England to whitewash Australia
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<p>Phew! What a test match. Not full of the best attacking skills but by God there were no prisoners taken. For England to nick that with so little possession was amazing. Incredible defensive performance, somewhat tempered by Aus not showing their usual attacking sharpness. Who would think though that Aus would not score with so much ball.</p>
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<p>England rode their luck a wee bit. Possible yellow at the end of the first half and also benefitted from a bit of Aussie tits for hands. You can't depend on that sort of thing happening all the time.</p> -
Commiserations to the Aussie posters, that was a horrible game to lose. I thought we kicked too much (especially to Falou) but absolutely stoked with the result and that is a defence we can build a very competitive team around.<br><br>
In the after match interview Farrell mentioned it was deceptively slippery out there and given the turf, maybe it just wasn't ideal for the attacking game Aus wanted play and we were able to soak up the pressure because of it. Given those conditions Aus should have kicked the points - sometimes you just need to be pragmatic and I think they over estimated their ability there.<br><br>
Roll on next week - the thread title prophecy shall come to pass! -
Phipps is the worst player in the wallabies, and the murderer of most of their momentum
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Cookie" data-cid="589539" data-time="1466256466"><p>Oh and Mike Brown, if the guy running the most metres in your team is Billy V, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself.</p></blockquote>
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Not that I'm a huge fan of Brown, but it wasn't a great night for England backs in attack, ball in hand. -
<p>Not Anthony Watson's finest hour in white either. The England back row that I continue to fret about were again bloody good and Cole fronted up very well too. Good to see the fatties get the plaudits.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="ACT Crusader" data-cid="589540" data-time="1466256976"><p>Not that I'm a huge fan of Brown, but it wasn't a great night for England backs in attack, ball in hand.</p></blockquote>
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Hopefully next week... -
As predicted three losses on the trot for Cheika. Hard to even pick a truly quality performance out of the last 6. Not sure how many other best coaches in the world managed that? Even previous Aussie coaches going back to Dwyer?<br><br>
A fun throwback game tonight. I didn't think the quality from both sides was as high as some at least with ball in hand - even accounting for weather. That perhaps flattered the defence a touch. But a wet weather fixture between two top teams is always something worth watching - the scrap and the struggle is what you watch for not sublime skill.<br><br>
Will be very curious to see the mentality from both sides here. Will England go for the kill? Will Australia lie down or battle for pride? I suspect we will get he biggest margin of the series - but who knows in what direction? -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Cookie" data-cid="589539" data-time="1466256466">
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<p>Oh and Mike Brown, if the guy running the most metres in your team is Billy V, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself.</p>
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<p>Absolutely terrible, knocking on high balls, not kicking the ball after the turnover but conceding a TO himself instead, not beating a single defender that I can remember.. utter crap. He was pretty good in 2014, wasn't he?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tordah" data-cid="589551" data-time="1466262361"><p>Absolutely terrible, knocking on high balls, not kicking the ball after the turnover but conceding a TO himself instead, not beating a single defender that I can remember.. utter crap. He was pretty good in 2014, wasn't he?</p></blockquote>
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Used to be one of my fave players, safe as houses under the high ball, really worked on his pace and just the right amount of attitude to keep the team honest. Now I think Goode should start the third test, he's improved massively over last season or so, although to be fair he was pretty shit before then. -
<p>Congrats to England for refusing to yield. But some of the dullest play by Oz in a while. Two kickable penalties and 13 all and then England would have had to play instead of rope a dope.</p>
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<p>Amazing that England didn't cop YC -- I think they thought they were getting one at least three times!</p>
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<p>Hope third is as hard fought.</p> -
<p>I thought Australia would be too good at home before the series, </p>
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<p>But over the last 10 years, Ive always considered England to be something of a bogey side for the Aussies , and tended to forget all that due to what went on at the WC. </p>
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<p>So really in hindsight , its not that surprising to me , its more a case of business as usual. </p> -
<p>Nah, don't see that Kiwinmelb. England rarely beat Aus in Aus. We have handed them their collective arses a few times over the years but also vice-versa. I do feel that our traditional strengths sometimes are too much for Aussie's traditional weaknesses and again the other way round, whereas our trad strengths are very rarely a NZ weakness. Yeah we take the odd game but never in a 'your my bitch today' type of way.</p>
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I'm not sure about putting the boot into cheika here, look at the team list they are basically a bunch of nevilles when you compare this mob to the great Aussie teams with eales, horan, little etc etc. <br><br>
Agree with an earlier poster about phipps I don't think he gives much variation in attack. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="infidel" data-cid="589593" data-time="1466282445">
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<p>I'm not sure about putting the boot into cheika here, look at the team list they are basically a bunch of nevilles when you compare this mob to the great Aussie teams with eales, horan, little etc etc.<br><br>
Agree with an earlier poster about phipps I don't think he gives much variation in attack.</p>
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<p>I'm not putting the boot into Cheika, have a look at page 4 and 5 of this thread and the aussie vs kiwi impressions of him. He might have been a great club/superrugby coach but he's not a great international coach.</p>
<p>Eales Horan etc was 15 years ago, I'm not sure I see your point there.</p>
