The Sunday Telegraph - 11.08.2019

The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 11 August 2019^ ** 9

Australia stun the All Blacks in

record win as Barrett sees red

Carbery injury scare for Ireland

in warm-up triumph over Italy

Michael Cheika said his Australia side

would not get carried away despite

running up their highest score against

the All Blacks in a stunning 47-26 vic-

tory at Perth Stadium yesterday.

Even though New Zealand lock Scott

Barrett was sent off just before half-

time, there was plenty to like about the

Wallabies performance as they ran in

six tries and secured back-to-back

Rugby Championship triumphs for the

first time since 2016.

That they were able to do it in front

of a sell-out crowd of more than 61,000

was particularly pleasing for head

coach Cheika, with Australian rugby

having struggled for good news stories

this year following the sacking of Israel

Folau.

The record win came at a good time

with the World Cup just six weeks away

but Cheika, who led the Wallabies to

the final in 2015, said there was a lot of

work yet to do.

“It’s a building process, build a game,

build a score and try and build a sea-

son,” he said. “We know we’ll have

obstacles along the way but we’ve just

got to try and get around them.

“We just want to try and understand

that, when obstacles come up, there’s

always a way round it. That’s one of the

most important things in footie,

whether the obstacles are in your own

head or via the opposition.”

The victory keeps alive Australia’s

hopes of wresting back the Bledisloe

Cup from the All Blacks for the first

time since 2002 next week, although

they will need to break a winless run at

Eden Park that goes back to 1986.

Kurtley Beale, who had a fine match

in the No 15 jersey that Folau made his

own for six years, said the Wallabies

knew the job was only half done despite

a “really special performance”.

“The All Blacks are a very special

team, they’ve got the hunger in the

belly and despite the red card, they

really threw everything at us and

you’ve got to respect that,” the full-

back said. “We know it’s not over yet,

and we still need that win next week to

get that Bledisloe Cup back.”

Barrett was sent off by French ref-

eree Jerome Garces for a shoulder-led

charge to the neck and face of Walla-

bies captain Michael Hooper.

New Zealand trailed 13-12 at that

stage, but they then conceded 31 sec-

ond-half points. It was Australia’s high-

est points total against New Zealand,

with wing Reece Hodge leading the

way by scoring two tries.

Scrum-half Nic White, flanker

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, wing Marika

Koroibete and Beale also touched

down, with fly-half Christian Lealiifano

kicking 13 points and Matt Toomua

adding two conversions.

Beauden Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Anton

Lienert-Brown and Ngani Laumape

claimed New Zealand’s tries, while

Richie Mo’unga kicked three conver-

sions.

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was waiting

anxiously last night to discover if fly-

half Joey Carbery had avoided serious

injury in the World Cup warm-up vic-

tory over Italy in Dublin.

The Munster player hobbled off after

suffering a sprain to his left ankle and

head coach Schmidt, who confirmed

Carbery had avoided a fracture, now

hopes the 23-year-old can be fit in time

for the World Cup.

Premier playmaker Johnny Sexton

has been recovering from a thumb

sprain, and Ireland can ill afford to lose

either front-line fly-half. “The good

news is there’s no fracture, it’s a bit

puffy on the inside of his left ankle,”

Schmidt said. “We’ll give it 24 to 48

hours for the swelling to go down.”

Before his departure, Carbery had

kicked near flawlessly, including some

dangerous grubbers, scored one try

and had a hand in the two other first-

half scores completed by wingers

Andrew Conway and Dave Kearney.

Carbery was replaced by Connacht’s

Jack Carty, yet to start an international

after making his debut in February.

Leinster’s Ross Byrne, who would be

next in line and failed to make the

training squad, has two caps to his

name.

“I was really happy with Joey’s per-

formance today,” Schmidt said. “Defen-

sively he got himself into the right

places, and that’s a challenge.

“He ran the game very well, the vari-

ety of his kicking game and running

game. He is a danger with the ball, and

he almost got through the line a couple

of times.”

Schmidt confirmed Sexton will be

available to feature in the next warm-

up clash against England at Twicken-

ham on Saturday, Aug 24. “Johnny

probably could have played this week-

end,” the coach said. “He trained in the

week and was going pretty hard.”

Jordi Murphy and Kieran Marmion

also crossed as an experimental Ireland

line-up secured victory at the Aviva

Stadium, albeit after Maxime Mbanda

and Carlo Canna bagged first-half tries

for the visitors.

Chris Farrell impressed at inside

centre, providing stability and power

across Ireland’s midfield. Schmidt ad-

mitted the Munster powerhouse has

improved his chances of forcing his

way into the World Cup 31.

Asked if Farrell had improved suffi-

ciently to feature at either 12 or 13,

Schmidt said: “He took a step toward it.

It’s something that we know all three of

the other centres can do. Garry

Ringrose started his first Test as a 12,

and coming off the bench before he’s

shifted into 12.

“Bundee [Aki] has played a lot of 12,

and Robbie too. And at the same time

those three players can play 13.

“So we want to make sure that [we

have] three or four centres, however

we carve it up, with Garry able to play

on the wing as well. So it’s just keeping

our options open a little.”

Italy head coach Conor O’Shea in-

sisted he was reasonably satisfied.

“It’s very hard to contextualise when

you have your first hit-out,” said

O’Shea. “There were a lot of positives

for where we are physically; we were

able to more than hold our own. It

comes to the stage now about what we

can control, not what the opposition

does to us.”

Wait and see: Joey

Carbery was left with

a swollen ankle and

could be a doubt for

the World Cup

Jones on the right lines after

selection confusion of 2015

Announcement: Eddie Jones is due to

name his World Cup squad tomorrow

T

here has been significant

comment about the fact

that Eddie Jones will

tomorrow name the

31-man World Cup squad

which will represent

England in Japan. It is incredibly early

to be naming the squad, but I am not

surprised.

