Whitewash or Backlash - Austrlia v England, 3rd Test

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AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND
25 June 2016
20:00 AEST (UTC+10)
Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Live on [Sky Sports]

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
A. Head to Head

46 Played 46
25 Won 20
1 Drawn 1
20 Lost 25
975 Points 736

B. Recent Form

18 June 2016 - AAMI, Melbourne: Australia 7-23 England

11 June 2016 - Suncorp, Brisbane: Australia 28–39 England

3 October 2015 - Twickenham, London: 13 – 33 to Australia

29 November 2014 - Twickenham, London: 26 – 17 to England

2 November 2013 - Twickenham, London: 20 – 13 to England

17 November 2012 - Twickenham, London: 14 – 20 to Australia

13 November 2010 - Twickenham, London: 35 – 18 to England

19 June 2010 - Telstra Stadium, Sydney: 20 – 21 to England



C. Teams

AUSTRALIA 


1. James Slipper – Reds (76 Tests)
2. Stephen Moore (c) – Brumbies (104 Tests)
3. Sekope Kepu – Waratahs (65 Tests)
4. Will Skelton – Waratahs (14 Tests)
5. Rob Simmons – Reds (61 Tests)
6. Scott Fardy – Brumbies (32 Tests)
7. Michael Hooper (vc) – Waratahs (53 Tests)
8. Sean McMahon – Rebels (8 Tests)
9. Nick Phipps – Waratahs (41 Tests)
10. Bernard Foley – Waratahs (29 Tests)
11. Rob Horne (vc)  – Waratahs (31 Tests)
12. Matt Toomua – Brumbies (31 Tests)
13. Tevita Kuridrani – Brumbies (33 Tests)
14. Dane Haylett-Petty – Western Force (2 Tests)
15. Israel Folau – Waratahs (40 Tests)

Replacements (One to be omitted)

Tatafu Polota-Nau – Waratahs (63 Tests)
Scott Sio – Brumbies (17 Tests)
Greg Holmes – Reds (25 Tests)
Adam Coleman (Uncapped)
Dean Mumm – Waratahs (46 Tests)
Wycliff Palu – Waratahs (57 Tests)
Nick Frisby – Reds (2 Tests)
Christian Leali’ifano – Brumbies (17 Tests)
Taqele Naiyaravoro – Waratahs (1 Test)



ENGLAND


15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 51 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 23 caps)
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 24 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 42 caps)
11. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 16 caps)
10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 24 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 60 caps)
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 34 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (captain, Northampton Saints, 74 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 64 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 6 caps)
5. George Kruis (Saracens, 17 caps)
6. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 50 caps)
7. Teimana Harrison (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 28 caps)

Replacements

16. Jamie George (Saracens, 7 caps)
17. Matt Mullan (Wasps 12 caps)
18. Paul Hill (Northampton Saints, 4 caps)
19. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 34 caps)
20. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 48 caps)
21. Jack Clifford (Harlequins, 7 caps)
22. Danny Care (Harlequins, 61 caps)
23. Elliot Daly (Wasps, 4 caps)

englandglory4ever wrote:Good result but Nowell had a surprisingly poor defensive game. He missed several tackles as did one or two other players. Something to work on I s'pose.

By the standards we are used to he did, but there was that try saving grab from the hands of Folau, and a couple of decent tackles aswell

lostinwales wrote:

englandglory4ever wrote:Good result but Nowell had a surprisingly poor defensive game. He missed several tackles as did one or two other players. Something to work on I s'pose.

By the standards we are used to he did, but there was that try saving grab from the hands of Folau, and a couple of decent tackles aswell

I think by any professional standards he did, let alone international. For the season he's had, not a great series for him.

In case you haven't seen it, here's one analysis of the last test. I hadn't noticed we were targeting Skelton at the restarts.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/06/29/how-did-the-wallaby-changes-work-out-second-row-sausage-sizzle-at-sydney/

Skelton just strikes me as a big guy but not really a rugby player. A bit like Toner (who is ok, but no great shakes).

Ah I agree Cyril, don't get what Skelton brings. Hes just a big unfit lump.

Would I swap any of Itoje, Kruis, Lawes, Launchbury, Robinson for him...not a chance.

