Three games, three wins, Australia defeated once again – but Jones wants improvement
Three out of three, England march on. Eddie Jones’ record as Head Coach now reads played 23, won 22, lost 1. The transformation of England continues, with the 2019 World Cup in Japan his only thought, his only target. Fair to say, England continue to look the part these days – although Jones sees only a work in progress.
The record books will show the following: England 21, Argentina 8, England 30, Australia 6, and finally England 48, Samoa 14. That’s 99 points for, and 28 against – none too shabby.
Realistically, England expected the victories over Argentina and Samoa, whilst Australia was the obviously tougher fixture – although Jones’s men ultimately cruised through that particular challenge.
Here’s a detailed look at each match.
Saturday 11th November, Twickenham stadium – England 21, Argentina 8
Not the most cohesive or flowing of England performances, it has to be said. They were helped by Argentina’s profligacy with the boot, Juan Martin Hernandez and Emiliano Boffelli both guilty of missing very kickable penalties and a conversion.
England delivered two tries, number eight Nathan Hughes going over after 23 minutes, and replacement wing Semesa Rokoduguni thundered through on 66 minutes, which effectively ended the contest and sealed the win.
A late try from Nicolas Sanchez gave Argentina some consolation, but as rusty as England looked, Argentina didn’t ever look like winning this Test match. Their cause wasn’t helped when they lost Joaquin Tucalet to the sin-bin, when he clattered England full-back Mike Brown as they competed for a high ball.
Brown was forced off for the remainder of the game, looking groggy from the collision. The ever-impressive Elliot Daly (did I ever mention he’s a Croydon lad?) slotting in at 15 thereafter.
Overall it was not a great spectacle. Momentum was hard to come by for both teams, with countless penalties, handling errors and wayward kicking interrupting the flow. England missed both inside-centre Owen Farrell and lock Maro Itoje, who were rested by Jones.
The frustration of the Red Rose supporters was best summed up by Jones himself – caught on camera effing and jeffing, hurling his notebook down in distinctly high dudgeon. England had just conceded another pretty needless penalty in the second half, and the Head Coach wasn’t happy.
He calmed down sufficiently post-match to give his views, none of which anyone would argue with.
“It was a grindathon. They played well. We were off the pace a little bit, but I thought there were some things we did really well. The reality is we haven’t played a game since March together. We had players coming back from the Lions who have done two training sessions with us. Our fluency and our understanding wasn’t there, which is understandable.”
Prop Mako Vunipola was the official man of the match, but flanker Sam Underhill, who tackled like a demon all day and relished the hits, might consider himself unfortunate not to get that vote.
So it was job (eventually) done, the win secured, but not a game – or performance – that will live long in anyone’s memory. Jones, once he’d repaired his damaged notebook and put his money in the swear box, will want a dramatically better display against Australia.
Man of the match: Mako Vunipola
England: M Brown (S Rokoduguni 21); A Watson, J Joseph (A Lozowski 61), H Slade, E Daly; G Ford, B Youngs (D Care 61); M Vunipola (E Genge 67), D Hartley (capt); J George 58), D Cole (H Williams 67), C Lawes, G Kruis (J Launchbury 56), C Robshaw, S Underhill, N Hughes (S Simmonds 71).
Scorers: Tries: Hughes, Rokoduguni. Conversions: Ford. Penalties: Ford 3.
Argentina : J Tuculet; M Moyano, R Moroni, S Iglesias, E Boffelli; J Hernández (N Sánchez 63), M Landajo (G Bertranou 67); S Botta (L Noguera 58), A Creevy (capt); J Montoya 67),N Chaparro (E Pieretto 58), M Alemanno, T Lavanini (L Senatore 67), P Kramer, M Matera, T Lezana (B Macome 56).
Scorers: Try: Sánchez. Penalty: Boffelli.
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Attendance: 81,683
Saturday 18th November, Twickenham stadium – England 30, Australia 6
England left it late to apply the gloss in this one. Three tries in the 72nd, 79th and 81st minutes cementing a good win against arch-rivals Australia. Was it a fair reflection of the game? Probably, although Australia will doubtless feel aggrieved as quite a few key refereeing/TMO decisions went against them.
