By Chris Chaplin
June 16 2003

On Saturday, together with most rugby lovers I suspect, I watched one the great team performances from England. But how did I rate the players individually?
Graham Rowntree more than warranted his inclusion and retention as part of the Grand Slam winning front row. In spite, together with his colleague on the other side of the scrum, of being penalised by referee Dickinson who judged that to be getting the nudge on the All Blacks they must be cheating, just one example of the most partial refereeing display I’ve seen for a very long time. Rowntree though was first class in the tight, ever present in the loose and even contributed a bit of panto as he set him self up as peace maker during one fracas! 8/10



Steve Thompson had a woeful day with his throwing although it did improve in the second half. Throwing is, like so many things in sport and life, a “confidence thing” and the big Saint just didn’t have it on this emotionally charged day. His scrummaging was as good as ever though and he was dynamic in the loose although it is an irritant to me that he spends so much time standing at fly-half and slows down attacks, but I guess that’s the game plan. 6/10



Jason Leonard was in a typical “go on then move me” mood and as much as the famous All Blacks tried they could not best Big Jase and had to rely on help from the ref to bring them relief. There was one lovely moment when Jase was running a decoy line in the centre and instead got a sharp inside pass. I think to say he was surpised would be an understatement! How does the East London Juggernaught keep on producing such quality? 8/10


At half time Phil Vickery came on to replace Leonard and from his demeanour you could see the Vickster was going to brook no nonsense this day and he didn't and during "those ten minutes" he was at Johnno's shoulder when it got mean and nasty. One break was amazing and it's just a shame it wasn't closer in or he'd not have been denied. The Raging Bull is back. Getting there now but not yet for 80 minutes and I just wonder whether bringing him on for the second half could be a great long term ploy. After Jase has been softening you up for 40 minutes who better to see arrive than this character? 8/10


Martin Johnson produced, for my money, the finest display that I have ever seen from him in an England shirt. When England were reduced to 13 men Johnno seemed to grow even larger to fill the vacant spaces. Some of his tackling was frightening in it’s ferocity, his contribution in the loose was outstanding and although he did have trouble in the lineout against Jack and the cowardly Williams, due in no small part to the haphazard throwing from Thompson, it was nevertheless a fine all round display. It was also the best exhibition of Captaincy that I can remember. Eight All Black forwards against six Englishmen and by stilling his troops and leading by example not only did his colleagues join him in besting the All Blacks but during those torrid ten minutes actually increased their lead. Wonderful. 9/10



Ben Kay was not able to put his ball stealing expertise on display against Jacks and Williams and he too found life tough in the lineout but his contribution in the loose and in defence was of the highest order. He gets himself into very good positions and shows great awareness but needs to work on his handling and he’ll be lethal. 8/10



Richard Hill didn’t wear a miner’s lamp but he spent so much time at the coalface on Saturday you could forgive him had he done so. This was not a day for Hillys’ flair to show or for innovative work at the line-out, this was a day for the hard grind and the hard yards if there’s a better back row player please point me in his direction. 9/10



Lawrence Dallaglio is one of those individuals, with Johnno, that if you were in trouble it would be wonderful to have them on your side. Lal was again superb. With his new bulk now complimented by a return of the old pace he was simply awesome. His abilities in taking the ball up were wonderous and his defence something to behold. Penalised by the partial and cowardly referee he came back on even more determined. A performance out of the very top drawer. 9/10



Neil Back again confounded his critics by putting in another fine performance for the flag. He may have lost a bit of his pace now and he may have been overshadowed as far as the commentators are concerned by the more youthful and showy skills of McCaw. However what Backy brings is nous, intelligence and that abilitity to be in the right place at the right time, all attributes that I suspect the All Blacks wished they’d had on Saturday. He together with Dallaglio were rightly sin binned following the referee’s warnings. However what was craven in the referee’s officiating was that McCaw with his colleagues spent the whole of the second half either off side, holding on to the ball in the tackle or entering rucks and mauls from the side. True Dickinson had to penalise them occasionally but I’m sure we must have all missed Dickinson saying “The next player from either side to commit a professional foul will be binned (but of course only if he’s wearing a white shirt)” 8/10



