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

[finbar]

Rusty old first-half Wallaby effort against Fiji. Better, more cohesive in the second half. A price you can pay for fielding combinations who have never played together before. Giteau and Elsom remain a bit of a worry. They both had poor - by their standards - S14 seasons and weren't firing yesterday. The injuries have taken the headlines. Ben Alexander in particular, with Benn Robinson already injured. With first and second choice hookers already injured - yesterday's pair were third and fourth choice and debutants - the Test front row is now a lottery between promising youngsters.

Caucau returned to Test rugby for Fiji. At least two stone overweight and playing at 13. Contributed nothing. Sad to see.

[Havak]

I still suspect that the Aussie Baa-baas will beat England tomorrow.

And the actual Wallabies have no worries at all.

The Wales-Boks game was actually rather enjoyable for such an error strewn outing.

How was the old country? One could not fail to notice the yellow nutters out in force again at the French Open on Saturday. And who did you support Finbar?

[finbar]

The only Australian sport that interests me is rugby. I was only there for six days. Thank goodness for business class. With them paying. It didn't feel like home in February and didn't this time either. The saddest thing was seeing a couple of games of AFL on TV. It used to be an interesting game requiring diverse skills - hand, foot, positional strategy - with plenty of one-on-one contests. They've turned it into keepings-off meets basketball with virtually no physical contact and little kicking. A marketing exercise. The only requirement now is extreme aerobic fitness and hand-eye coordination. It explains why the Karmichael Hunts of the world can transfer from L***** to rugby to AFL. All he will need to do is improve his aerobic fitness. Up till a few years ago, he would have had to have acquired a whole different set of skills.

The Wallabies are going to be seriously vulnerable in the tight five. Third- and fourth-choice hookers, third-choice props, and Dean Mumm, who will probably start at lock, is really a flanker. Still, if Will Genia is fit enough to start, the backs could be fun to watch.

[Havak]

It is still an England side lacking confidence and execution. Oz is a big ask unless you are on top of your game - and we are not. Still we didn't lose to the Baa-baas this year *cough* Ireland or an understrength Bok outfit *cough* Wales.

All our biggest losses will happen between now and December.

I supported the Italian girl myself.

Does cricket no longer draw on your Australian core?

I'm enjoying what I have seen of the U20 and Churchill cup games btw.

[finbar]

Though I used to play, never been a fan of watching tennis so the result didn't bother me either way. The local gel winning wasn't massive news here either. What with that other World Cup around the corner, nothing much else is getting a look in. And I've seen and heard so little cricket over the last five years that I now only keep an eye on the goings on. An Ashes series might rekindle the interest.

Though there's no telecast even in Australia, apparently there's a beta stream of tomorrow's England-Wallabies A match online through Fox Sports' website. Hopefully it won't be blocked outside Australia. Couldn't be bothered setting up a proxy.

[Havak]

As I expected the dirt trackers are struggling against the Aussie Barbarians.

I had a wry smile at the (aussie) journo on Planet Rugby complaining that Fourie is not English however. Because my position on qualification is well known so I can't really approve his selection. At least it wasn't via non existent rellies so it isn't another grannygate.

For the casual fan such as myself England currently have a fair batting line up and a pretty poor bowling attack so the Ashes will only go one way. No to mention we now have no less than three Boks in the top order! And no Freddy to provide light relief with his drunken antics either.

*edit* Crikey. The dirt trackers scraped a draw!

[finbar]

I watched a very flaky stream of the game. England basically emulated the senior team - lots of kicking, not much of it any good; no real clue in attack. They came back late in the game when Wallaby B - more like C, actually, quite a few of those players are nowhere near the Test team - were a man down. England won up front, but that was to be expected. James O'Conner was a class above the rest. When he went off early for a rest the Australians lost potency. Scrubby old game overall.

[Havak]

It's technically England C too as we once again have three sides touring simultaneuosly. Sadly the ones in Oz purport to be the senior side for some reason.

Did we learn much today other than that O'Connor is very talented? Did Geragthy or Waldouck get a run? Lawes?

The England U20s look a very powerful and well drilled side. I'm trying to catch their nemesis (the baby blacks) to compare. Saxons also kick off tomorrow - all on UK Sky.

[finbar]

None of those games are shown here unfortunately. Geraghty and Lawes both came off the bench too late to achieve much. I don't think Waldouck made it onto the field. Hard to know because it was a beta stream with no commentary. Geraghty did feature in the late Banahan try when the Australians ran out of numbers. Apart from the try, Banahan did zilch. Except knock on when he tried a tap and go within sight of the line. Monye did little, Armitage tried a couple of runs from the back but cross-field. Wigglesworth was competent and I didn't realise Charlie Hodgson was playing till he was replaced. Tait saw some ball but always with defenders six inches in front of him who just thumped him. It was the typical clueless England backline, basically. One really does have to subscribe to the theory that London Irish's backline set up and skills are a lot of Mike Catt's doing rather than the incumbent England attack coach's.

[finbar]

Forgot. The other disappointment was Ollie Barkley. Very poor defence, poor control, poor field kicking. But then I've never been convinced that he's better than a very good club player.

[Havak]

Sounds like most of the usual suspects played themselves out of contention then? Barkley is a good club player but like Hodgson he cannot handle the step up to intl level.

Nice to see Dowson called up - though J won't have the courage to pick him ahead of Easter.

I'm pretty sure Worseley ruled himself out with that last penalty - not that he should even be on the tour to be honest.

Strange situation with the Australian citing official isn' it? I mean imagine suggesting that an Australian official cannot be neutral when an Australian team is playing - what were the RFU thinking?

Skivington - still technically a Wasps man - skippers the Saxons today now Dowson has flown to Oz. Russia showed great heart against the US but one still expects a confortable Saxons tally.

[kittenOFchaos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBNZXFJErGI&feature=player_embedded

Link to highlights of Australian Barbarians Vs England B

The O'Connor is some talent.

Australia are really blessed with players such as Genia, O'Connor and Giteau.

The English forwards this weekend need to dominate the Australians and give the backs an armchair ride.

[Havak]

That would be a traditional England v Aus fixture - the upper hand in the forwards (or at least tight five) for England, with utterly clueless execution. Aus with limited chances all of which they take thus winning the Test quite comfortably.

And if the Aussie backs get to run at forwards in the defensive line as often as they did in the first game of the tour then god help us.

I'd like to see Crofty rediscover his best form having reclaimed his shirt. And Ashton is exciting as can Hape be - but both have dodgy decision making (they are rebadged Kiwis of course)

[kittenOFchaos]

Well, 22 minutes in and it is all Australia, apart from in the scrum which is all England.

7-0 to Australia and they seem to be able to slice the england first line of defence with impunity. England kicking aiminglessly and the Australian counter is very good. England have been saved by the large number of knock-ons.

The Aussie backline is amazing.

[kittenOFchaos]

Was about to say I've been pleased with Flood so far...only for him to now miss a penalty.

It came from a scrum, I wouldn't want to be in that Ozzie scrum, it is getting hammered.