The concept of rugby as a dynamic sport died a death in English hands yesterday, though, thank goodness, not in the hands of Australia.
England, too slow to be called ponderous, were hammered. The disintegration of their performance in the second half was almost total, any class and composure whatsoever deserted them and, for all the world, you were left wondering what on earth they do in all their training sessions.
Australia only settled it with a try after 70 minutes but England were extraordinarily lucky not to crash by at least 15 more points. Australia, creating madly, could easily have scored at least three more tries, and all they lacked was composure in the final yard.
England were also helped by referee Bryce Lawrence's assault on Australia at the breakdown and, most bizarrely of all, by the fact that he allowed England to knock-on blatantly three times in the second half. At least that allowed England to keep some kind of pressure going.
What was good? Not much. Jonny Wilkinson briefly drew noise from a cowed crowd by easing England into an early lead with a drop-goal, by tackling his stout heart out and by vainly trying to keep some kind of shape. Lewis Moody was superb on the flank, several times breaking up dangerous Australian attacks by turning the ball over. The rest finished practically nowhere.
Advertisement
Indeed, much of the afternoon seemed to be spent watching Danny Care waiting anxiously behind a static pile of English bodies, with English forwards making ponderous surges on the fringes. England lacked ball carriers, Australia had hundreds. England lacked attacking edges, Australia had the splendid Matt Giteau and the meteoric young Will Genia, their gleaming new scrum-half.
In the shocking second half, England realised that they really should be doing something. They tried with a desperation to pick up the pace and expand their game but instead of looking dangerous, they looked panicky. They lost their shape, they snatched at the ball, and we found that in place of a grand attacking strategy, the ball five times reached the grasp of Duncan Bell, the underrated prop. But the fact that he was in the game so much brutally underlined the paucity of England as an attacking force.
The match itself never electrified, although at least Australia lent an authentic stamp to it all with a vastly improved second-half performance. But it must be remembered they had lost six of their past seven, games, that they finished rooted to the bottom of the recent Tri-Nations tournament. It is very doubtful indeed that they are good enough to go on to complete a grand slam, but on the day there was an exuberance and a pace about them that was way ahead of anything that England could offer. On this evidence, England will struggle to avoid further disaster on Saturday at the hands of Argentina.
The whole thing may well have been summed up best at the very end when England made two pathetic attempts to drive over from close range. They won two lineouts, but Australia, whose pack have been obliterated on this ground in the past, held out with the upmost ease. The problem is that England have no apparent idea what type of team they are trying to be, whether they are concentrating on forward power or general poncing about. There must also be question marks against their replacements policy. It was quite right that Ayoola Erinle was brought on in the second half for Danny Hipkiss.
As an unashamed admirer of Erinle since he emerged in to the professional game I was absolutely thrilled for him that he won his first cap. But in the context of the game at that stage, to bring him on for Hipkiss was as relevant as changing the colour of the corner flags.
Advertisement
It would be ridiculous to say that at the end of the match England's play in the first half had become a distant memory but they went in 9-5 ahead.
Wilkinson dropped his early goal, he kicked a penalty when a ridiculous nanny decision by the referee saw Peter Hynes penalised for a dangerous tackle on Ugo Monye. Later in the half, Wilkinson kicked another penalty after the best series of England attacks of the half.
Wilkinson bailed out a typically moribund move with a diagonal kick, which Matt Banahan batted back into play and Australia had to kill the subsequent attack. Australia, however, were already looking the more dangerous side and they had scored after 21 minutes. Banahan had needlessly conceded a lineout. Giteau and Stephen Moore had attacked powerfully and then Adam Ashley-Cooper had continued the attack down the left wing. When the ball came back, Genia cleverly used his supporting runners to draw the interest of England defenders, and slid over to score.
But was this England lead to be the platform for something special? Sadly, we had already seen the best of England because the second half became positively grim. Australia came with a barrage of attacks, and from one, all of Moore, Wycliff Palu and Rocky Elsom could have scored. Shortly afterwards, it took a brilliant steal by Moody to interrupt another attack and then Drew Mitchell over-hit a kick ahead so that Ashley-Cooper could not reach it in time in the England in-goal area.
And soon after that, after Digby Ioane had burst to the line, he and the impressive Palu managed to knock-on when they were deciding among themselves who was going to score.
Advertisement
But Giteau had already brought it back to 9-8 with a penalty in this period of total Australian dominance and as England disintegrated further round the hour Australia looked the likely winners.
The killing try came with electric approach work and then a long pass across midfield from Giteau.
Ashley-Cooper set off probably with no more lofty ambition than setting up a ruck in the corner but he found Mark Cueto coming in too high to tackle him. He kept on going and reached the line through a thicket of England defenders. Giteau kicked an absolutely beautiful conversion, left-footed from the left-hand touchline, and that was enough. England's lack of a scoring machine or even attacking shape, meant that a nine-point lead was monstrous.
Star man: Matt Giteau (Australia)
Scorers: England: Pens: Wilkinson (2) DG: Wilkinson Australia: Tries: Genia 21, Ashley-Cooper 71 Con: Giteau Pens: Giteau (2)
Advertisement
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (NZ) Attendance: 80,000
England: U Monye; M Cueto, D Hipkiss (A Erinle 69min), S Geraghty, M Banahan, J Wilkinson, D Care (P Hodgson 63min); T Payne, S Thompson (D Hartley 57min), D Wilson (D Bell 58min), L Deacon (C Lawes 69min), S Borthwick (capt), T Croft, L Moody, J Crane (J Haskell 55min).
Australia: A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, D Ioane (R Cross 67min), Q Cooper, D Mitchell, M Giteau, W Genia; B Roninson, S Moore (T Polota Nau 60min), B Alexander (M Dunning 77min), J Horwill, M Chisholm, R Elsom (capt), G Smith, W Palu (D Pocock 69min).