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England v New Zealand -Match Review

 (Inaugural Match of the Sir Edmund Hillary Shield)

England took to the field to face the 'All Blacks' in the Inaugural Match of the Sir Edmund Hillary Shield.  And setting the scene we had row up on row  of St. George's flags around Twickenham stadium, we also had  audience participation in forming the St. George's flag and when it came to the face off against the HAKA, England had their 16th Man singing his heart out to 'Swing Low'. 

Maybe the 16th man unnerved the All Blacks for a short while because they did not start as confidently as I had expected.   To be honest I had expected a walk over match and although the final score looks that way the first half points wise, was actually very close.   

England this week came out with urgency, passion and quicker ball for the first 20-30mins or so, they definitely unsettled the All Blacks and the play went back and forth at a rapid pace, quite exciting those first few minutes of the first half.  And then POW, KAPOOFF here we go again England's discipline went down the pan at a rapid rate of knots.   I have never seen such a bad display of discipline from an England team, 15 or more penalties against them ( to be honest I stopped counting) and 4, yes 4 yellow cards.   How England expected to match let alone win against the all Blacks with sometimes 14 and at one point for a couple of minutes 13 men, heaven alone knows.  

Now some will moan about the referee Alain Rolland but England made it easy for him.  If you persistently offend, then the policeman will always be watching you and that is what happened.  The referee seemed to pay greater attention to the England's  offences and missed one or two of the All Blacks.   My opinion for what it is worth is, they should not have been offending in the first place, do we really have to resort to swinging arms, being constantly told to roll away, kicking the ball away !

The England Elite/Saxon players are all paid professionals let's not forget this, they should know and they do know but they still commit these stupid, silly offences. Some players this autumn have cost England many points.

At half time the score was 3-12.   Early in the second half Nick Easter looked to be going to score but he was ankle-tapped by Mils Muliaina but overall Easter had a good game and again Delon Armitage has been the find of this Autumn Internationals, he again produced another good performance and he looks so confident under the high ball. Nick Kennedy also looked good and deserved his recall disrupting the All Black line out really well. Basically the rest.... 'Also Ran' - Including the Captain, really nice guy but not a leader.

 Toby Flood

Toby Flood tried hard but made some bad decisions, rushed some dreadful kicks/drop goal and was  sin binned for high tackle, some might say it was harsh but frankly England players need to wise up they need to be 'turfsmart and 'refsmart'.

The fact that Dan Carter was having an off day with the boot let England off the hook, New Zealand should have had many more points and once they got their first try scored by Muliaina diving over in the right-hand corner ---------it was good night Vienna, the tries and points just flooded and washed England away in a light drizzle of cold winter's rain.

Must admit I got to the point watching the endless penalties being given, that I lost interest. This is a young England team but as Will Greenwood said in the match commentary afterwards, if they want to wear the England jersey they have to eat, sleep and breath England. Personally I am not sure if that is possible with some of these players, I hope I am wrong.

England (3) 6
Pens: Flood, Armitage

New Zealand (12) 32
Tries: Muliaina 2, Nonu Con: Carter Pens: Carter 5

England: Armitage; Sackey, Noon, Flutey, Monye; Flood, Care; Payne, Mears, Vickery, Borthwick, Kennedy, Haskell, Lipman, Easter.
Replacements: Hipkiss for Sackey (73), Cipriani for Noon (75), Ellis for Care (60), Hartley for Mears (67), Stevens for Vickery (53), Rees for Lipman (58), Croft for Easter (67).

Sin Bin: Mears (24), Haskell (32), Flood (43), Rees (76).

New Zealand: Muliaina; Rokocoko, Smith, Nonu, Sivivatu; Carter, Cowan; Woodcock, Mealamu, Tialata, Thorn, Williams, Kaino, McCaw, So'oialo.Replacements: Toeava for Smith (69), Weepu for Cowan (70), Afoa for Tialata (56), Reid for Kaino (56).

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