Watched the Brumbies v Reds yesterday, some observations:

1. Moore is a real niggley player, really good too, but a bit of a dick. Not sure if he should be captain tbh.
2. There are far too many flaky players in the Oz teams who seem to think they're playing touch rugby.
3. It was amusing to listen to 80+ mins of coverage plus chat around the game and only one very brief mention of the series...

yappysnap wrote:Watched the Brumbies v Reds yesterday, some observations:

1. Moore is a real niggley player, really good too, but a bit of a dick. Not sure if he should be captain tbh.
2. There are far too many flaky players in the Oz teams who seem to think they're playing touch rugby.
3. It was amusing to listen to 80+ mins of coverage plus chat around the game and only one very brief mention of the series...

Funny you noticed thise things. I watched a replay of this match last evening and I noticed the same things. Especially about Moore and the commentators. It was almost as if the commentators were saying "England? Where they here?"

Just watching Rebels-Stormers and a Stormers player was just penalised for a neck roll. Only one quick comment along the lines of: "that wasn't officiated in the Test Series (no opponent mentioned), but nice to see it back in Rugby now".

One thing I find interesting in some of the Australia reaction is that they have reached for the same explanations/excuses which they usually ridicule if another team tries them.

Here's Bob Dwyer:

On the performances they may have been marginally in front. There wasn't too much in it. All three Tests could have gone either way, but England won all three. It wasn't a massive difference, but enough of a difference.

I actually think that's a fair summary but when Australia beat Wales 3-0 in 2012, there was only an eleven point difference between the two sides over three matches. No-one on the Australia side was saying that was a close run thing which might have gone either way.

Rugby Fan wrote:One thing I find interesting in some of the Australia reaction is that they have reached for the same explanations/excuses which they usually ridicule if another team tries them.

Here's Bob Dwyer:

On the performances they may have been marginally in front. There wasn't too much in it. All three Tests could have gone either way, but England won all three. It wasn't a massive difference, but enough of a difference.

I actually think that's a fair summary but when Australia beat Wales 3-0 in 2012, there was only an eleven point difference between the two sides over three matches. No-one on the Australia side was saying that was a close run thing which might have gone either way.

There has been some very good analysis of the games also. I think it was in one of the green and gold podcasts they were saying that whenever Australia scored somehow England managed to score again very shortly afterwards. Most of the talk has just been that England was better all around - with only Folau making it into a combined team. For me the fact we scored 30 more points with half the possession is huge.

And for all the winging about the refs they must have to ask themselves how come the same thing happened with 3 different refs (2 of whom had recently been the refs at games Australia had won). The discipline we showed at the breakdown was extraordinary, particularly considering our more recent history. In turn the pressure we put on them (plus the very odd balance they had in the forwards) consistently forced penalties.

It will be very interesting to see how Australia go in the rugby championship. That will help to put this series in context. We showed that they do have some real problems, but, particularly in the last test, there is a lot of opinion that they actually played well. Its just we were better.

And sorry if this all sounds smug, but for the first time for a very long time I think we have the right to be.

Rugby Fan wrote:One thing I find interesting in some of the Australia reaction is that they have reached for the same explanations/excuses which they usually ridicule if another team tries them.

Here's Bob Dwyer:

On the performances they may have been marginally in front. There wasn't too much in it. All three Tests could have gone either way, but England won all three. It wasn't a massive difference, but enough of a difference.

I actually think that's a fair summary but when Australia beat Wales 3-0 in 2012, there was only an eleven point difference between the two sides over three matches. No-one on the Australia side was saying that was a close run thing which might have gone either way.

Our was close but England dominated IMO, no chance of that going either way.

Australian identifies kicking out of hand as weakness, especially in the last Test.

https://vimeo.com/172990579

I watched all 3 games again on You Tube with Aussie comentating - much better than the Harrison/Barnes combo on sky! Surprisingly fair in their assessments also. They thought decision making was key.

Harrison/Barnes are the worst commentators in rugby. As well as pretty uninformed and a decade out of touch, their just so arrogant and boring. They pretty much suck the fun out of a game.

From watching super rugby I love the Ozzy and Kiwi commentators, they often wear their heart on their sleeves but are always knowledgable and pretty even too.