The context is the last World Cup

campaign. Jones has clearly learnt the

lessons from 2015, when Stuart

Lancaster was starting to get confused

by different players playing well, and

had his head turned by new

combinations working well together.

And that is before you throw in the

uncertainty created by the whole Sam

Burgess saga, which fatally

undermined England’s clarity of

purpose.

In the end, England did not use the

2015 warm-up games for the real

tactical development, and that

development is so important. If you

leave selection open for too long then

you can lose the tactical direction you

are trying to build simply because

players do not have time to work on

the understanding and execution

which is needed when they have to

deliver under pressure.

The decision to name the squad so

early also means that you get better

game management as groups within

the team take responsibility for

on-field leadership. This is where

England have to improve most, as the

Six Nations games against Scotland and

Wales, and the international against

New Zealand at Twickenham,

illustrated so well. Leadership is the

key area that Jones knows he has to get

right. Under pressure, in a World Cup,

England have to be able to vary their

tactical approach under pressure. That

needs clarity, and clarity comes with

having more time together, which is

where early squad selection helps.

I am sure Jones knows what his

first-choice XV is, and in one of the

games – probably against Ireland – he

England coach is creating

time to sort out leadership

issues and tactics with his

early squad announcement

SIR IAN

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will play his best team. In the other

games, he will need to play his best

units. All this makes the most

productive use of game time.

Given that the 33-man squad for

today’s game against Wales will be

whittled down to 31 players tomorrow,

and as England will take three

scrum-halves and three hookers to

Japan, at least four of the squad for the

Wales game will not make it to Tokyo.

I think he has made the sensible call

that England’s priority is to work on a

tactical approach which everyone

understands and which will work on

the hard grounds and in the high

humidity of Japan. But he also knows

training with it is one thing, playing

with it is quite another, so they need

the clarity which comes with testing

that tactical approach in the heat of

games against top sides like Wales and

Ireland.

I think that is where England got

confused in 2015, because they had

good enough players but there was a

lot of switching around based on a

too-open selection approach, and this

created uncertainty in players’ minds.

heel is that they do not always adapt

well when teams change tactics, as

Scotland did in the second half of the

Calcutta Cup. When they played New

Zealand at Twickenham, they had a

great first half of outstanding rugby

but got lost in the second half because

the All Blacks changed their approach

and England did not change with

them. So he will not just be seeking

clarity, but looking for players to step

forward and take responsibility for

adjusting how they play their game in

any 10-minute period to meet their

on-field challenges. Once you have

that clarity you can work with

intensity and pace because all the

players understand the variations that

can be brought into play.

If I agree with Jones’s decisions on

timing, I have reservations about some

of his decisions on personnel. I would

have taken Mike Brown for his

experience. In World Cups you need

players who have been there before,

and he has. He is a very good setter of

standards who draws the best out of

those around him. He has also got the

experience of disappointment in 2015

and players like that keep their feet on

the ground.

The other area that surprises me is

at nine. Against Wales today he has

chosen Ben Youngs and Willi Heinz,

who has no international experience,

and is also 32 now. Ben Spencer may

be out of today’s game but I would be

very surprised if Jones did not take

three scrum-halves to Japan. However,

although Spencer plays his club rugby

with Owen Farrell, the Sarries

scrum-half has only three caps and

needs all the experience he can get

before the tournament begins.

All the best World Cup teams have a

strong, stable, experienced

combination at 8-9-10, and at the

moment the nines he has chosen mean

England are one injury away from not

having sufficient experience in a key

area.

Yet there is also much to like about

this England squad. Up front their

pack has stability and experience, a

good set-piece (it is great to see Joe

Marler back) and punishing ball-

carriers, while in Tom Curry and Sam

Underhill they have two outstanding

breakdown exponents. Jones has

clearly decided on his best side, but

there is also a good deal of versatility

up front and behind the scrum if

injuries intervene.

In 2015, England allowed

themselves to be selectorially

sidetracked and underperformed

badly. The timing of this selection

shows that Jones is determined to

ensure that does not happen again.

to battle against Wales

Wing commander: Reece Hodge crossed

twice in Australia’s stunning victory

Genge’s seat on the plane

to Japan is far from

guaranteed following Joe

Marler’s return to the

set-up. The Leicester

loosehead can be dynamic

in the loose but will face a

thorough examination of

his scrummaging abilities

up against Exeter’s

Francis, who wins his 41st

cap at Twickenham.

The former Crusaders

player has made an

impression at Gloucester

with his leadership

abilities and now makes

his England debut aged 32,

qualifying through his

grandmother. Davies, a

seasoned campaigner at

Test level and now Wales’s

No 1 scrum-half, will

provide a stern test.

Ellis

Genge

Liam

Williams

Full-back

Willi

Heinz

Tomas

Francis

Gareth

Davies

Prop

Scrum-half

become one of the sport’s

best players under the

high ball, while Daly’s

pace and left boot make

him a dangerous weapon

in England’s back line.

So I do think there is a sense and

logic to what Jones is doing. You can

only embed an approach with your

key players playing together, and the

advantage of a World Cup preparation

is that you have that time, and four

games to gauge progress.

Early selection builds in more time

and removes any excuses or

misunderstandings. It challenges the

players to deliver. It also challenges

Jones to provide the clear tactical

direction from which options can

emerge. It is with this that the extra

time should pay dividends.

One of the things that has frustrated

him is the lack of leadership at key

times. By getting the players selected

early he can sort out the leaders in

each area and allow that structure to

become embedded. England’s Achilles

Australia

47

New Zealand

26

Att: 61,241

Ireland

29

Italy

10

Att: 17,000

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