England welcomed back Owen Farrell at 12 and Maro Itoje – perhaps surprisingly benched again by Eddie Jones for this one – joined the fray on 17 minutes to replace Sam Underhill – both slotted back in well, underlining their enduring worth to England.
Anthony Watson started at full-back, and probably delivered a seven-out-of-ten performance. Alongside him in the back three, wings Jonny May & Elliot Daly occasionally got themselves in bother with their attacking instincts, but Jones will probably also have appreciated their brio and confidence.
England were also indebted to gritty performances from locks Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes, and skipper Dylan Hartley at hooker – all of them refusing to take a backward step all afternoon.
The Wallabies lost skipper Michael Hooper and full-back Kurtley Beale to yellow cards in the first half, then had salt rubbed liberally into these wounds as two tries were later disallowed, as a series of debatable decisions went against them.
Hooper saw yellow after multiple infringements from a driving maul, as England pressured the Australian corner, and Beale was punished for a deliberate knock-on after May tried to release centre Jonathan Joseph in a promising position.
Australia’s bad luck manifested itself frequently in this match. Two disallowed tries had their Head Coach Michael Cheika very hot and bothered. Referee Ben O’Keeffe, from – of all places – New Zealand, should not be expecting any Christmas cards this year bearing an Australian postmark.
In the first half, Hooper pounced on the ball, convinced he’d scored, after centre Tevita Kuridrani’s kick-through fell invitingly. Australia were convinced their wing Marika Koroibete had played him onside, but the officials disagreed.
Then on 70 minutes, O’Keefe gave another decision against the Aussies, disallowing Koroibete’s try for obstruction by replacement hooker Stephen Moore. It certainly wasn’t Australia’s day when it came to the marginal calls.
England had a better experience of officialdom when Daly scored their first try on 54 minutes. Scrum half Ben Youngs cleared the ball downfield, with it bouncing close – very close – to the touchline. Daly fly-hacked it on, demonstrating his impressive set of wheels, and touching down with aplomb.
Australia felt the ball was in touch, but after countless replays, the TMO (Ireland’s Simon McDowell) decided it hadn’t, and allowed the try to stand. it was so close to call it was effectively flip-a-coin stuff. But the outcome certainly didn’t improve anyone’s mood in the yellow and green.
When looking beyond the controversial decisions that certainly went England’s way, it has to be said that England were the superior team on the day, handling the wet, slippery conditions better, refusing to be out-muscled and – crucially – showing ruthless finishing. The late blitz of tries from Joseph, May and replacement scrum-half Danny Care conclusively nailing the coffin lid down on the Australians.
Eddie Jones was rather prickly when questioned on the marginal calls that went more England’s way than Australia’s.
“Why do we have a referee? Why do we have TMOs?” Jones said. “I don’t understand the question. How were we lucky? They do 10 replays of video and they make a decision. This is the best referee in the world for today, the best guys in the TMO and you’re saying we’re lucky because the decisions went our way. I’m sorry we were lucky.”
His Australian counterpart Cheika got himself into a minor altercation with a fan in the stands, which he played down afterwards. “There are plenty of fans giving me a gob-full and it’s not pleasant,” Cheika said. “That is the way it goes and I know going down the stairs I am going to cop abuse.”
“There is no point [complaining]. If you have to make submissions about that sort of stuff then there is no point going”.
“It is totally normal to get angry and you have to clear your head. We are doing whatever we can to be a team and nation of no excuses and we showed a lot of courage and determination and stayed in the game in the face of a lot of adversity.”
The heat of battle was getting to everyone, by the sound of it. Officiating controversies aside, nothing should detract from what was an excellent win for England. The scoreline was England’s biggest ever winning margin against Australia, and confirms their status as the second ranked team in the world right now.
Man of the match: Joe Launchbury
England: A Watson; J May, J Joseph, O Farrell, E Daly; G Ford (H Slade 70), B Youngs (D Care 70); M Vunipola (J Marler 64), D Hartley (capt); (J George 57), D Cole (H Williams 67), J Launchbury, C Lawes, C Robshaw, S Underhill (M Itoje 17), N Hughes (S Simmonds 63).
Scorers: Tries: Daly, Joseph, May, Care; Conversions: Farrell 2; Penalties: Farrell 2.
