ENGLISH SCRUM RUNS OVER WALLABIES
(Image taken from Sky Sports)
It was the biggest day for English sport for ages. Three English teams in different sports up against quality oppisition. Things started solidly enough when our cricketers opened on fire in their test against Pakistan, as I'm not a big cricket fan, I skipped that course of succsess.
What I was interested in though was the rugby union match against the Aussies in Twickenham(just down the road from me, but I was never going to get tickets for a match this big), England came into this match on poor form and as a result some unfamiliar names wound up in the England squad like Andrew Sheridan and Pat Sanderson. Having said that, the Aussies weren't on the best of form either, having come off a loss to France in Marseilles, then again, they did get out of Twickenham with the Cook Cup last time out. It was not going to be easy, matches against the Aussies never are.
And sure enough, it was the Wallabies that opened the scoring, from a Mat Rogers penalty in the third minute only for Charlie Hodgson(Jonny Wilkinson STILL injured) to level things up with a penalty of his own in the 13th. The Aussies may have had the hotter start but soon a pack of large guys in white shirts were making their presence known, including Sheridan. Problem being that the Aussies were soon looking to get their lead back and Lewis Moody found himself sinbinned, Rogers converting the resulting penalty. Just as Moody returned though, the Aussie captain George Gregan got sinbinned. Now it was our turn to attack and a string of passes ended at the far side with comeback kid Ben Cohen who went over for a try, Hodgson converting in one of his more solid displays. So far so good.
The second half had England starting as they meant to go on with a Hodgson drop goal and though Rogers replied with a penalty, it was definately England's show due to the fact that the Aussies had no answer to the large guys in white. Hodgson put in another penalty, ...only for the Aussies to finally break out, stealing a ball from the English lineout for Drew Mitchell to put in a try, Rogers converting to level everything up. 16 all, twenty five minutes on the clock. Exit an injured Hodgson, enter another hit and miss kicker Olly Barkley who soon shut down one Aussie attack before having to kick a penalty from the wrong side of the halfway line...which dipped just the right side of the posts. 19-16 and the Aussies kept getting hammered though held firm despite one of their guys Ali Baxter getting sin-binned. Late on, Aussie Matt Dunning got himself seriously injured. After play restarted, the England battering ram finally broke through to finish off the Aussies with a Mark Cuerto try converted by Barkley. 26-16 the final score.
I'll admit that I prefer my rugby matches won more with class than battering rams but against any of the big southern hemisphere names I'm not going to get picky, the Aussies were always going to match us for class on this occassion anyway. One down two to go.
Elsewhere, the Frank Hadden coached Scotland too on the Argies at Murrayfield. Federico Todeschini opened the scoring for the Pumas only for Daniel Parks to level thingsfor Scotland with a drop goal and give his side a lead with a try, converted by Matt Patterson who then put over another penalty before Todeschini kicked over another penalty. 13-6. Patterson kicked another penalty early on in the second half only for the Argies to the Argies to move up a gear with a Francisco Leoni try, converted by Todeschini. Patterson put in another penalty but Scotland's effort was really just ticking over and the South Americans took full advantage, Todeschini put in a penalty before the Argies won the match with a converted penalty try. Though the Pumas are a decent side, the Scots really should be dissapointed with a 23-19 loss.
The Welsh fans definately are dissapointed with their side's current form, a 43-3 defeat to New Zealand at the Millenium stadium being followed by a tighter-than-it-should have-been 11-10 win over Fiji. And these are the current holders of the Grand Slam. Having said that, the All Blacks have also trashed Ireland 45-7 in Dublin. And their next stop is Twickenham.
Till then though, it's a good time to be an English sports fan.
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