Australia too good for England at Twickenham

YES!! AUSTRALIANS ALL LET US REJOICE FOR WE ARE YOUNG AND FREE!!!

Good to see Wilko is still able to make those huge tackles like he used to...

But from what I heard outside of these highlights England were very very poor on the day...

Anybody who actually saw the match, is this true?

Hmmm not poor as such, but they lacked any actual threat of a try and let in a couple of soft ones.

Like you say wilkinsons tackles were huge but i hope this puts a silence to the idea wilkinson can carry a team by himself even if he did have a very positivie impact

Unfortunately yes, we were terrible, outclassed in every area, kicked far too much and aimlessly and couldn't stay composed in either 22...

Just watched the video.

only showed half of wilko's tackles tbf, there were a couple of other belters

Jasus england forget about wilko wud ya im sick of it ye he's good but its like wales with williams and the lions with drico.

Go the Aussies!!!!

Quite a few big hits in this game.

Big hits on Banahan from Elsom (and vice versa).

I think it was a fair performance from the green and gold...wasn't exactly a comfortable win with too many penalties conceded and not enough protection around the scrum.

Ah well...on to Ireland!

Ye England were very poor and its not good for NH rugby to have such a bad England team(even without all of their injuries I still think the result would have been the same) but Wilkonson is a class act some of his hits were brillant.My favourite tackle was Rocky's against Banahan!

Haha. Forget Wilko's soft-shouldered stop tackles, how about Banahans rag doll impression at the hands of Rocky Elsom, or any one of Wyclif Palu's ball & all thumpers in the first half.

Shows the sad state of international rugby that Australia can lose just about every tri-nations game, come up to the NH and get wins like this.

No, it shows the sad state of NH rugby.

YES!! AUSTRALIANS ALL LET US REJOICE FOR WE ARE YOUNG AND FREE!!!

can someone tell me why the Aussies take about the green and gold when they refer to their team? Should it not be gold and green? South Africa is green and gold...

Well played Australia! England = average.

A very poor match from England. When we had the ball we didn't know what to do with it whereas the Ozzies were willing to take risks and score tries. The worst English pack we have fielded within living memory didn't help, as shown by our inability to score from several lineouts on the Ozzie five metre line.

Geraghty, who I had high hopes for, was terrible. Other than Moody and Wilko in fact, everyone was terrible.

Good luck to the Ozzies - sat next to a couple from Oz while watching the game and they were great people. I think Ireland and Wales will put up more of a fight than we did.

Are Australia going to play France on their grand slam tour? I just realised that I heard nothing about a match between these two. It's weird the way these grand-slam tours don't include France, considering that most of the time they're the best European team.

Grand Slam tours don't include France because they never have - it's against the four 'home' unions, not the best in the North.

Good win and the hit I remember is Palu on some little guy. Also Wilko's chip-bounce-catch-flickback, fantastic.

Wilkinson was the only world class player on the field. He's better than Dan Carter and on the same level as Morne Steyn.

That's a bit of an oxymoron there sport of kings

The Aussies deserved their win. England never looked like scoring a try. The English ball was so slow and ponderous...and Danny Care would sometimes takes 20 to 30 seconds to clear the ball....so the Aussies had ample time to reorganzie in defense. I think one stage we had 11 phases and made about 11 yards. The Aussies got quick ball by contrast and that helped them apply pressure. England and Aus both defended well...apart from Aus 2nd try.

Genia had a very good game. Truth be told the Aussies should have scored 2 more tries..with Elsom bucthcering one when he went it alone when all he had to do was pass 5 yards aout ann the Auddie center Ioane....knocked on going over the line.

Devil's advocate? This England team had never played tpgether before. Remember in the late 1980s early 1990s...a fan could name what the team was going to be in every game! Andrew Carling Gucott Underwood...etc Not so now and it shows.

Longer highlights on the way, including that big hit on Banahan, Wilkinson's little chip and pass, and a few other best bits from the match.

I don't know Genia before this match, but what a player ! I think we will never see Burgess again... Genia is very fast, very dynamic... Cooper and Ioane are very strong too, and Mortlock wasn't even here... Great match for Wilkinson, but Geraghty was poor. England wasn't so bad, but what a lack of imagination...

