England toast first series win in Australia
ENGLAND produced a sustained and outstanding defensive effort to keep Australia at bay before a late Owen Farrell try clinched a 23-7 win to secure his team a first series win on Australian soil yesterday.
England clung on to a sixpoint lead for much of the second half, and stood firm in the face of relentless Australian attacks, though the Wallabies will face questions after their refusal to take kickable shots at goal with the scores so tight.
Farrell finally settled the bruising and often spiteful contest in the 75th minute when he raced on to a kick through to secure a 2-0 lead in the threematch series.
Playing at inside centre, Farrell also slotted five out of six shots at goal, with captain Dylan Hartley scoring their other try in the first half of an enthralling encounter.
It was England’s relentless defence under pressure that was decisive as they repelled wave after wave of assaults on their line from a Wallabies side desperate to square the series.
Australia were held scoreless for 35 minutes before captain Stephen Moore touched down in a rolling maul, and were never allowed a second try, despite totally dominating possession and territory.
“Our defence was outstanding,” England’s Australian coach Eddie Jones told reporters, already looking forward to the dead rubber in Sydney next week.
“We had to play rope-a-dope today. We got an opportunity to score a try, and we took it. And that’s the sign of a good side.”
England now leapfrog Australia into second in the world rankings, and have set their sights on dethroning the world champion All Blacks, who earlier sealed their series over Wales 2-0.
The series win was a personal triumph for Jones, the former Wallabies mentor who was left heartbroken by Jonny Wilkinson’s last-minute dropgoal in the 2003 World Cup final that gave England victory over the hosts in Sydney.
Crestfallen Wallabies coach Michael Cheika lamented his side’s failure to find a way through despite their dominance of possession.
“We played a lot of footy, but it doesn’t win you the game always,” he said. “We’ve got to COMMITTED: Wallabies wing Rob Horne is tackled by England flank James Haskell during yesterday’s second Test at AAMI Park in Melbourne. learn to play a lot of footy and win the game, too.”
England, 39-28 winners in Brisbane, were first to settle after a testy opening phase featuring an all-in melee.
They took a five-metre line-out from a penalty and rumbled Hartley over the line in a rolling maul in the 19th minute.
Ten minutes later, Australia were 10-0 down after Farrell slotted a penalty, but the hosts finally sparked into action with a 14-phase drive.
Hooker Moore barged over in a rolling maul at the left corner, but England held the 10-7 advantage to the break after weathering another fierce assault on their line, during which the referee ruled that the clock was still running despite England knocking the ball into touch, thinking time was up.
Farrell’s second penalty in the 52nd minute made it a sixpoint game and from there the game descended into a boxing match as the Wallabies pounded away and England refused to yield.
The stalemate was broken when replacement hooker Jamie George kicked the ball through the line, allowing Farrell to coolly collect and touch down.
Farrell completed the scoring with his conversion and a penalty on the final whistle, triggering wild celebrations among the England players as they savoured a long-awaited Australian breakthrough. – Reuters IT WAS instructive last week to watch the All Blacks’ and Springboks’ performances almost back to back.
In Auckland, the initially sloppy All Blacks fell behind against a spirited, defiant Wales team. They were bent out of shape and their execution was poor. Yet at no point did they panic. Coach Steve Hansen gave fresh instructions at half-time, the team brought resolution to their play and they slapped down the Welsh challenge with a swagger at the finish. It was classic New Zealand counter-punching.
The Springboks were different in Cape Town. Ireland attacked with a ferocity that was as unexpected as it was successful. You suspected the Boks would find a way out of the hole, but instead they fell even deeper, their heads awash with doubt. They were flat and aimless and unable to respond against canny opponents – playing with 14 men no less, and even 13 for a few minutes.
What made it worse was that Ireland, for all their passion, are a team you expect to beat at home. That’s not arrogant. That’s the way it is.
You wonder about South Africa’s mental fortitude at a time like this. Recent months have seen a bewildering collapse of the crucible. Argentina won a first-ever Test match in SA, 80-1 underdogs Japan produced the upset of the modern age at the World Cup, and now dear old Ireland have done it too. This week saw the Boks drop to number four in the world. It’s no less than what they deserve.
All sorts of theories have been offered about the reasons – coaching fallibilities, transformation, outdated game plan, poor skills, the player drain – but I would venture to say there is another, and it affects all our sport.
The national mood is rotten. The economy is shot to pieces. Our sense of unity is fragmented. Racism is to be found at every turn. People are angry.
These things have served to distract us. The team reflects the morale it finds itself in, the morale we all find ourselves in. They are not immune to it.
And it is something that extends to soccer and to cricket, where increasingly the hardships are coming to bear on the performances.
Fans look to our national sides for sustenance and inspiration. The country can be burning, politicians can be squabbling and the bread price may be out of whack, but just so long as our teams are winning, we prosper under the illusion that all will be right with the world. We desperately need our teams and our passions to help us escape the gloomy reality.
Teams like the Springboks require resilience above almost all else. It is a component of all great sides, for it produces the ability to cope with pressure. But this quality was in short supply last week, much as it has been in recent years, where the All Blacks have reigned with barely a nudge from the Boks.
Prior to unity, SA had a superior win record against the All Blacks, but that trajectory has long since stopped. The All Blacks are comfortably 53-35 up in the head-to-head count.
South Africans have begrudgingly accepted that New Zealand are in another league, but the picture changes when teams like Argentina and Ireland come here and do a number on the Boks. It used to be that the Boks could find another gear and engage it whenever they needed to, but that gear has been largely absent in recent seasons.
It could be that this sense of belief has become a part of the slow drift away from performance excellence. The Proteas are a fine example. We know all too well the mental frailties that manifest during major tournaments. It is almost a part of the team’s DNA.
So, too, Bafana Bafana, who play with an insouciant air that frustrates supporters. Perhaps they too take their cue from the national mood, a festering sense of doom.
It’s easy to point to the tactics or the players or the coach, but the Springbok failings are more nuanced. You probably couldn’t measure the impact of the zeitgeist on performance, but, as South Africans, we all feel it in our bones.
And it’s bloody awful.