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England 19 - 21 Australia

A dissapointing result, but a very satisfying performance for me.
In a nutshell, if Mr Wilkinson was fully fit, England would have win reasonably comfortably. We missed way too many kicks. Charlie Hodgson is 3rd choice fly half. Then Gomarsall and and Tindall (who did actually do ok). But Jonny wouldn't have missed any of our convs or penos.

I am pretty happy with our performance. It was satisfying to see the England line-out was improved in the 2nd half, under intense pressure from the Aussies almost every time. Jason Robinson led by example. I was also very impressed with that Giteau, a very classy little player.

Englands forward pack again, dominated for me. There's just so much power in that pack.

Australia are a brilliant side and I don't think one of their players had a bad game. England are still going through something of a transitional period. And still have our points-machine out injured. But we more than matched the Aussies in the 2nd half.

Overall, pretty happy. A bit gutting really to lose to 2 late penalties. But that's our own fault for missing some very easy kicks and putting in a ****e first half performance. Very happy with the 2nd half though.

Let the transition continue .

 

So, where is this about?

 

Where is it about? Twickenham.

 

I only noticed the grammer error after Barmy's reply, an error we Dutchies often make since we use the word 'where' in such questions.

'So, what is this about?'
I suppose this is about a rugby/football match England - Australia and it was played in the Twickenham Stadium? And it seems the brittains were the looosers, loooosers!

 

Not to mention the huge loss suffered by the British rugby LEAGUE team on the weekend against the Australians.

But the rugby union was a close game and I would have to admit that a fit Wilkinson may well have proven the difference, although Hodgson did not have a bad game and has improved a lot over his performances down under earlier in the year.

It is hard to judge much from these games though. This is the same Australian team who lost to France last week, who were the same French team who were THRASHED 45-6 by New Zealand yesterday, who were the same NZ team who only scraped home against Wales the week before. The only constant is that Scotland are still losing to everyone.

All goes to show that it is very tight at the top of world rugby and it's anyone's game on the day. England are World Champs, France are Six Nations champs, South Africa are Tri Nations Champs, and New Zealand are ranked Number One at the moment. Makes every game a tough contest.

 

Yes Harbourboy, it's going to be very interesting to see if any team gets a kind of supremacy. Each and every one of them are capable of it. Makes for very entertaining viewing.

Lets not mention the League result shall we . Still can't understand that performance.

 

I won't mention the league, if you don't mention the cricket.......

While we're talking about English sport, I went to the NZ Soccer Awards last week and former England goalkeeper Ray Clemence was the guest speaker. He was pretty entertaining and afterwards they had a charity auction where one of the items auctioned was the opportunity to play a round of golf with Ray. Strangely, it only went for NZ$600 (about GBP200). If I'd had a bit more cash I would have bid for that.

[ November 29, 2004, 04:30: Message edited by: Harbourboy ]

 

The cricket... as I type, Nathan Astle is gone to a part time bowler. Typical. Oram and McCullum are now going to both get whirlwind double hundreds to give NZ a famous victory. Yeah, right.

At least the rugby was encouraging. That was the best complete All Black performance I have seen in about 5 years. We have a forward pack again! Our loose forwards are amazing. Our tight five are getting it together. Dan Carter at 10 is a revelation. Kelleher is back. Umaga is in great form. This bodes well for the Lions tour and Tri Nations.

Also, how do Aussie keep winning despite having no forwards? It's really baffling.

 

200 sheets for a round of golf? Christ, I'll keep the 200 big ones and go for a quick thrash on the local pitch and putt!
I'd rather not mention the cricket anyway at the moment. English cricket is something of a divided turmoil at the moment. Hope it doesn't have a bad effect on team morale and affect future performances. The Ashes get closer every day.