"That's a bit of an oxymoron there sport of kings"

there's no oxymoron, moron.

Jazza, are all Australians as annoying as you?

i completely agree with sam brown about the state of international rugby at the moment,and not just in this game.anyone who saw the wales v new zealand match will agree that it was a shocker,bar the last 10 minutes.im not sure whether its bcos of the new rules or not,but something has to be done to make the games more exciting,or else rugby union will not only fail to gain more followers,but will also lose them.

just one idea,and im not saying its perfect,is to have a cap on the no. of forwards allowed in the backline during each phase, therefore leaving more space for the backs.anyone have any other ideas?

forgot to say,wilkinson was absolutely immense yesterday. definitely looked back to his best

"just one idea,and im not saying its perfect,is to have a cap on the no. of forwards allowed in the backline during each phase, therefore leaving more space for the backs.anyone have any other ideas?"

Are you serious? As a practical matter, how the hell is the ref going to police that during a fast moving match. It would be impossible...and the game would have penalties every 30 seconds.

One idea might be to allow a player to call a mark when catching a kick anywhere on the field...not just in his 22. Then players would be less likely to kick the up and under which we saw for the entire 1st half of the Wales NZ game.

Better quality highlights are up now. Enjoy.

Haskell to 8, courtney lawes for deacon and erinle at outiside centre, geraughy wasnt anything great...

I dont think england should forget about JW because he is a cracking player and whoever said we should is really talking garbage. What i am glad (perhaps the wrong word) to see is that its a wake up for everyone who thinks JW=instant win. England need to do a lot more, and unfortunately for them they were riddled with injuries, but then thats the way the game goes!!!

So anyway congrats to Aus for the win. Although england need to seriously look at some of those weak tries because the first try from the no.9 was seriously awful...not from the aus point of view, good build up and a nice try, but from eng point of view, i mean that is a text book move...

Soooo to sum up, congrats to australia and comiserations to england!

and a thanks to RD for the vid

monye, monye, monye.........

*shakes head*

I got called an idiot for saying Wilkinson wasn't the saving grace all on his own for England....but clearly, he's not. England's backs (minus Care and Wilko) are pretty forgettable. Cueto and Banahan? Jesus, when's Martin Johnson gonna realize Banahan is not an English Jonah Lomu? He's got a horrible boot and he's slow....and he wasn't effective at battering Australia's line - which they held all match (great defense by OZ).

I was actually impressed with Haskell (he may sound like a tit when he talks, but he showed up and put himself to work for certain), and Monye didn't drop every ball (just one!) - so he must be improving...but fullback?? Man, I bet they wish they had Armitage on form.

As for OZ, they looked pretty solid (not outstanding, but definitely solid) and they have good runners...the only weak link I'd figure is Quade Cooper. But I might be bias against the guy who looks like he's got a dead animal on his head. Giteau was great, as usual.

Can't wait for Ireland-OZ, it's bound to be a fight for both sides.

Wilko had a great game even though he the rest of the England team had a pretty bad game! Well Lewis and Hartley had a pretty decent game as well, then there was the likes of Geraghty and Banahan who have been good at club level but as we saw not so good at international level and if they want to maintain in the England squad they do really need to step up there game!

Australia had a really good second half and did few mistakes. Genia and Copper had an awesome game and will definitely be good for Australia's future since there are so young, but would of liked too see OConner, but AAC scored a magnificent try and he too had a good game!

Banahan is a joke, he has NO acceleration.
Put a small elusive winger against him and let the fun begin.
Wilkinson looked solid.

'One idea might be to allow a player to call a mark when catching a kick anywhere on the field...not just in his 22. Then players would be less likely to kick the up and under which we saw for the entire 1st half of the Wales NZ game.'

Also a stupid idea. Every time a player kicks the ball, the opposing players can counterattack. If they also can call a mark, they are less likely to do so. Defences have time to regroup after a mark, if you observe closely even a tap after a mark is usually too late. Players will always get caught by a defences if they run the ball them Even one counterattack can make a difference. With this rule it would literally become pingpong, with backs only being picked on their ability to kick. Your new rule will mean the demolishing of rugby completely and it is worse than the new rules (sorry mate!)

