Embarrassing and clueless are just some of the words that many supporters and non-supporters alike will associate with England’s performance last week against Australia. Losing 34-3 and ending yet another Test match with no tries to their name, it would seem not many positives could have been taken from last weekend’s match. Still, even John Conolly has admitted that the score-line did not reflect the nature of the game. For the better part of 60 minutes, there was very little between the sides, and then all hell broke loose.

Similar to the knee jerk reaction after the Six Nations match against France, coach Andy Robinson has responded to last weekend’s hammering by making six changes.

Andy Goode replaces Olly Barkley who drops to the bench, with Jamie Noon coming in for Matthew Tait who in turn replaces Tom Voyce. The inclusion of Noon adds a bit of defensive and ball carrying beef into the centres which is encouraging to see however the lack of Barkley or Abbott at 12 continues to puzzle. Voyce has yet to show much international class of late against quality opposition and Varndell had a nervous first start to say the least. However it would make little sense in dropping two players who desperately need experience (Tait and Varndell) now and they’ll have another chance to show what they can do. A quick mention goes to Andy Robinson claiming that Matthew Tait’s future position will be at outside centre. Answers on a postcard as to why he’s being started on the wing now.

After the struggling line out of last weekend, George Chuter replaces Lee Mears at hooker with Chris Jones and Ben Kay starting in the second row and replacing the anonymous Louis Deacon (who drops to the bench) and the much less anonymous Alex Brown (who gets dropped altogether). It’ll be interesting to see if Chuter can cut it at international level.

Finally Magnus Lund’s encouraging play has been rewarded with the Sale flanker being replaced by Joe Worsley who commented during the week:

"I do get angry, but I never hold any grudges with the coaches - they go with how they feel," he said. "You can't be bad about it, you have got to carry on. You can't be negative in a team environment, and I've been helping Magnus and the others. I never expect to be picked. Being dropped was the first disappointment, but it is the defeat which tops that. Like any sportsman, you need a kick up the backside, and it hurts not being picked. I keep the anger for future games, and it shows to myself that I still want it."

Robinson has also told his players to watch out for the threat of new Australia scrumhalf Sam Cordingley.

Cordingley replaces Wallabies' captain George Gregan and Robinson believes he will pose different problems.

"Sam Cordingley has played against us on a couple of occasions and we know the threat.
"He's a different scrumhalf from George and we can expect the fringes being attacked a lot more so I think that's going to be a key area for us to make sure that we police well."

Australia are expecting a much sharper performance from themselves.

"I would hope the Wallabies improve considerably this week," coach John Connolly said.
"I was talking to (former Australia captain) John Eales the other day and he was saying that during his 10 years with the Wallabies, only once can he remember the team starting off well in the first test of the season.

"In Sydney we were quite happy with our lineouts and our counter rucking at the breakdown, but we didn't control the ball terribly well in the backs, where we were instead pushing the pass. The scrum is also an ongoing process."

Australia centre Stirling Mortlock, who takes over as captain from the rested Gregan, said the pace of England's backs was a concern.

"England have a lot of toe (speed) at set piece time," Mortlock said.

"Our defensive pattern wasn't as good as it should have been and they exposed us a number of times. When you have guys that are that fast, and there are lots of them, it makes it tougher to defend."

Many will conclude that this team is two steps forwards and three steps backwards. Whatever the outcome on Saturday, I can’t help but think that the likes of Titterrel, Lipman, van Gisbergen and Bell will feel hard done by, having not touched the pitch once.

Time to put an end to yet another failed season, so we can start the new one and work towards the tough Autumn Tests. If anything is to come out of this Tour, it’ll hopefully be the encouraging displays from Varndell, Tait, Balshaw, Richards, Jones, Sanderson and Lund.

I can’t see England beating the Wallabies, even if veteran scrum half Gregan has been rested. Still, with a bit of luck, a couple of passes that actually find a pair of hands rather than touch and Steve Walsh having to pull out of refereeing the game because of a cold, the tourists might just do well enough to run the Aussies close. A narrow win would be very unexpected but a fantastic bonus. But if a win is beyond reach, as long as England performs well, it’ll at least be a step in the right direction.


Australia: C Latham, M Gerrard, S Mortlock (c), M Rogers, L Tuqiri, S Larkham, S Cordingley; R Elsom, G Smith, M Chisolm, N Sharpe, D Vickerman, R Blake, A Freier, G Holmes.
Res: J Paul, A Baxter, W Palu, P Waugh, G Gregan, C Rathbone, C Shepherd.

England: I Balshaw, T Varndell, J Noon, M Catt, M Tait, A Goode, P Richards; P Sanderson (c), L Moody, J Worsley, B Kay, C Jones, J White, G Chuter, G Rowntree.
Res: L Mears, T Payne, L Deacon, M Lund, N Walshe, O Barkley, S Abbott.

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