Kyran Bracken while superb in defence still did not make anything like the use he should have of the ball won by the pack as they ripped the ball and hearts out of the All Blacks. His passing was slow and I don’t think I saw more than perhaps half a dozen passes that the receiver did not have to leap in the air to collect losing valuable seconds and allowing the defence to come up. He did give Marshall and Devine problems on their put ins though and the All Black back row must have been sick and tired of him, having to rely on help from Dickinson to avoid turnover ball when the ball was clearly out having been touched by an All Black. But passing is the stock in trade of #9 so down marked for a poor display. 6/10



Jonny Wilkinson did not have a good match. Now I know that it seems to be a churlish thing to say when his place kicking and drop goal won the game and it’s true that some of his kicks were almost supernatural but he just did not get the backs moving. I know that he got poor service from Bracken but the best #10 in the World should have been able to at least craft something out of that particular sows’ ear. His kicking out of hand in the first half was awful and he seemed hesitant and unsure. But marked up for his match winning place kicks of course. 7/10



Ben Cohen must be one of the most improved players in the England set up in 2003. Tirelessly looked for work. Kept running his lines in unfulfilled expectation, tackled and defended until he should have dropped, but didn’t of course. On one occasion there were at least two and possibly three big All Black forwards trying to stop him and still he kept going. My pick of the backs. 9/10



Mike Tindall is, for me, the other dramatically improved player this year. I was always critical of his limited game but on Saturday he was picking out some good lines, repeatedly breached the gain line and defended like a man possessed. Good, honest, strong he’s always been but now with the added bits of flair coming through it’s hard to see him relinquishing the #12 shirt. 8/10



Will Greenwood had a quiet game in attack and never really got away from the All Black defenders. Defensively though he was first class both personally and in the way he organised his umbrella defensive pattern. They’ll be plenty of other days for Will to do some showboat scoring, this was just not one of them. 8/10



Jason Robinson is a marked man these days and as a consequence he was pretty invisible on Saturday. The high spot being his taking a high ball under enormous pressure. The low spot being his being AWOL when the offside Doug Howlett went through to score. Quite how none of three match officials managed to spot that not only Howlett but also Ralph were in front of Spencer when he kicked though must be a matter of conjecture. Nevertheless Robinson should have been more positionally aware as should Lewsey and not placed the indefatigable Dallaglio in the position of being the sole defender. 7/10



Josh Lewsey made some errors but also made try saving tackles so he can be forgiven for that. The Wasp was too occupied with defensive duties to show much of his attacking potential and he did pretty well other than when he was caught loitering in attack following his charge in support of a Wilkinson kick. Later in the game he was the victim of some brutal thuggery at the hands of Ali Williams. The All Black Lock was duly cited by the independent commissioner, Australian Michael Somes, who together with the fourth official, fellow Aussie Peter Marchall at least showed Australians still have the guts that had deserted referee Dickinson. Needless to say the New Zealand disciplinary panel which later heard the case decided it was all an accident. How such a decision could be reached when Williams stood back and looked down to get his range on the defenceless Lewsey and then the cowardly lock repeatedly stamped the on English Full Backs’ head beggars belief. Well it would if had not been from the disgruntled All Blacks. 7/10



Team Performance. Well it was not pretty, not flowing, due in no small part to the pedantry of the referee but it was simply the finest team performance I have ever seen from England. I could almost see Andy Ripley, Chris Old, Fran Cotton, David Duckham, Roger Uttley and the other members of John Pullin’s 1973 England team, who were the last to win here, standing on the sidelines applauding. It was simply, throat constrictingly, eye dampingly wonderful. 10/10



Man of The Match. Four candidates here. Hill, Cohen, Dallaglio and Johnson. Unsurprisingly I suppose, but I promise objectively and because of his fine captaincy, it’s got to be Martin Johnson.