'Banahan is a joke, he has NO acceleration.
Put a small elusive winger against him and let the fun begin.'
Exactly, tha would be fun. Even though he isn't fast, Banahan is strong and he would waltz over the small elusive winger!

Cheese kiwi,
but then the small winger would just take him on the outside for pace:)?

anyone else get a warm feeling when they saw banahan getting nailed by elsom?

Sam Brown said, "Shows the sad state of international rugby that Australia can lose just about every tri-nations game, come up to the NH and get wins like this." and I have to agree.

Australia gets hammered in the Tri-Nations, yet shows up and beats England.

Now, was England bad because they're just not good, they had an off day, or because Australia is that much better and made them look bad?

An interesting match in the whole SH v NH debate is the Scotland v Fiji match coming up.

Re ending the kickathons, and the crowding on the pitch:
The 'answer' is obvious I'm afraid, and it happens in the thing Rugby Union is turning into....rugby league. 13 men. Its so coming its not funny. Bye Bye flankers, or bye bye one flanker and a back.
Union is turning, year upon year, into League. Professionalisation has resulted in all the stuff league did years and years ago creeping into union.
In the end, growth of the game will actually come from an amalgamation of the two codes, probably 5-10 years after Union goes to 13 men.
From 'our' perspective this will be fine as Union will be negotiating from a position of strength. And whatever else about League, they are nonsense geezers who could probably add a bit of bite to Union.

Re the match: what were engerland at? Lateral lateral lateral. No penetration or imagination.
They are not in good shape at the moment. Leister are better (than Oz too!)

Banahan is as fast as a banana. And God knows how fast is a banana!

"Australia gets hammered in the Tri-Nations, yet shows up and beats England."

Everyone seems to forget Oz is up against SA and NZ, the two best teams in the world. Losing to them doesn't automatically mean you're poor.

I do wish people would stop slating banahan...i mean for a 22 year old he is pretty intense, by no means the worlds best or near, but he is big, strong and does have some pace. We should all not forget he is a second row come winger....pretty different positions!!

I think the guy given some more opportunities will prove his worth!

What's with the drop goal 3 minutes in? I can understand to equal the scores or slot one over at the end of the halves, but 3 mins in? LOL.

To the Anon fool above,

Drop goal in the first 3 minutes? whats wrong with that? Its a mental blow to the opposition if you score like that. The way you win test match rugby = getting into your oppo 22 and coming away with points all the time.

Learn rugby.

Ok I know that tries aren't the making of good matches (try making chances are though), but when was the last time 2 AIs involving 4 of the big 8 produced 3 tries? You could also count try scoring chances on 1 hand. I know Aus and ABs fans will be happy with results but, there is a serious issue that some have addressed regarding the rules. The game is dying very quickly indeed.

NZ should have cut Wales apart when it became obvious Wales weren't going to play and limit the scoreboard damage. SA, with probably the best backline in rugby, won't use them unless they have to (I hope I'm wrong, I really do), and will continue to win. In their 9 tests this season, they've used them twice, in the 2nd Lions test when it became clear the Lions had upped their game, forcing them to, and the Perth game, when they saw the 3N in sight.

Is it that all nations employ Rugby League coaches in Defense? With the continued use of the 'blitz' or rushing just like league, attacks have to kick or use a battering forward or back to go through. Tries are now scored more often than not through defensive mistakes rather than skill or attacking flair.

If we want to distinguish ourselves from League, we have to keep the flankers but use a similar 'use it or lose it policy'. If a maul isn't going anywhere the ref can call a halt, so if teams are just going to pick and drive through phases without going anywhere, there should be a 10 phase limit or something. This kind of happened in the Eng/ Aus match when the ref clearly got annoyed with Aus and awarded Eng a non existent pen towards the end. The IRB needs to take a stand very quickly.

Brent Pope made a great comment on RTE about Head Coaches being so afraid to lose that they'll spend the whole game kicking and waiting for opposition mistakes and not let the backs run ball. I wholeheartedly agree.

