Great Weekend of Rugby!!

England Vs Australia 26 - 16

Well the first thing that has to be said is that a 10 point victory over any Wallaby side is pretty impressive. With the close losses in the last two Cook Cup games, I felt that this could have been another hard fought contest but with the boys in white ultimately on the wrong end again. However, I was pleasantly surprised and extremely happy by the blowing of the final whistle.

I was concerned somewhat in the opening 10/20 minutes with the ease with which the English blindside was being exploited. In addition, a very nervy start from seemingly all of the team put an Oz team, who at times did not look like they were on a six game losing streak, in front after just three minutes. With the sin binning of Lewis Moody things could have gone horribly wrong, but the game turned when Gregan got 10 minutes on the sideline and England stamped their authority on the game.

The most impressive element was the game that Hodgson had, and that is something that I thought that I would never say!!! He placed kicked well and his territorial kicking was superb, grinding down the Aussies in the mid first half which lead to the English pack being able to batter some more life from their counterparts. In addition, his cover tackling, twice, down the wings stopped certain scores and ultimately kept the game tangible.

Another encouraging aspect was the scrummaging with Andy Sheridan having a magnificent game on his first full cap. He absolutely hammered his superior power, apparently he can bench press twice his body weight, over his opposite man and made some quality driving runs at the defence. Great game!

But where does this leave the fifteen now, especially with the All Blacks to play next week. Personally, I think that fixture will be an uphill task, especially with the missed tackles that seemed rife during some parts of the game. The AB's have a great momentum for this tour already and with most of their first team having been rested for the Ireland game, it will be a punishing encounter for England. The major benefit that I can see is that it will give Andy Robinson the best chance to see exactly where he and the squad need to be for the 2007 World Cup.