B.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="586668" data-time="1465647252">
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Goal kicking was also disappointing from Foley - he makes those kicks, we're only 5 down with a quarter to go.
 
Still, England's backs can't defend well against pace or width, and I don't reckon the Pommy guy (Burrell?) would have brought Foley down for that try, though we'll never know because Arnold is a knob. Poor debut from him.
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Every time Foley misses a kick it annoys me. 
 
It annoys me when he gets them too.
 
Yeah - Folau was cutting them open with ease in the final quarter. Cheika's big challenge is to get more physicality out of his forward pack. They got bullied through the middle of the match.

Derm McCrum

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="pukunui" data-cid="586662" data-time="1465646582">
I thought the kick for goal at the end was the right decision. You have a try and penalty on your to do list. Tick one off quickly with an easy shot and back yourself to hold the ball and get a try. Especially now that you can kick for the corner after time is up.</blockquote> 
Not in the June series. Only the new maul Law applies. Everything else starts on July 1.

profitius

Aus started like a train but somehow were losing after 30 min and you could see Englands confidence growing. Farrells kicking was the difference.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SimonAdd" data-cid="586669" data-time="1465647543">
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Great post, agree with all of that Nick. England's defence looked stretched by the Aussie pace, we're just not used to playing against anything like it. A few more balls go to hand from Aus and they could still have won. Although I thought we looked more comfortable when Burrell went off; he's just not a smart defender. 
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Yeah that penalty against Arnold for obstruction was borderline I thought - Farrell was completely out of it, and Burrell would have had to shatter the laws of physics to get there.
 
But these are the breaks.
 
Like the scrum - if Poite is the ref, you do this a couple of times:
 
[attachment=2034:cole.jpg]
 
And then completely change direction.
 
Props are smart. Refs are not.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="profitius" data-cid="586674" data-time="1465647959">
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Aus started like a train but somehow were losing after 30 min and you could see Englands confidence growing. Farrells kicking was the difference. 
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We had something like 65% of possession and most of the territory in the first quarter. England just needed some ball.
 
The lesson is: you can't win without it.

pukunui

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Pot Hale" data-cid="586673" data-time="1465647847">
Not in the June series. Only the new maul Law applies. Everything else starts on July 1.</blockquote>
 
Didn't realise that.

NTA

And while the penalty count was bad for us - discipline etc - the bigger factor is WHERE we gave those penalties away. In our half.
 
Whereas, from my earlier post: when we got into the red zone England were confident in their line speed and didn't attack the ruck. We were laser-focused on upsetting their ball, and doing that anywhere inside your 40 metres is going to result in issues.

nostrildamus

well done England and Catogrande!

mariner4life

Good test, 2 very different game plans. Given what I saw tonight i still expect Australia to win the series.

SimonAdd

It was the best game I've seen Cole play for a long time. I thought he had stagnated as a player and was just treading water until a younger guy put his hand up. But he was very good today; very smart, experienced scrummaging, got over the ball a couple of times like he used to and even carried to good effect once or twice. 
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ACT Crusader

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="586681" data-time="1465648437">
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And while the penalty count was bad for us - discipline etc - the bigger factor is WHERE we gave those penalties away. In our half.
 
Whereas, from my earlier post: when we got into the red zone England were confident in their line speed and didn't attack the ruck. We were laser-focused on upsetting their ball, and doing that anywhere inside your 40 metres is going to result in issues.
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Yeah Nick, agree. I was a little surprised at how hard Hooper and Pocock for example went for the ball in those 50/50 situations whilst in the England half. It resulted in a rather expensive night with Farrell having a Johnny W-like performance

NTA

My team for next week wouldn't change too much - Kepu for Holmes, Horwill for Simmons (who I assume is injured).
 
Maybe Lilo for Kerevi, depending on what Cheika wants.
 
Pocock and Horne's head knocks will need monitoring.

Catogrande

Very pleased with that - unsurprisingly. A win in Aus for us is rare and to put more points on them than the 2003 team is great too. However at no time did I feel comfortable until we got the turnover in the last minute. The try after that was just window dressing. Aus looked so bloody dangerous and every time Folau got the ball in anything that looked like space I was thinking about how to empty my colostomy bag.
 
A big call from Mr Percentage to take of Burrell but our defensive pattern looked better straight away.
 
Nathan Grey remains a complete cock.

Chris B.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Catogrande" data-cid="586693" data-time="1465650036">
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Nathan Grey remains a complete cock.
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He should be banned from the sideline for a week for that effort.

Rancid Schnitzel

Just got back from game. Was one of the better ones I've seen at Suncorp. It seemed that Aus were killing them in the backs but that England were better in the forwards. England also played much much smarter rugby. The 2nd test should be a cracker. 
Obviously I dislike the guy so take this with a grain of salt, but I was surprised at how little Pocock actually does. He spends a shit load of time hanging round the midfield running interference, but doesn't do much else. Obviously his principal skill is of massive value, but if he's stopped from pilfering he's a bit of a passenger.

NTA

Interesting - Eddie front the presser by himself.

Mick Gold Coast QLD

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Rancid Schnitzel" data-cid="586697" data-time="1465650314">
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Just got back from game. Was one of the better ones I've seen at Suncorp. It seemed that Aus were killing them in the backs but that England were better in the forwards. England also played much much smarter rugby. The 2nd test should be a cracker. 
Obviously I dislike the guy so take this with a grain of salt, but I was surprised at how little Pocock actually does. He spends a shit load of time hanging round the midfield running interference, but doesn't do much else. Obviously his principal skill is of massive value, but if he's stopped from pilfering he's a bit of a passenger.
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I've long wondered why the greater impact on a game, all game long, of the likes of Schalk Burger, Thierry Dusatoir, the England loosies and Sir Richie has been so easily ignored when lovely Bono is the focus of discussion.

The Silver Fern

England to whitewash Australia