I was looking forward to these AIs, as I'm sure everyone else was, but I think they could continue along these lines. Hopefully I'm wrong and the France and Ireland games step up a gear.

Apologies for the length of this rant but I'm a bit pissed off with where rugby is going.

Huh!!! the 3rd...

League defenders are pathetic, look at Tahu or Ryan cross... they simply think you must come in to have a 3 on 1 bugger tackle, its just in their instinct to gang up and bugger the attacker to the floor and then hold him down for a good 15 seconds of pure pumping.

Rugby dying? Was it just me or is it now an Olympic sport? yeah.

You're watching test match rugby, where winning is all that matters.

"Then players would be less likely to kick the up and under which we saw for the entire 1st half of the Wales NZ game."

And to think they had the cheek to accuse SA in the Tri Nations of not running the ball enough and kicking the skin off it hahaha. Pathetic.
And Wales for gods sake take it like men. Whing about NZ should have been playing with 14 men etc. Wheres your pride - dont you want to win against 15? Do you need it to be 14 to put one past NZ? Gatland you twerp.

I notice how lesser teams are trying to copy the Bok up and under tactics, except their kicks go about 30 meters to far and also have no one chasing.

worrying to see the ABs playing efficient(read boring), kicking rugby.
Leave that to the boks.

"Drop goal in the first 3 minutes? whats wrong with that? Its a mental blow to the opposition if you score like that."

Yeah a real big mental blow 3-0 after 3 mins....we only have 77 mins left boys what will we do!?

felix, yeah thats right the Boks are so boring... thats why they were the only team in the TN to score 4 try bonus points. Jealous.

and Anon, drop goals are valuable no matter what time you take them. Fool.

Cueto played well too.
Doing absolutely everything with FA to work with

Agree with the comments on banahan, he's too slow to be an international winger. Put him in the centre like wales did with roberts.

Why does Banahan have so many tattoos? Looks like a scum.

You'll find all the good players have no tattoos. Look how many Springbok players have tattoos... any?

Counter-argument: look how many ABs have tattoos. Sometimes, it's a cultural thing. A lot of Pacific Islanders will have them, too...it's when white guys start getting sloppy tattoos that it looks tacky and thuggish. But tattoos are for the person whose body they're on, and I'm sure there's a personal reason for Banahan having them. And in any case, is your argument that having tattoos automatically lowers your rugby-playing potential? Hmmm...you think it might be something they put in the ink - maybe it's heavy and slows 'em down, eh?

But yes, Banahan is too slow and bad at kicking to be playing international wing.

jesus i just watched (well, watched and fast forwarded trou) the NZ and Wales match. How many kicks did carter do? World record stuff.
teams don't want the ball anymore. That's a disaster. Incredibly boring match.
Heres hoping France NZ will offer something interesting.
(I know this is an Oz England thread, but I'm just adding to the discussion on the state of the game that's also running trou here)

us assies hate england, so glad we still beat ya

england got put in their place by this young aussie team

james o'connor is a better player than wilkinson ever was. both came into international stage at around 18 and jamesy has already achieved more (playing for the men of gold is worth more than playing for england)

AUSSI AUSSI AUSSI! OI OI OI!

keep talkin zeddo....the more u say the more you say about u'r argument....

banahan got his shit ruined everytimne he ran the ball-drop him

and select anonymous above....he is clearly a lot better! ....shame he doesnt have the balls to put a nickname

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!

Brave performance by the Wallabies, I am so proud. Seeing the courages Ashley Cooper bust through the white defense like they were school kids. I am so proud. Rugby is far behind AFL, league and soccer in our little country (only 18 million, mate), yet time and time again we overcome the odds. Time and time again we prove why we're the best sporting nation in the world. I am so proud. Taking it to our number one enemy. Seeing our new little scrummy outplay everyone in white, mate the feeling... it's beyond great. Aussie!

How did the Aussie scrum go?

Ione looks like hes getting back into some nice form...

Not sure about that big English winger though, seems a little flat footed.. Perhaps thats because the mid-field aren't giving him good ball.

