Rugby union: England’s “finishers” thrash Australia
It’s hard to believe that only two years have passed since Australia “floored” England at Twickenham, beating them 33-13 and dumping them out of the World Cup, said Robert Kitson in The Guardian. Since that humiliation, England have “bounced back with a vengeance”: they have won 22 of their 23 matches under Eddie Jones. And last Saturday’s match against Australia showed just how far they have come: they won 30-6, their biggest victory over the Wallabies. True, the stunning final ten minutes, in which England scored three tries, “disguised the tightness of the contest” – and several decisions went against the Australians. Yet this was still a “highly significant” win. England’s opponents “should be wary”.
As recently as two weeks ago, when England laboured to victory over Argentina, the knives were out for this side, said Owen Slot in The Times. But it turns out that Jones was only using that match as a “warm-up” for the Australia tie. A coach who likes to train his players “at a pace and intensity above Test level”, he put them through particularly tough sessions in the fortnight before they faced Argentina; then, in the run-up to the Australia match, they had a relatively gentle week. That left England “relatively fatigued” for the first match, but by the later, more important tie, they were at peak fitness – exactly as Jones planned. That, surely, is why they were able to dominate the Australians in the final stretch. But, as in so many games under Jones, it was the players who came off the bench that made the difference, said Rick Broadbent in the same paper. In a “masterstroke”, the coach has dubbed these substitutes his “finishers” – ensuring that, rather than complaining about being second-choice “bench-warmers”, they are given a “sense of worth”. Take Danny Care, the scrum half who dazzled in his 12-minute cameo last Saturday: he “picked holes” in the Australia side, setting up two tries and scoring a third. Although he has played in every game since Jones took over, Care has started in only five – yet he seems perfectly happy with “this state of affairs”.
North of the border, Scotland couldn’t match England’s scoreline, said Daniel Schofield in The Sunday Telegraph. They didn’t even win: the All Blacks beat them 22-17. Yet it was still an extraordinary performance. Scotland were “simply the better side”: for much of the contest “it was difficult to tell” which team were the world champions. Just before the final whistle, Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg – “the clear man of the match” – surged down the left and appeared to be on course for a try. Yet it was “not meant to be”, and the Scots were left ruing “a once in a lifetime opportunity missed”.