Autumn Internationals

[DasNutNock]

Looking at the England & Convicts teams should be an England win, by about 10!!. This assumes that a different England turn up to last week.

I can only see Genia & Hooper that would definitely make the England team and possibly Foley & Beale.

Our pack, starters & finishers look too strong, although the starting aus front row is not bad.

Our back 3 have pace to burn and while I think Brown is better defensively, Watson gives us more offensively. If the aussies decide to play a kicking game they will need to be up quick as they could get punished by Watson, May & Daley.

Our back row is interesting as Underhill is not as good a carrier as Haskell but in the loose is supberb and Robshaw is, well......Robshaw, you know exactly what you will get. If these 2 can sort out Hooper that could make a big difference. I can see a lot of play where Hughes is out wide as he will drag 2 defenders with him thus creating space for the wingers etc.

Oh, and we have Farrell!!

This Aus side is a bit more battle hardened than the current England lineup, who've only really played scratch teams since the 6N. Man-for-man, England probably better, but I don't envisage anything other than a tight match if we do win.

Hooper vs Underhill could be interesting. Hooper a vastly more rounded player, and a bit of a c*nt (in a good way). But if Sam gets a few big hits in, who knows?

[dave_l]

Dave, I watched the game on Saturday and I thought there was a distinct lack of atmosphere - was it that bad there? I have been to games where things have been a bit quiet. I'll be making sure it's a bit more raucous next weekend v the Aussies.

Yeah the atmosphere just wasn’t what it usually is at all. At least we just about avoided the infernal Mexican wave. Think expectation is higher than previous which may play a part. The Aussie game should be much better mate, enjoy!

[DasNutNock]

Missed the first half - sounds like the convicts have been a bit unfortunate so far.

[DasNutNock]

6-3, but England definitely not looking particularly good to me.

[DasNutNock]

Well f*ck me, what a CRAZY try for us.

EDIT - did it touch the line?

EDIT - man, that could NOT have been closer!

[DasNutNock]

Jeez, every decision seems to be going our way at the moment. I think England can consider themselves very fortunate to be 13-6 with 10 to play.

[DasNutNock]

JJ quality finish.

[Phil S]

just saw this on twitter


This is hilarious...the Aussies will get back to their coach and have a parking ticket, they'll get a flat tyre getting home, have a fire drill in the middle of the night and get to the airport and have their flight cancelled and lose all their luggage

great game and very harsh on the Aussies

[dave_l]

The scoreline was harsh on the Aussies but not the result. Fine margins at the top level and the Aussies Hail Mary stuff just didn’t come off in those kind of conditions. Moore’s obstruction was dopey.

As for England, I’d have Marler starting all day long in those conditions, Mako just isn’t scrum savvy enough in those sort of conditions but awesome in the dry.. Second rows all excellent with Itoje putting in a good shift at 6. Robshaw, one uncharacteristic brain fart aside was big, clearing up mess and getting us out of jail day long. Care was ridiculously good in the last couple of minutes and ruthless from the backs towards the end. Hope to see Watson have another go at full back next week.

Few things better than smashing the Aussies. Also big to Owen Farrell who gave his medal to a fan.

[DasNutNock]

Scotch trailing 10-15 to the ABs with a man advantage now. Sniff of a famous win?

[DasNutNock]

Cynical stuff to force the win from NZ, as you'd expect. I thought Scotland were great value, and Hogg SO close at the end.

[dave_l]

Well played Scotland. NZ won’t have enjoyed that one bit!

[pablo jaye]

i enjoyed that - partly because we beat the convicts but I thought the rain added to it. Yes, plenty of mistakes with the slippery ball but more testing in some ways as both sides had to concentrate more. A few more open passages of play made it more entertaining at the end. Good atmosphere at the match too - apart from the twat behind me gobbing off to everyone. The chap next to my missus jokingly complained about him to a steward, saying that the twat was emotionally harrassing him.

[sendô]

It's all fine margins in top level sport, the Aussies will feel they were unlucky to lose that. Everything seemed to swing Englands way, and no idea how the ball stayed in for Daly's try. The final score wasn't really a fair reflection on the overall balance of the game, and had their second try stood we might well have lost, but overall we probably deserved the win.

Five in five vs the convicts since the WC now.

[hammerdivone]

Cracking win and no love lost between the Kiwi ref and the Aussies that's for sure!

Some really top performances, in particular May, Joseph, Itoje and Daly. But Danny Care coming on transformed those last 10 minutes or so with his vision

[Loftyhammer]

Really enjoyed getting another one over our convict cousins!

I’m not having any of this luck b*llocks though....genuinely thought we were the better side overall (defence & game control is still part of the game as far as I remember!); Cheika may have been gurning like an idiot at the ref, but every big call against them was correct....in fact the only one that clearly wasn’t was pinging for a knock on early doors when it came off an Aussie. We were in for an easy try with the right call.

Also, rugby is an 80 minute game...ABs have been doing it for years - pulling away in the last 10 due to self belief, a strong bench and superior fitness. We now have those traits! I’m not convinced we’re good enough to beat ABs when on their game just yet....but we were clearly too good for that lot yesterday

[westham,eggyandchips]

just saw this on twitter


This is hilarious...the Aussies will get back to their coach and have a parking ticket, they'll get a flat tyre getting home, have a fire drill in the middle of the night and get to the airport and have their flight cancelled and lose all their luggage

great game and very harsh on the Aussies

We did seem to get the 50/50 decisions, but come on, its the Aussies. They deserve it.

[DasNutNock]

Scotch have absolutely bummed the shackle-draggers. GOOD.

[sendô]

Caught the end of the convicts getting crushed by the Sweaties. Funny as fook.

[Eggchaser]

just saw this on twitter

This is hilarious...the Aussies will get back to their coach and have a parking ticket, they'll get a flat tyre getting home, have a fire drill in the middle of the night and get to the airport and have their flight cancelled and lose all their luggage

great game and very harsh on the Aussies

We did seem to get the 50/50 decisions, but come on, its the Aussies. They deserve it.

They really weren't 50/50 calls though.
Hooper was offside for the 1st disallowed try. If he had stopped (the laws actually state that he must retreat) to be played on side by his teammate, then he would not have been in a position to score the "try".

For the 2nd disallowed try, Moore was obstructing Robshaw and preventing him from making a clear tackle. I'm not sure Robshaw would have prevented the score, but the fact remains that Moore was obstructing and it was a penalty to England.

I really don't understand why they pissed about looking a Daly's try for so long, the touch judge didn't think the ball had gone out of play, there was nothing obvious from the TMO so why spend 10 minutes trying to find a blade of grass that wasn't there?

They did the same with Samoa's 2nd try this week, if there is nothing clear and obvious the score should stand.

I think they got one decision wrong last week, England should have had a try after 6 or 7 minutes. A knock on was given against Launchbury, when in fact it was knocked back by Kurandrani, George Ford (I think) went on to score, but it was pulled back for a scrum. Had the Ref gone to the TMO for that the try would have stood. Funny how Barnes & Co weren't going on a bout that after the game, I guess it wasn't controversial enough as it was against England.

Personally, I think they got one decision wrong this week too, I think Danny Care knocked on before Brown's try. I don't think that had a great effect on the eventual result though.