Rugby - 6 Nations, Heineken Cup, You Can't Beat A Northern Hemisphere Winter!

[kittenOFchaos]

14 - 0

Just too quick, too skillful for England.

England grinding Australia now. Ozzie defence is impressive.

That said, no. 3 Ozz is going to be binned soon as he is getting pinged in the scrum and twice now in open play.

[kittenOFchaos]

2nd half, better...England atm the moment with a 5 metre scrum after Foden broke out of defence, Ashton supported and Tindall took it up towards the line, then some grind.


Update: 14 - 10 after a penalty try.

[kittenOFchaos]

So, it is 21 - 10

Australia been holding on magnificently. But, now they are down to 14. Number 3 yellow carded for collapsing. New lamb to the slaughter coming on.

Youngs coming on has made a huge difference to the pace of the English attack...far better.

Update 70 minutes in...2nd penalty try.

21 - 17

I still can't believe how good O'Connor is...World Class already.

Update: Australia in a position to kill England off. This is a deserved Australian victory, the English backs took far too long to get into the game and our forwards took far too long to get their points and the grinding was worthless. The amount of attacks we had deep in the 22 and achieved nothing is embarrassing.

27 - 17, England can't pull it back.

Final result 27-17, Australia owned them.

[kittenOFchaos]

Okay, now watching France getting butchered...

[finbar]

Well, England had a scrum. That aside, they were utterly outclassed. Put even half of the missing Wallaby front rowers into the side and the scoreboard would have reflected the real difference between the teams. J****, I'm sure, as always, will find positives.

Oh, and you're right, KoC. Ben Youngs made Danny Care look as hopeless as he was.

[Havak]

Twenty years ago the scrum was a significant aspect of the game and it simply would not have been possible for Australia to win a game whilst being savaged in that phase of play - however talented their back line was

But these days it is far less significant. However English doctrine simply fails to acknowledge that fact

The far better side won (or is winning) every game so far so the NH has much navel inspecting to do. No one punishes opponents weaknesses like the ABs can do they? And yet it is what - 18 months since the ABs beat the boks? A sad RWC for the NH is coming up I feel.

For me personally Jonno needs his ass kicking for playing Danny Care ahead of Ben - Jonno must be the only man in England who thinks Crabby Care is the better player.

[LDiCesare]

Pitiful French match. The first 10 minutes were horrible, and the interception try nailed whatever hopes we could have to come back.
I thought Szarzewski proved again he's no good at the lineout. He doesn't throw well enough. I'd like to see more of Guirado since Servat is resting. I also thought the centers Mermoz and Marty were really bad. Poor tackling in particular. Having Rougerie in the center and Andreu on the wing looks like a better option, and I'll gladly send both catalans back home if I had a say.

[finbar]

Bugger! I've taped the French match because I'm working. I was going to watch it tonight! It sounds like I can spare myself having to watch the French lose.

I taped and fast-forwarded through the ABs-Irish game. Fast-forwarded so quickly that I missed the red card. Looked, admittedly in quick motion, like some terrible defence on both sides.

The average age of the Wallaby squad is 24 and the average age of the Wallaby backline tonight was 23. Swap Genia for Burgess and it's even younger. (Today Burgess finally lived up to his potential of two years ago) The Wallabies are entering one of those blessed cycles - touch wood - where fate, the stars, genes and intelligent coaching and selection all come into alignment. There are some freakish young talents - a pity Rob Horne at 13 didn't see a lot of the ball because, at 20, he has as much potential as any of them. They will screw up along the way because they're rugby babies learning on the big stage. It's to Robbie Deans' credit that he has monitored these players for several years, encouraged them, promoted them, and, most important of all, not over-coached them. He has let their natural talents blossom. Take note, J****, with the likes of Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs, et al. Trouble is, it takes a mindset that, sadly, doesn't exist for J****.

[kittenOFchaos]

Scotland beat Argentina 16-24

Dan Parks scored all the points and yes, 24 is divisible by 3

At least one NH team can win.

In other news...England 1 - USA 1 pfft.


The Australian backline is going to be a menace for some time to come...however, Youngs looks really talented and Lawes did well...our younger players are looking promising. The only area youth is a bad idea is in the front 3 and to a certain extent in the front 5.

[finbar]

The absent Wallaby front rowers, including the first choice back-ups, are still only in their 20s. I think hooker Stephen Moore is the oldest at 27. Yesterday the hookers were third and fourth choice and the props - well, 20 year old James Slipper was last season's U20 Wallaby Player of the Season and has hardly played S14.

I saw the replay of Cueto's, um, tackle on Barnes last night. The commentators mentioned it but it wasn't replayed during the game. Jumped into Barnes' head with an elbow. Didn't look good.*Still, someone like Strettle is more likely to advance the England cause than Cueto. Well, providing he's given the chance to express himself, which he won't be.

[kittenOFchaos]

Johnson is angry with the players...rather than with the attack coach.

England didn't have any ploys to score from inside the 22, or from 5 metres out. Not many team find it difficult to score tries from 5 meters out - well, apart from Scotland.

[finbar]

The person J**** needs to be angry with is himself. For not grasping the notion that rugby has moved on since 2003. Circa-2003 is the style of rugby that England is obviously coached to play - recycle through the forwards, pick and drive, hit it up, with the backs a desperate last resort. Of course it doesn't help that he won't choose an adventurous scrummy or #10, but that's entirely predictable given J****'s obviously inherent conservatism. The buck stops with J****.

[LDiCesare]

The North hemisphere in general seems more focused on tight/forwards play than Australia, NZ and even SA. Argentina is more or less like the NH considering almost all the players play there.
I hadn't seen the first bok try, but reading about it, I confirm my impression of the rest of the match: Get rid of Marty.

[finbar]

Ireland and France - France, in particular - know how to utilise a backline. France, at their best, combine forward and backline power superbly. Recent results aside, of course. It's England, via its management, who remain steadfastly mired in 1950s rugby. And are blind to it.

[Havak]

Well I really think some gentlemen here need to re-watch the England record of wins at Twickenham from 1999-2003. That success was built on forward power but it was not exclusively ten man rugby in any way shape or form - the November 2002 internationals on their own should show you that.

I thought Rougerie's opening try was well constructed for France but overall a bad day at the office for ther NH.

England were dire which was not exactly a surprise. Australias first choice forwards would have improved that slightly (though England are better scrummagers than Australia even now) But who needs to scrum in modern Union - it's become a redundant part of the game. With the ruck also effectively gone (just lie all over the ball - the ref will penalise your oppoents if they clear you out) it's drifting steadily towards no competition for the ball at all maybe?

And frankly I think the England U20 front rowers would have hammered that Aussie scrum and Dan Cole is only 23 - the old argument that locks and props peak in their late twneties belongs to the amateur era - I'd have the youngsters in now (some very good ones over with the Saxons).

Oh and England hammered the USA in Denver which is the only England-Usa fixture that I was interested in!

That and an Australian sportsman in tears rather made my Sunday.