By ChrisC
June 23 2003

At last the final match of the 2002/3 season for the England players ten long months after the beginning of the Premiership in the dieing days of last Summer.
I had some misgivings about this match and indeed saw a side with few ideas, an inability to score tries and a poor pack. But enough of Australia, what of England!!??


Trevor Woodman confirmed his reputation as one of the best modern props around. Naturally he dominated his opposite number in the tight but it was in the loose where he was so impressive making darting runs and consistently breaching the gain line and tackling anything in a Gold shirt that was near him. A very good performance indeed. 9/10



Steve Thompson had clearly spent a good amount of time practicing his throwing after his dreadful display against the All Blacks and his application paid off handsomely with a near perfect display. No need to discuss his scrummaging which was as strong as ever but I have to return to mount my hobby horse about his standing at fly-half which is not a good idea as he’s too close to the opposition pack to really get away but too far away to always get support. I think his dynamic loose play is best evidenced when close in to the pack or out in the outside centre slot when he can run at backs and have more time to use his handling skills. But a good performance for all that. 8/10



Phil Vickery was simply first class in the first half, his running was superb, his scrumaging of the highest order and his speed to the breakdown and in support was a joy to watch. I thought he faded in the second half though and had a quiet third quarter before seemingly getting his second wind in the final phase of the match. Not yet back to full match fitness having returned from injury only just before the end of the premiership season and was tested in an international of this intensity. 8/10



Martin Johnson gave us the best game I have ever seen him play. Faultless in the lineout, worked tirelessly in the tight and was a revelation in the loose. I believe that in the move that resulted in Tindall’s try there were 14 passes and Johnno was involved 4 times. His crashing runs on respectable lines, for a forward anyway, were bone crunching and his defensive work similarly (and sorry to use the blasted word) awesome!


Once again his Captaincy showed why he will surely have cemented a firm claim to be recognised as the greatest Captain of all time with just the RWC needed to make it a foregone conclusion. When the team went through a sticky patch just after half time there he was solid, calm, dependable and as ever leading from the front where it’s close up and personal.


It is of course possible that Johnno will play better than he has over the last two weekends but frankly it’s hard to imagine. 10/10



Ben Kay bossed the lineout immaculately. It was ironic was it not that the Wallabies had stated that they were going to target this area of the England game. Ben was very sensible in going the safety first route of keeping the ball coming to the 4 and 5 jumpers and not going for the risky long ball where the odds against success increase and the Wallabies waited to snaffle the mistakes (Tigers please take note next season). As it was came there none and I think the England lineout was pretty much secure throughout. BK had another excellent game in the loose causing all sorts of problems and as was the case throughout the pack he gave a great display of support. 9/10



Richard Hill did his customary quiet and effective job with his defensive work of special note. With the conservative lineout policy he didn’t get an opportunity to go through the gears but was on top of his game and the opposition until for some reason, he was replaced by Worsley. Whether Hill was injured or not has not been said but while Worsley put in a competent performance and did nothing wrong there is always an added frisson of concern when Hill is not on parade. 8/10 Worsley 7/10



Lawrence Dallaglio was up for this one and no mistake and once again joined with Johnno as the most impressive pair of marauders it has been my pleasure to see in England shirts since the days of Peter Winterbottom and Co. I didn’t feel that Lal was as impressive as against the All Blacks with some of his running being a little too lateral at times but he continued to show why he’s one of the best ball carriers in World rugby at the moment. He was caught in defence a few times and missed tackles, one of which ultimately led to Sailor’s last gasp try. But another fine performance from the Wasp. 8/10



Neil Back was going to be done by Waugh, knocked out of the game by Kefu and at the end of 85 minutes I was still waiting for it to happen. The “Old Boy” won everything that was going on the ground, turned over ball, ran some lovely support in the loose and he still has the hands of a centre. Clever and committed. On several occasions Wallaby players were through the defensive line and then almost as if by magic they had been felled by another text book tackle from Backy who is not a proponent of this high tackling malarkey with hands flying about looking like they’re missing their handbags, no Backy knows that if you take the opponents legs away then they’re stopped. There was, later in the game an astonishing piece of the partial refereeing that we must now come to expect. No fault of McHugh, who it pains me to say had a first class match, but a touch judge called McHugh’s attention to Backy pulling back an opponent (might have been Matt Rogers) “no punches thrown though” said the official yet the video showed the Aussie lashing out. Recommendation? Oh penalty to Australia of course and a warning to Back! Never mind, he’s used to it by now. 8/10