Australia: K Beale; R Hodge, T Kuridrani, S Kerevi (K Hunt 67), M Koroibete; B Foley, W Genia (N Phipps 71); S Sio (T Robertson 70), T Polota-Nau (S Moore 64), S Kepu (A Alaatatoa 67), R Simmons, B Enever (M Philip 62), N Hanigan (B McCalman 41), M Hooper, S McMahon (L Timani 78).
Scorers: Penalties: Hodge, Foley
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand).
Attendance: 81,909
Saturday 25th November, Twickenham stadium – England 48, Samoa 14
Not quite the grandstand finish Eddie Jones and England perhaps wanted, but nevertheless they scored seven tries to cement a clean sweep of Autumn victories against a spirited, if limited, Samoan team. The conditions were far better than last week, and made for good running rugby.
In a mixed bag of a performance, there will be much tightening-up required by Jones, and better game management perhaps, but he will be heartened once again by England’s all-round scoring threat – this team are becoming seriously efficient try-scorers.
Jones made nine changes to his team after last Saturdays win over Australia, using pretty much all the resources at his disposal within the squad. This perhaps affected England’s fluency at times, but it would have been good experience – and a confidence boosting win – for the fringe players and those just coming into the England frame for the first time.
Hooker Jamie George enjoyed his first England start after 19 – yes, 19 – previous appearances from the bench. He contributed 11 carries and 6 tackles in a good all-round performance, which Jones would have noted.
Number eight Sam Simmonds, also on debut, showed plenty of power and a degree of presence also. Lock Charlie Ewels crowned a pretty good display with a try in the first half, whilst the experimental pairing in midfield of Henry Slade and the try-scoring Alex Lozowski looked neat and creative when they were able to evade some monstrous Samoan tackling.
Wing Elliot Daly was the star of the show for England, with two tries. For his second, he smoked several Samoans in a run measured at 55 metres, before touching down. What an asset he is becoming to Jones and England. And remember, this is a player you can slot confidently in at full-back, wing or centre – with his long-range kicking an absolute bonus, if required.
Fly-half George Ford orchestrated his troops well and was always on the front foot. It was good to see Maro Itoje back in the side, chosen this time at blindside-flanker, where perhaps he may settle in future. He had a fine old time in the line out, he probably isn’t actually eight feet tall, he just plays like it.
England’s try-scorers in full were full-back Mike Brown, Lozowski, Ewels, Daly 2, Slade, and replacement wing Semesa Rokoduguni.
Samoa battled gamely but couldn’t seriously trouble England – despite making some sizeable hits on what will be some sore English ribs for a while. It is to be hoped the financial issues affecting the Samoan players and the state of health of the Samoa Rugby Union can be resolved soon.
Post-match, Eddie Jones underlined his mantra for continuous improvement – “The only reason I came to England was because I got offered to coach a team I thought could be bloody good. I think we’re good, we’re not bloody good at the moment, but that’s what we’re going to become.”
For the record, England’s win ratio under his control now stands at 90.9%, but when asked to assess himself with a half-term report, Jones replied “Doing the basics well but needs to keep improving.” Typical Jones, never truly satisfied – even with himself.
Man of the match: Elliot Daly
England: M Brown; J May (S Rokoduguni 47), H Slade, A Lozowski (P Francis 57), E Daly; G Ford (co-capt), D Care (B Youngs 57); E Genge (J Marler 46), J George (D Hartley 64), D Cole (H Williams 57), J Launchbury (C Lawes 31), C Ewels (N Isiekwe 64), M Itoje, C Robshaw (co-capt), S Simmonds.
Scorers: Tries: Brown, Lozowski, Ewels, Daly 2, Slade, Rokoduguni. Conversions: Ford 5. Penalty: Ford.
Samoa: A Tuala (JJ Taulagi 71); P Perez, K Fonotia, A Leiua (R Lee-Lo 68), D Lemi; T Nanai-Williams, D Polataivao (M Matavao 75); Jordan Lay (James Lay 58), M Matu’u (M Leiataua 31), D Brighouse (H Sasagi 47), J Tyrell (F Lemalu 62), C Vui (capt), P Fa’asalele, TJ Ioane, J Lam (O Treviranus 68).
Scorers: Tries: Faasalele (13), Vui (73) Conversions: Nanai-Williams (14,73)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Attendance: 81,911
By Chris Tribe
26th November 2017
Copyright © 2017 Chris Tribe. All Rights Reserved.
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