[Rugby Union] Australia vs England - 2nd Test

[cheeseypuffs]

England:
I Balshaw (Gloucester); T Varndell (Leicester), J Noon (Newcastle), M Catt (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle); A Goode (Leicester), P Richards (Gloucester); G Rowntree (Leicester), G Chuter (Leicester), J White (Leicester), C Jones (Sale Sharks), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), P Sanderson (Worcester, capt).

Replacements: L Mears (Bath), T Payne (Wasps), L Deacon (Leicester), M Lund (Sale Sharks), N Walshe (Bath), O Barkley (Bath), S Abbott (Harlequins).


Don't know about anyone else, but after last week, I'm hopeful England can pull something out of the bag. I can't recall seeing a 1st Test thread, but I thought we played ok, despite the scoreline. We just lacked the cutting edge that the Aussie backs showed.
Goode and Noon both start, so I guess we're going to be a bit more "direct" this week ;)
I'd like to see Lund ahead of Moody at openside, he's well worth it after the season he's had and Moody always seems to give away too many silly penalties.
Pleased he's stuck with Varndell over Voyce, I know both had pretty bad games but Varndell showed glimpses of class, eg. standing Tuquiri up as if he was a prop :notworthy and if Robinson can get him to stop kicking ahead we might get to see some exciting wingplay.

[8-]]

The Aussie team were widely criticised by the media over here after the first test as not being very good despite winning.

[Radiohead]

Well they're not, just that we were even worse :D . Aside from Giteau though, where do Australia look for new blood?

I'm still far from convinced that AR is the man for the job.

[cheeseypuffs]

I suppose I'm looking at this England team as more of an A side, so they've done considerably better than the 1998 A side that took on the infamous "Tour from Hell" ;) And a I can see a few progressing soon to the first team. I thought the England front five last week showed the Aussies a thing or two about scrummaging, and had we had Cueto and Lewsey on the wings, I'm sure we'd have got a try or two.

[TigaSefi]

is Andy Robinson unsackable or something, he is ******* hopeless!!

[Crikey!]

is Andy Robinson unsackable or something, he is ******* hopeless!!


you've gotta wonder. perhaps he has some good blackmail material? :(

[Radiohead]

Tuquiri owned Varndell all day.

[cheeseypuffs]

Tuquiri owned Varndell all day.Unfortunately yes, although to be fair to Varndell except for the last minute ;), he never really got the ball in space and when he did have a half chance to go 80m on the counter Tait's pass was a bit wayward :(

Would have to say that the uncontested scrums played into Australia's hands a bit, but they were still well worth the win. Balshaw should take a close look at Latham's decision making, ie. when to clear and when to counter, as he was on a completely different level :notworthy

On the plus side, the forwards provided a lot of ball and Chuter played well, solid scrummaging (1st half), accurate lineouts and some good work around the pitch :thumbs:

Robinson seems to be trying his best to knock Tait's confidence again, and I have no idea why Lipman went straight into the side ahead of Lund, who was left to warm the bench. No offense to Lipman, but I think Lund should be ahead of Moody anyway and I just hope Robinson hasn't got a thing against him :thinking:

The rush defence didn't seem to work as well as last week, probably because they were expected it and worked out how to counter. I reckon it's something we should stick with, but not every time, if opposition like Australia, NZ, France and Wales are ready for it, they'll go through the gaps nearly every time.

I reckon the Aussies are in for a tough time against Ireland if they have as much ball as we did, BOD, Murphy et all will not be as clueless as us as to how to use it. Freier is lucky he's injured because the Irish lineout would take him apart :p

[essex_max]

you've gotta wonder. perhaps he has some good blackmail material? :(

Whatever it is, he definitely has a sense of humour: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/5093852.stm

:lol:

[Brad123]

Dont think its the coach, the players are very average now i feel.

[Art Vanderlay]

is Andy Robinson unsackable or something, he is ******* hopeless!!

It is absolutely astonishing, isn't it.

I never expected us to get anything from the Australia tour, and I was quite pleased that there were at least a few positives to take from it

But when you look at Robinson's stats since he took over it is incredible that he has kept his job. I know that a lot of the WC side have left/lost form but still we should not have had such a dramatic fall in our world standing.

Brad has a point that we have a lot of average players, but man for man we are at least as good as some of the sides who have been beating us in the last couple of years (Scotland, Wales)

[Radiohead]

Dont think its the coach, the players are very average now i feel.

Don't agree - they're very good players being made to look ordinary by inept selection policies and clueless tactics.

[cheeseypuffs]

Agreed, what worries me is his handling of promising players such as Tait, Lund and Barkley, not to mention established performers like Lewsey. Especially when he persistently favours the likes of Cohen, Noon, Worsley, Moody,... :shrug:

[Radiohead]

As things stand I can't see him surviving for the RWC - pray to God that Ashton takes over as head coach.

[cheeseypuffs]

Trouble is, he'll have to go before the 6N or it won't be worth replacing him, and I just can't see that happening. I can't imagine a new coach coming in after another mediocre tournament and turning it around before the World Cup :(