I am a Proud South African and we have a long HISTORY and a proud history in both Rugby and our country.

I wouldn't go as low as you and say your country doesn't have a history cos i am not gona stoop as low as you m8.

BTW GG OZ and its nice to see Wilco doing well.

Trys win matches not drop goals and penalites england.

It was great to see the team that was there to play Rugby won.

QLDAAA could not agree more mate!!! running rugby wins in the end. Justice :)

Oi when Adam Ash went over for that try i stood up on my couch and pumped my fist in the air repeatedly and started screaming "go you beauty!!!!!!"

This was an awesome game to watch. The tackling was fierce and despite the relatively low scoreline I found the play to be quite entertaining. Great to see Wilko back at number 10, he played as though he had been there for the last five years - really great to watch. Thought that monye had a shocker, defended poorly and didn't do much with the ball in hand either. Banahan didn't impress me either, a good club player but he just failed in almost every department against the aussies

Although I'd never usually blame injuries, when they are to the current extent it's hard to put out a decent 15. I was expecting somewhat of an arsing so I was surprised to see such a low score. When that Erinle bloke is on the bench as backs cover you must start to worry.

Bow down to your masters ENGLAND!

I don't really think Monye should be blamed...he's not a fullback...but playing as one, was he really expected to run lines with the ball (keep in mind, not everyone is as good as AAC)? It's like sticking Kearney in at wing...yeah, you can do it, but don't be surprised if the result isn't as great as you'd hoped.

Anyways, I've never been a huge Monye fan, but it seems like he's taking some slack in the English press for his performance, which wasn't really all that bad (Banahan was far worse to have at wing than Monye at fullback...).

it was a very good defensive performance by england and two lapses in defense gave away two soft tries,
wilko did everything you can expect of him and showed what england needed in attack and defense, but with no one else showing glimpses of attacking brilliance (bar one very good run by haskell) what can you expect...

garathy tried but failed, hipkiss did what he does best and thats just keep on your feet in the tackle so the big boys can drive him on(which in international level is just not enough)
monye looked not to bad at 15 but MJ should put him back where he belongs on the wing and get banahan back on the bench with foden at full back. deacon in the pack looked like a boy. and at number9, care he summed up the england performance in all, to slow at the breakdown and to slow to give the ball to the backs

I hate to say it but Wilkinson is f*ckin top class. You could see the effect he had on his side. Without him, I shudder to think what the result might have been.

I also think he showed moments on saturday that looked like him about 6 years ago. Brilliant. Courageous, powerful, skilful. Just awesome. Well done Aussies though.. I was glad the SH did it over the NH.. thats just the way it goes, although ideally that match for me would have been a draw, with neither poms nor aussies winning ;)

Worrying times for Oz, struggling against a mostly 4th string English side.

Worrying times for Oz? I doubt it, they have there own injury crisis but you don't see them whinging on about it. Was the centre pairing second or third choice?

Minus Wilkinson and Moody the rest of the England team got played off the field by there opposite number. The Oz backs look dangerous with the ball and always about 4 steps ahead. There back three carried the ball well, and there scrum is (finally) functioning well. Genia is there find of the season.

Why the hell is thompson playing? slow, old and doesn't carry any more. Get Hartley on with Chuter as reserve. Goode on the bench? is the the 2003 reunion show. We need to get decent replacement 10's sorted otherwise one knock to Wilkinson and we're really in trouble. What was the deal with putting two monster wingers up against two fast wingers with a decent turn of pace? Niether Mitchell or Hynes(?) ever struggled with them and left them for dead on quite a few occasions. You need someone like JSD or Varndell in those situations.

It is an improvement from the England team of 18 months ago but there's still a lot to do. Thank god we aren't playing the boks!

Give some credit to Cueto, who was bending over backwards to cope with the kicks behind Banahan and bailed England out.
Anyone who think England had a decent defence, that was cux Wilko made 15 tackles to patch it up.
I won't blame Geragty just yet. The only IC who's played well outside Wilko since 2003 was Catt. Remember the excitement of the prospect of the Wilko-Barkley axis in RWC 2007? Barkley then just folded. Now same thing happened. To be honest, we were lucky to have Geragty to clear the line when Wilko was stuck in contact quite a few times

"QLDAAAA said...
Trys win matches not drop goals and penalites england.

