England 14-28 Australia

Cook Cup 2008

Match Review

If, at any point in the last two years, you have wondered what English rugby would look like had Andy Robinson not lost his job, you need wonder no more. Saturday's defeat to a composed and resolute Australia represented not only a step down from the promising display of the previous weekend, but a far more worrying regression to the dire performances of the increasingly extrapolated "post-2003 era".

England dominated possession, which was hardly surprising given their reluctance to do anything with it, including giving it up. Australia, lived profitably off the scraps they were afforded with Matt Giteau making the most of 6 out of 7 penalty opportunities, Stirling Mortlock adding a further long-range effort in the second half.

Australia's star backs were amply supplemented by easily the finest Wallaby forward effort seen on British shores since the World Cup of 1999, with Al Baxter failing to oblige the media by disappearing into the London night with his tail between his legs. In fact, it was the collective effort of the Australian front five, including Man of the Match Stephen Moore and the always exceptional Nathan Sharpe, that saw England lose two scrums and two line-outs, and generally look pretty stupid.

Scoring the only try of the opening period would have been scant consolation for England who trailed 12-11 at the break. Giteau's four penalties were answered first by Delon Armitage - England's best player once again - who opted for a long drop-goal, then decided against it, reconsidered, stopped again and finally scudded over a low effort to score his first international points.

The home side, in truth, could have had three tries in the first half. First, a glorious break from Danny Cipriani, ghosting between two forwards, ended with Lee Mears being bundle into touch inches from the line. For Mears to scream in at the corner was probably too much to ask of the Bath hooker. A quick burst of pace from the other Danny, Care, saw England close as three forwards carried powerfully through the 22. But had just one of them opted to exit gracefully for the scene, England's backs could have walked in a try at their leisure rather than settling for Andrew Sheridan's substantial bulk being held up over the line.

England's Nick Easter - Photos by Empics 

Eventually, the pressure told, and Nick Easter burrowed over from short range. Cipriani missed the conversion, his second failure of a decidedly patchy afternoon, but did add a penalty late in the half.

The second half could be divided into two segments. The first of which saw the visitors gradually extending their advantage before capping it off with a well-worked try; Mortlock and co. combining well to send Adam Ashley-Cooper over for the score. The second was a product of the scoreline, as England tried to arrest a 14-point deficit in frantic fashion. Substitute James Haskell and his club colleague Riki Flutey did their best with a series of half-breaks as the Australians grew weary of an afternoon's stout defending, but English support was nowhere to be found, much as it was when Cipriani made a second incision into the Aussie midfield earlier in the piece.

So we may be two head coaches and a swarm of players further down the line, but the feeling of déjà vu was difficult to escape. The worst of what England have coughed up on the carpet for us in recent years was brought fully to bear in the unforgiving arena of Test rugby, yet again.

First of all, the leadership in the England side was in such short supply that had this been a war the troops would have packed up and gone home by half time. Steve Borthwick's cerebral captaincy should, in time, give way to some fire and brimstone. Just fire, if that is all that is available. It is now an iconic image of England's manager that summed up what his charges needed most on Saturday; from the brutal clash with South Africa in 2002 after a word from the referee, the mountainous Johnno turns to his troops to remark: "Everybody. Nothing!" Such a presence to stem England's tide of disgraceful ill-discipline was nowhere to be found two days ago.

Second of all, we saw a backline of outrageous pace denied their freedom by the ubiquitous presence of England's forwards. Loitering in the backline, clogging up space - for Steve Thompson and Martin Corry read Lee Mears and Nick Easter.

Not that the pack were much use at the breakdown either. Care, who suffered a poor outing, was not aided by the presentation of possession he received, where he was forced to go digging through a morass of his own players' legs, a phalanx of static muscle sitting on useable possession like a 18st mother hen. It's little wonder that Cipriani and his cohorts could do little with what was eventually shoveled out to them. The common denominator between now, the Robinson era, and such negative rugby is John Wells. If rumors are to be believed, his working relationship with attack coach Brian Smith is as sour as it was with Brian Ashton, and it's easy to see why. Should it carry on, England will continue to kneel at the feet of the Southern Hemisphere, which they won't mind one bit.

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