ENGLAND, SCOTLAND COME UP SHORT AGAINST TOURISTS

 

 

For English rugby it was a new era. Martin Johnson, England manager. It had only been five years since he'd captained the men in white to the '03 RWC. One heck of a gamble but after the disasterous reign of Andy Robinson it's not like the RFU had much to lose. In Scotland Frank Hadden was the more established coach but even he had to try and build some kid of platform for a competitive Six Nations in '09, as well as give crowds outside Murrayfield a taste of international rugby. Both coaches had to pit their men against the best the southern hemisphere(and elsewhere) could offer and see what happened. You really can't call these games friendlies.

First up to face England at Twickenham and opening the Martin Johnson era was a Pacific Islands side. Danny Cipriani opened for England with a penalty before converting a Sackey try. The Islanders quickly replied with a Seru Rabeni try converted by Pierre Hola. Ciprinani then added another penaly before converting his own try, with Hola pulling three back with an Islanders pen. Nick Kennedy came up with an English try early in the second half which Cipriani converted before Seremia Bai kicked a pen for the Islanders. Another new name Lee Mears grabbed a try(conveted by Cipriani before Sackey got his second. England won 39-13, so far so good.

The next visitors to Twickenham were Australia. Matt Giteau opened the scoring for the Aussies with a couple of penalties before Delon Armitage got his first points on the board for England with a drop goal but England's indiscipline continued and Giteau grabbed two more pens. After much attacking play, the men in white finally broke through for an Easter try, Ciprinani adding a pen just before half time. However though Cipriani was the first scorer of the second half, any hope of England getting back into the game vanished after three more Giteau pens and an Ashley Adam-Cooper try(converted by Giteau). The Aussies won 28-14 and Jonno would not have been pleased by that shambles.

The final vistors to Twickers were South Africa. Well what can I say? Cipriani may have opened the scoring with a pen but Ruan Pienaar levelled the scoring for the Boks in similar fashion and after he converted a Danie Roussow try, there was no coming back for the home side! Pienaar converted his own try before adding a pen before a Cipriani pen gave England their only respite. Then it was an Adrian Jacobs try which Pienaar converted before adding a penalty. Then Jaque Fourie grabbed a try which Francois Steyn converted and Bryan Habana had the last word with a try of his own. South Africa won 42-6 and Johnno has one heck of a lot of work to do.

Scotland's first rumble was against New Zealand at Murrayfield. A Patterson penalty was as good a way to start the game as any for Scotland but the All Blacks levelled with a Stephen Donald pen with Donald then converting an Anthony Tuitavake try. Donald added another penalty and though Patterson finally pulled three back, that was as good as it got for the Scots. Tries from Piri Weepu, Richard Kahui(converted by Donald) and Anthony Boric(converted by Daniel Carter) won the game 32-6 for the tourists. Not a great day out for the Scots but Hadden would have known that winning this game would have been a long shot, still it was dissapointing.

The next visitors to Murrayfield were South Africa. This time around Scotland got off to a great start, OK an early injury to Patterson wasn't ideal but a pen fron Daniel Parks before Phil Goodman converted a Nathan Hines try meant that Scotland finished the first half in dreamland! However the Boks weren't going to be kept down and Ruan Pienaar kicked two pens before a Jamie Fourie try gave the Boks the lead with just over 20 mins to go. Pienaar grabbed another pen to secure the win but a scoreline of 14-10 must have been gutting to the Scots, not in terms of disgrace but to coming that close to beating the world champions - a more creditable performance that England later put up against the same opposition.

Finally the Scots went up against Canada with the action shifting up to Pittodrie. Nikki Walker opened the scoring with an early try before Phil Goodman added a penalty then converted a Ben Cairns try with the visitors from the other side of the Atlantic unable to do much about procedings. In the second half Goodman converted tries from John Barclay and Ali Strokosch before Daniel Parks converted a second try from Walker before Rory Lamont finished the Canadians off for a 41-0 win. OK, so the Maple Leaves were by far the weakest touring side that Scotland have faced but still, that sort of emphatic victory definately shows promise for the future.

As for the other "home nations" well Wales started their autumn campaign by getting beaten 20-15 by South Africa at the Millenium Stadium, a defeat but still a respectable performance. The next visitors to the home of Welsh sport were Canada and they proved to be an easier task, the home side winning 34-13. Finally though came the all-conquering New Zealand team and once again the Millenium Stadium was stormed, this time to the tune of 29-9. Not an ideal combo of results from the reigning Six Nations champions but given the trend that was appearing, maybe not too surprising, the big Southern hemisphere names definately seem to have the edge on this occasion.

Ireland's first order of business was to deepfry Canada to the tune of 55-0 at Thurmond Park, sounds like the Canadians might just as well have stayed at home. The men in green returned to their more regular home of Croke Park to face New Zealand and the All Blacks gave them a reality check, beating them 22-3. However the next visitors to Croke Park were Argentina and the Irish were able to deal with them pretty smoothly, winning 17-3. Impressive work from the Irish but you have to bear in mind that they've only faced one of the big names from the southern hemisphere. Still, certainly a promising set of results though we'll see what happens in the Six Nations.

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