It was great to see the team that was there to play Rugby won"

Points win matches, which come from all 3 options - that's the biggest steaming load of crap I've read in all these comments (and there's a lot of it here).

It requires ability, tactics, line-breaking, quick ball to force penalties against better teams to get the points.

With both teams having injury problems - just highlights the lack of depth in quality that the English have.

In Banahan's defence for his lack of kicking ability - I never rated Tuqiri as much of a kicker (though that's possibly why he's been chucked out the side now that the game's evolved so much). He's young and one-dimensional - where he goes from here would be interesting (though probably not unexpected as he disappears off the int' scene)

butler, you watched the game and saw the result.

England kicked a drop goal in the 3ed min of the game and never look like scoring a try throughout the entire match because its not their game plan. The fact of the matter is that when they come up against an attacking side hungry for tries and able to defend (like the Wallabies) they have no hope, they have nothing to fall back on. Once Australia scored their second try England had to step up and play proper rugby (yes i said proper rugby) they just couldn't do it.

I agree with Perth tacklebag "running rugby wins in the end".

A win for the Wallabies and a win for Rugby.

I thought England were just awful. We were soft in defence (except Jonny) and soft in attack. Fine we're missing players but the team wasn't that bad. Not many positives, JW and Thompson/line outs all together. Besides that we're playing shite rugby, boring rugby and we can't even do that well. It should have been a bigger margine.

Thought the OZ 12, 9 and 8 were outstanding. Absolutely rock solid in defence all day and fairly good in attack but they didn't need to be that good becasue we tackled like kids. I'm embarassed.

Wales NZ game was pretty good i thought, don't know why people are saying that was poor.

pi$$ed off England fan

Jeez there are some Aussies on here that are over excited about that result. England were awful! Geraghty is like a headless chicken!
You can only play what's in front of you so well done to oz on the win but seriously, Ireland should beat them in Dublin.

Ireland beat Oz? your kidding yourself, the SH won't loose a match on this tour of the NH.

"Ireland beat Oz? your kidding yourself, the SH won't loose a match on this tour of the NH."

*COUGH* springboks Leicester *COUGH*

this looked like a great game, to bad I missed it in full :(

wilkinson is a god

not wanting to sound stupid,but where was lee mears?somebody please tell me he's injured or suspended or something,cos if not, johnson not picking him is a disgrace.he's definitely englands best option at hooker

He's injured. I really like Mears too, but Thompson was fine and Hartley is quality as well. It's the midfield which was woeful. Just did nothing all day long.

"Why does Banahan have so many tattoos? Looks like a scum.

You'll find all the good players have no tattoos. Look how many Springbok players have tattoos... any?"

He has tattoos in memory of his grandfather who flew lancaster bombers during the war....http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6906816.ece

and i'm not sure fiji / tonga / NZ Maori's will agree with you on the no good players have tattoo's...

"Ireland beat Oz? your kidding yourself, the SH won't loose a match on this tour of the NH."

*COUGH* springboks Leicester *COUGH*

LOL

Can't wait for Saturday!

Well done Australia good win, but i can't help thinking what if?

Even with all the injuries, Englands lack of shape upfront meant we couldn't compete in the loose.

And while England tried to play with width you have to play on the gain line and the speed of the ball prevented wilko and co playing flat.

Yet again we're left wondering what game the england coaches are trying to develop, fast backs slow forwards - doesn't take a genius to realise this wont really work.

He's got to bring Haskell, Lawes and Hartley in, if he dosn't we deserve to get d*cked by Argentina and NZ just to flag up how wrong they are going with their game plan.

Lorcan, doesn't count as a test match.

Its still 2-0 to the Southern Hemisphere.

The english will always be out classed by southern hemisphere teams boo yah

Give me a woop woop!

That's why I can't wait until Saturday.

Lorcan - what do you say now? NH teams did well this weekend.

'pride comes before a fall' sums it up pretty well i reckon.