Cook Cup returns to Twickenham
England reclaimed the Cook Cup courtesy of a muscular 26-16 victory over Australia at Twickenham on Saturday, handing the Wallabies their seventh straight loss.
England's victory was based upon some good old disciplined forward power, something Eddie Jones just cannot find for love nor money at the moment.
Australia's scrum was smashed. The only scrum the Wallabies had in the first half resulted in an England penalty, and that was just one of six penalties England squeezed out of the Wallaby scrum alone. By comparison, England conceded six penalties during the whole match.
Andrew Sheridan turned in a magnificent performance not dissimilar to something Martin Johnson would once have produced. At only 26 years old, he has a good six years left on the prop clock, and on this showing should very much be an integral part of Andy Robinson's long-term planning. Both of his opposite numbers departed before the end of the match: Al Baxter to a yellow card for collapsing a scrum, and Matt Dunning to a serious-looking neck injury.
The possession stats favoured England 70-30 at the end, which sounds convincing but given that information one wonders why the score was not as imbalanced. Australia's defence was excellent, granted, but England could not turn pressure into points, which is something they will need to work on ahead of the All Blacks Test next weekend. That Australia made so much of their meagre ration of possession is a testament to the adventure and strength of Chris Latham and Drew Mitchell at the back -- with young Mitchell once again looking very much the real deal.
"Land of Hope and Glory" boomed around the stadium tannoy at the kick-off in a dreadful attempt at creating some sort of partisan nationalist atmosphere, but in neither the rendition nor England's start to the game was there hope and glory to be found.
From the kick-off, Martin Corry dropped the ball, Charlie Hodgson missed touch, and Mark Cueto left the pitch with blood streaming from a head wound. Chris Latham launched a dangerous counter attack from which Australia got a penalty for holding on, and Mat Rogers gave Australia an early lead.
Cueto's disappearance for a quick stitching allowed Mark van Gisbergen to win his first cap, and he played considerably better in the England shirt than he had done for Wasps in the past few weeks, but England collectively looked a little twitchy early on.
Australia looked much more composed, and twice could have had the early try. A fabulous pass under pressure by George Smith set Drew Mitchell away down the left. Mitchell feinted left and right, but couldn't make his mind up and was caught by an ice-cool Hodgson.
Then Chris Latham, a thorn in England's side that the men in white never quite removed, broke down the left, bursting through a Josh Lewsey tackle and handing off Mike Tindall with disdain before Hodgson once again dived to the rescue in the corner. Australia would have had a try from the ensuing ruck, but Lewis Moody produced a truly ugly act of cynicism by not even pretending to play himself onside before tackling Tuqiri. Moody departed to a yellow card and Rogers kicked a penalty, but there was a clear case for a penalty try.
Rogers' penalty made it 6-3 to Australia, with Charlie Hodgson having converted the first of the penalties conceded by the Wallabies at scrum-time.
From the restart after Rogers' kick, England re-gathered the ball and produced their first spell of genuinely good cohesive play, culminating in a deft Hodgson kick to the corner. Latham cleared from the line-out ball, but could not find touch, and Australia were penalised for going off their feet. Matt Dawson tapped quickly, but had barely caught the tap before he was tackled by George Gregan who, like Moody, didn't even pretend to retreat before bringing down the danger-man.
Gregan also departed to a yellow card -- there was a case for a penalty try here as well, although this incident was 5m further from the line -- but England looked to capitalise, and quickly did so with the opening score.
From the scrum, England ran through a simple back-row phase, and a crisp handling movement involving superb decoy running from Jamie Noon saw Ben Cohen in the corner with space to spare.
England dominated the ten minutes leading up to half-time, with all working parts of the machine running smoothly. They might have had another try on the stroke of half-time but Latham was alert to Dawson's deft chip and got there before Mark Cueto, and it was 10-6 at the break.
The second half ran very much as the first had done. Charlie Hodgson took the score to 13-6 with a drop goal, but Australia's willingness to attack saw England go off their feet in desperation and Rogers made it 13-9.
Hodgson extended the lead to seven again with another penalty, but England were still making too many mistakes when in control, and then they suffered a disaster.
The England line-out, which had been virtually flawless throughout, malfunctioned five metres from their own line. Australia stole, worked it down the back-line, and although both Latham and Mitchell looked to have been initially repelled, Latham and Tuqiri's support drove Mitchell over for the try. Rogers brought the scores level at 16-16 with the conversion.
Olly Barkley, on for a limping Hodgson, landed a 50m penalty to hand England the lead back, and then the scrum-smashing began in earnest. Australia had already been forced to flip balls from the base in panic as England turned the screw, and when Mitchell spilled a high ball in front of England's posts, the eight in white came to the fore, hammering away at their opponents for nearly five minutes as Australia conceded a variety of penalties and handling errors. The scrums were uncontested after the departure of Baxter and Dunning, but the England forwards had brought their opponents to their knees, and with five minutes remaining, Cueto darted through some flailing tackles for the clinching score.
Man of the match: England prop Andrew Sheridan was magnificent. Unstoppable in the loose and unshakeable in the tight, he turned in a truly mature international performance today.
Villain of the match: England flank Lewis Moody and Wallaby skipper George Gregan. Two cynical fouls denied us tries, a pet hate of ours.
Moment of the match: Perhaps slightly obscure, but Chris Latham's early counter-attack from a missed touch clearance was magnificent, dodging three tackles and making fifty metres with some terrific strength and pace.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Cohen, Cueto
Cons: Hodgson, Barkley
Pens: Hodgson 2, Barkley
Drop: Hodgson
For Australia:
Tries: Mitchell
Con: Rogers
Pens: Rogers 3
Yellow cards: Moody (off-side, 15); Gregan (not retreating ten metres, 25); Baxter (collapsed scrum, 69).
The teams:
England: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Mark Cueto (Mark van Gisbergen, 1-5), 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson (Olly Barkley, 57), 9 Matt Dawson, 8 Martin Corry, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Pat Sanderson, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Unused replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Chris Jones, 20 Harry Ellis.
Australia: 15 Chris Latham (Matt Giteau, 40-45), 14 Mark Gerrard (Matt Giteau, 70), 13 Lote Tuqiri, 12 Morgan Turinui (Lloyd Johansson, 73), 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Mat Rogers, 9 George Gregan (Chris Whitaker, 65), 8 George Smith (Scott Fava, 77), 7 Phil Waugh, 6 John Roe, 5 Nathan Sharpe (Mark Chisholm, 46), 4 Hugh McMeniman, 3 Al Baxter (Greg Holmes, 69-79), 2 Brendan Cannon, 1 Matt Dunning (Tatafu Polota-Nau, 69).
Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
Touch judges: Alain Rolland, Alan Lewis (both Ireland)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
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