By Chris Chaplin
October 21 2003

A fascinating game which, to use a good old sporting cliché was a game of two halves. During the first I wondered what the team had been doing during three months of training and then in the second half I began to find out.

Phil Vickery was somewhat subdued in the loose and struggled a bit in the scrum which has never been his strongest suit. Julian White could be a better option against the heavier scrummaging sides. Generally unexceptional although his support play was good. 6/10

Steve Thompson faultless at the line-out and put himself about in his usual way in the loose but was inaccurate and his handling in the first half was particularly poor with one hapless kick through rather summing up this below par performance. 7/10

Trevor Woodman experienced a difficult afternoon in the scrum largely due to his opponent being allowed to come in at an angle. Some nice touches in the loose showing what good hands he has but otherwise not his usual rampaging self and will need to improve. 6/10

Martin Johnson had to again steady the rocking good-ship England when things went awry early on. Faultless in the line-out and made some barnstorming bursts in the loose and along with all the forwards he tackled himself to a standstill. 8/10

Ben Kay had a very good afternoon at the office. Perfection on his own ball at the lineout, stole opposition ball, behaved in the loose as if he were a flanker, one of the best in the team around the tackle area. 8/10

Lewis Moody was everywhere but got himself isolated too often and turned over ball. The youngster also tackled, ran, snaffled ball and made a try but needs to relax into his game and learn the guile and positional awareness of Backy to make him the complete article. 7/10

Neil Back came to his game earliest in the first half and produced a virtuoso performance thereafter. His tackling was text book as was his support play, he was unlucky to be pinged for offside at a ruck late on. We could do with a player like him at Tigers! 9/10

Lawrence Dallaglio produced a typical barnstorming performance. Superb in defence like the rest of the pack, carried the ball in his usual inimitable style and was the safest pair of hands at the re-start, which was otherwise a disappointing area for the team. Made his opposite look distinctly second rate. 8/10

Kyran Bracken is not, to be honest, my second choice #9 as I would have gone for Gomersall and Wilkinson would have certainly benefited from the Gloucester mans’ faster pass, as he found himself struggling with the extra second demanded by the Sarrie’s service. However it’s hard to imagine how anybody, including Dawson, could have put in a better performance with the breakdown and tackle area such a mess. That he did so well in this part of his game and made his opponents lives a misery is of great credit to him. 7/10

Jonny Wilkinson had a perfect afternoon with the boot from the tee and was cool as ice in taking two drop goals. However his kicking out of hand was otherwise poor and well below that of which know him to be capable. I didn’t think he asserted himself enough as play maker either. 7/10

Mike Tindall has also played better. He was inaccurate and careless. Unusually for him he missed some tackles and got himself into some strange field positions. Nearly got through the defence but took the wrong option. 6/10
Will Greenwood was again a bit semi-detached until he switched to inside centre when he brightened considerably and made far more of an impact. Terrific in defence all afternoon and would have caught the eye of football managers with his ball control when taking on Moody’s charge down and scoring the match’s only try. 8/10

Jason Robinson seemed to actually be playing full-back for much of the match and was not as effective or troublesome as he can be as a consequence but still looked the most dangerous of the backs. Once he moved to centre he showed more of his customary touches but really got too little ball to shine. Some good defensive work got him an extra point. 8/10

Ben Cohen was all aggression and endeavour in his search for work but his scoring chances were very few and he was sufficiently and uncharacteristically imprecise with those that came his way. Also great in defence and his close quarters support play is like having another forward. The big Saint won’t be satisfied with himself though. 6/10

Josh Lewsey could easily have been in the sin bin for a daft early tackle in the first half. Made some good runs from deep but they fizzled out around the half way line. Strong in defence in spite of some sloppy handling. It wasn’t his sort of game. 6/10

Team Performance was poor in the opening 40 minutes, careless, wasteful and lacking in patience after they failed to score after 15 minutes of domination. Much better in the second half though and on their way to the form that made them tournament favourites but still some way to go. A 50% improvement will be required for them to progress through the knock-out stages. 7/10

Man of The Match

The choice was between. Kay, Dallaglio and Back. On balance though it has to be Neil Back