Kyran Bracken produced another first rate defensive display and he has certainly perfected the art of thoroughly disrupting his opponents scrummage ball and really Gregan didn’t get decent ball from the scrum, which was having it’s own problems anyway. When the back row decided to take up the mantle then Bracken was round their feet like a Jack Russell on speed. I thought his service was a little sharper but not much and it was noticeable that when Dawson came on Wilkinson found himself in better positions and with more time on the ball. It was this additional time that enabled Cohen to take a lovely pop pass for his try. 7/10 Dawson was not quite the nuisance that Bracken had been but his far superior pass and vision must make him first choice at 9 8/10



Jonny Wilkinson was again not at his sublime best. In the perfect kicking conditions provided by the now re-christened Colonial Stadium (Testra Dome or some such name) I was surprised that he did not put up a perfect 100% from the tee. His decision making was also suspect with two promising attacks coming to naught when he chose to take poorly executed cross field kicks, one of which was too long and the other too short. In the prevailing conditions a World Class player like Wilko should be inch perfect. What was even stranger was that on both occasions the attack had not stalled and the pack must have been devastated having marched the Wallaby pack backwards from the 10 metre line to their goal line to see the ball kicked away in such a profligate manner. It was bad enough that they had been denied their own try by Gregan coming in from the side unpunished to pull the maul down.


Wilko looked happier once Dawson arrived and his field position improved with his pass to Cohen for the try that followed being out of the very top drawer.


I’ve seen Jonny play better than he did on Saturday, a lot better. 7/10



Ben Cohen was again my pick of the backs. Once more he ran tirelessly and kept picking his lines with the one that led to his try being quite wonderful and what a finish! Latham must be fed up being skinned by the hopeless English backs! Of course having such a “big old unit” with enormous pace and agility is a giant bonus for the team and this lad’s no Fancy Dan hanging around out wide waiting for his moment of glory, he’s there with the pack, supporting the other backs, defending like a Dervish and all the time seemingly crying out for more and more work. Excellent. 9/10



Mike Tindall or should I say the all new improved Mike Tindall with added zip. What a tough guy the Bath man is. Crunching tackles in defence one minute, being similarly tackled as he attacks the next. Newly aware of what’s going on around him his arrival and ability to claim the #12 shirt long term is now pretty much assured I reckon. He took his try well and with his strength was never going to be denied. Another hard working back and developing into a great player. 8/10



Will Greenwood scored a typical Greenwood try. How does he do that wriggling through defences stuff? Once again marshalled his defence well and until Sailor’s try, which came from unstructured, play the white wall held well. Some jitters when Roff broke free a couple of times but otherwise well organised. Will personally put the lie to the stories about the power of the Wallaby midfield and showed them that you need more than size and speed, you need brains as well and Will has those in cruel abundance as far as the opposition is concerned that is. 8/10



Jason Robinson managed to get into the action a lot more than he did against the All Blacks as the England team opened up the Wallabies and gave Billy The Whizz some opportunities to strut his stuff and on at least two occasions I thought he was going to score. What is noticeable about him is that he is so often first to the breakdown and gets stuck in forming the first bridge while the forwards steam up. Actually I don’t think the Sale man is given enough credit for the way his all round Union game has improved from when he first burst on the scene. Another player who has fully bought into the team’s impressive work ethic. 8/10



Josh Lewsey looked far more assured this weekend and while I still worry at the number of tackles he missed (in his job one is too many) one of the high spots of the match was when late on he tackled Matt Rogers with a text book shoulder under his opponent’s ribs while driving him up and back which left the talented Wallaby flat out and Lewsey merely strolled away seemingly wondering what all the fuss was about. Still got a bit to learn defensively in the 15 shirt but getting there and should be just nicely ready for the RWC . 7/10



Team Performance. After the work of the previous week it’s a case of follow that. The pack were just fantastic but given the conditions I felt that the half backs could have done better and several gilt edged chances went begging. They held together well when they hit the doldrums after half time but got themselves through it by changes to the line up with Dawson’s being the most influential. But clearly a fine performance. Of course Eddie Moans (sic) the Wallaby coach trotted out the customary pathetic South Hemisphere excuses, missing team members, a poor referee and so on and so forth. What a truly graceless individual he is but even he has had to agree that this is a fine England team. Dad’s Army of a pack? Well they certainly got their marching spot on as did the wallabies but in a French heading backwards in retreat kind of a way. Boring and can’t score tries? Errmm 3/1 in England’s favour. Good enough to win the RWC? Yes. Will they win the RWC - ah well that’s another matter and for another time. For now though. 9/10



Man of The Match. Martin Johnson - No discussion. No competitor. Martin Johnson.