The Sunday Times Sport - UK (2021-11-14)

2 November 14, 2021The Sunday Times 2GS

Rugby Union

As ever, you looked for that

England explosion, the burial of the

inferior team. You looked lor the lead-

ers to inspire. But it did not come. The

second half because a morass, a con-

certo for whistle for the referee, loyal

booming support and action which

retreated well away from true class or

even continuity.

There was a warming play when

32 15

ENGLAND AUSTRALIA

There is no such thing as a bad

victory over a southern hemisphere

giant but this Australia, in the absence

of some of their marquee players,

were abysmal.

For a team and a country who are

meant to show us the great attacking

details of life in the great outdoors,

they were barely watchable.

England had far more skill and far

more ambition and had they man-

aged to take some chances they would

have put Australia away by a street or

even a small village.

But maddeningly, England kept

wasting chances, kept lacking the

extra conviction. This meant that

Australia were always only just

behind them, and England lacked the

ambition and possibly the courage to

go flat out to give their opponents the

backside-kicking that they so thor-

oughly deserved.

England were well served early on

by Farrell, and Ben Youngs and Smith

added shape to proceedings. Court-

ney Lawes and Jonny Hill were excel-

lent throughout, and the two flank-

ers, Sam Underhill and Tom Curry,

looked almost near the form that they

showed when England crushed New

Zealand in the World Cup semi-final.

Jamie George, before he had to

leave the field, was explosive and

young Bevan Rodd held on well up

front — with the proviso that real Aus-

tralian scrummagers are long extinct

But long before the end and

throughout the second half, it was

incredibly difficult to spot what

England were trying to do. They

seemed to give up on launching Manu

Tuilagi, they lost rhythm and there

was the odd occasion as Australia

staged breakaways through Hunter

Paisami and Tom Wright, when a try

to take Australia into the lead was by

no means impossible. Even though it

was entirely unthinkable.

England have now beaten Australia

eight times in succession, a tremen-

dous run or an utter humiliation,

depending on where you live. The

Wallabies were without core men,

both tight-head props, and the

prompting of Quade Cooper. On this

evidence, their depth is akin to that of

a particularly parsimonious and

stingy pizza topping

And it is all very well to say that

England themselves blooded many

young players, but this was a full inter-

national, and so no excuses. It is also

odd to hear the England camp

bemoaning their bad luck with Covid,

as if they are the only people afflicted.

Given the light show and the wel-

coming support in those early stages,

it was not surprising that England

came out in startling fashion, finding

OPPORTUNITY TO INFLICT

DRUBBING GOES BEGGING

T

here was a wonderful prel-

ude to this match with the

stadium darkened for a pre-

match light show, England

were greeted by a roaring

crowd and they set off at a

terrific pace, as the fans wel-

comed Marcus Smith to the

international arena proper, and

England put the Australians under

pressure by playing pacey and convin-

cing rugby.

There were more roaring and stir-

ring deeds right at the end when

speedy Sam Simmonds poached a

loose ball, set off upfield at a rate of

knots and then who should come

thundering into the picture other

than Jamie Blamire? The reserve

hooker at Newcastle Falcons did not

look an inch out of place as he ran all

the way to score. Now that was almost

worth the price of the ticket alone.

But frankly, it had to be. So little of

real vintage happened in between and

the graft of England’s performance

and the graft of the match itself in

terms of quality, went plunging down

on a diagonal, never to be restored

again and there were times in the last

quarter where the diagonal had

plunged straight through to the cellar.

STEPHEN

JONES

Rugby Correspondent

at Twickenham

the gears immediately, and dominat-

ing possession in the first half and also

territory by 65 per cent and 67 per

cent respectively.

And therefore, for them to be lead-

ing only 16-12 at half-time was a full-

blown travesty. They started with

such confidence, with the two flank-

ers surging all over, young Smith and

older Youngs conjuring well and

George bursting into open field on

two occasions.

When he was put through by the

superb Lawes, he was stopped only by

a high shot by Tom Wright that may

well have cost England a try but which

cost Australia a player — with a yellow

card to the sin bin.

