Not very convincing but a victory is - I suppose - a victory

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willie_gunn

willie_gunn

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At Twickenham yesterday to see England beat the Wallabies. Came away largely unconvinced with the performance and felt we were flattered by a weak Australian side. The first half was dire, and in general it was a scrappy game that looked in desperate need of a spark to liven it up.

That said, Brown deserved his MOTM award and the England pack looked good, though the line-out proved a bit of a lottery.

Doubtless the confidence of the All Blacks has improved based on what they saw yesterday.

willie_gunn
 
I'm not sure the midfield functioned too well, but with the two first choice centres missing, perhaps to be expected. The lineout was a shambles early on which caused problems. Ashton needs to disappear, he's been given enough chances and doesn't produce now in attack and is dire in defence, the centres were covering for him there, when they needed to concentrate on their own game. The forwards (lineouts aside) looked good, doing the business at the breakdown and at scrum time. The defence, although not perfect, functioned well and kept out the potentially devastating Aussie backs well (better than the All Blacks did a fortnight ago).

By no means perfect, but given it was the first outing for a good while and the number on the sick list, a victory over Australia is always a good thing. They need to iron out the faults against Argentina before meeting the All Blacks, when we'll see how good they are, with the AB's in revenge mode.

But you're both right, England at their best can beat anyone. They just need to be able to produce their A game more consistently. On a positive note though, it's the mark of a good team that they can produce a win when they aren't at their best...
 
I am watching the highlights of the match on IPlayer as I type this. I am waiting to see how England are against Ireland in February as I have Tickets for that one.
 
It was clear to me, as a rugby coach and ref, that without the forward domination by England it would have been a different game.

The backs need a lot of work, its obvious there was poor communication resulting in some dreadful passing, and this showed especially when they were under pressure, this will come as they play together more I am sure, but the backs coach has certainly got his work cut out, Argentina are no pushover, and will capitalise on loose ball probably much better that the Wallabies did

To miss three penalties at this level that were clearly kickable is something they need to work on, Farrell is more than capable at this level but his kicking position will be under severe pressure from Flood. The three quarters failed to fire in my view and this is a key part of the team, it will be interesting to see who starts at 10, 11.and 12 next week.
David
 
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