Later, George went surging again

with remarkable speed off the mark,

was executing his dive for the line and

with the ball less than a metre away

from the inviting grass he was stopped

by a brilliant tackle from behind from

Nic White, which dislodged the ball.

But earlier than that, England had

come out smoothly. Underhill and

Curry made the run-in in their first

convincing attack, Smith delayed the

pass just a little and the towering

Freddie Steward went knifing

through the gap and swerving to the

line. Pedigree.

England pulled clear at 10-3 but

having missed two or three chances

they also gave away some very silly

penalties, so by half-time the out-

gunned Australia had kicked four

through O’Connor against a conver-

sion and three penalties by Farrell for

that mere four-point lead.

It was no surprise as

England came out

in startling fashion,

finding the gears

and dominating

possession

15. FREDDIE 8/
    STEWARD
    Club Leicester Age 20 Caps 4
    All the focus was on Marcus Smith’s
    first big Test; it was the
    same for Steward and
    this was a tryscoring
    coming-of-age
    performance.


16. MARCUS 7/
    SMITH
    Harlequins, 22, 4
    Operated chiefly as a
    second receiver,
    giving him time to pick
    holes in the defence,
    which he did for
    Steward’s try.


17. MARO 6/
    ITOJE
    Saracens, 27, 50
    Led the team out on his
    50th England cap and
    marked the occasion by
    doing well in the
    unglamorous areas
    of pitch.

s the

and

ng

ENGLAND

PLAYER

RATINGS

By Alex Lowe

14. MANU 7/
    TUILAGI
    Sale, 30, 45
    Named on the wing but effectively
    played in his usual
    midfield role. He ran an
    effective decoy line for
    Steward’s try in the
    first half.


15. BEN 6/
    YOUNGS
    Leicester, 32, 111
    While pretenders to the
    throne line up, the Test
    centurion remains first
    choice — although
    days like this give fuel
    to his critics.


16. JONNY 7/
    HILL
    Exeter, 27, 10
    Unusually he was the
    more prominent of
    England’s locks,
    claiming the ball well in
    the air, which was not
    an easy task.
    13. HENRY 7/
    SLADE
    Exeter, 28, 42
    With England adapting
    around Tuilagi, Slade
    spent a lot of the game
    in the back field
    defending, using his
    left boot to clear.
    
    
    1. BEVAN 6/
       RODD
       Sale, 21, 1
       Played 70 minutes on his debut and
       mixed some bright
       moments with the ball
       in hand with some
       tough times in the
       scrum.
    
    
    2. COURTNEY 7/
       LAWES
       Northampton, 32, 88
       His ball-carrying threat
       had Australia
       concerned. His variation
       and deft passes were
       the hallmark of his
       game.
       12. OWEN 7/
       FARRELL
       Saracens, 30, 95
       Frequently took control at inside
       centre on the occasion
       of his 100th Test,
       dovetailing well with
       Smith. His tactical
       kicking was good.
       2. JAMIE 6/
       GEORGE
       Saracens, 31, 61
       Prominent in attack but hurt his
       knee as he tried to score
       from a maul and was
       penalised at the next
       scrum. Replaced at
       half time.
       7. SAM 6/
       UNDERHILL
       Bath, 25, 25
       Eddie Jones had predicted a “high
       volume” game for his
       forwards and the Bath
       flanker lived up to that,
       taking blows but
       battling hard.
       11. JONNY 6/
       MAY
       Gloucester, 31, 68
       This was not a game May was able
       to influence; despite
       England dominating
       they were unable to
       create opportunities
       for the flying wing.
       3. KYLE 7/
       SINCKLER
       Bristol, 30, 46
       Man of the match in England’s
       previous two wins
       against the Wallabies,
       he was prominent in
       attack. Had authority
       in scrum.
       8. TOM 7/
       CURRY
       Sale, 23, 34
       He carried the ball with
       determination, showed
       some decent footwork
       and defended as
       resolutely as ever. A
       force in attack.
    
    
    
    

TOTAL

100/

Subs: M Malins (for Farrell, 68min), T Davison

(Youngs, 72), R Quirke (Rodd, 72), W Stuart

(Sinckler, 72), C Ewels (Hill, 74), J Simmonds

(Lawes, 75), A Dombrandt (Underhill, 56)

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