Ok it wasn’t a win, but there were plenty of positives for England to take out of the first 2010 autumn international against the top ranked New Zealand All Blacks at Twickenham last Saturday.
The final scoreline of 26-16 did not accurately reflect the entire match, in fact it was more of a reflection of the opening 20 minutes or so, when England conceded two match-losing and very unnecessary tries. From that moment it was always going to be an uphill struggle but in fairness to England they gave it a very good shot and scored a try of their own, through a well timed burst by hooker, Dylan Hartley, which no home team was able to do against New Zealand when they toured here last year.
The All Blacks of course arrived in Europe after a record breaking performance in the 2010 Tri Nations, which saw them become the first team to win that fierce tournament without losing a single game, home or away. It is true that they had lost an epic Bledisloe Cup match played in Hong Kong, a week before taking on England, but that was only Australia’s first win against them in the last eleven matches that they have met.
England cannot be accused therefore of taking on a team that were in poor form, however the All Blacks were certainly not at their absolute best and their pack were there to be taken, particularly in the scrum, where England enjoyed a big advantage. Tighthead prop, Dan Cole excelled, contributing enormously to England’s dominance and causing the New Zealand front row to capitulate, allowing England to launch a plucky second half fight back.
England in fact effectively won the last 60 minutes of the match by a score of 16 to 12 and had centre, Shontayne Nape scored what looked to be a great chance for a try late on and Toby Flood had kicked at his best then the score would have been far more convincing over the whole 80 minutes.
England manager, Martin Johnson will be pleased with the contributions made by Ben Foden at full back and his Saints team mate Chris Ashton, who showed in flashes in the second half that they have what it takes to run with some conviction at an extremely stubborn All Blacks defence.
England next take on Australia next Saturday in a game that they have a great chance of winning, mainly due to the ineptitude of the Australian front row, who once again were totally exposed by Wales but who failed to capitalise on their advantage. England’s front row is even bigger than that of Wales, and are arguably better front row technicians which gives them a massive advantage over the Wallabies.
This advantage should provide enough possession for the England backs to really attack the visitors and put them on the back foot from the outset. Australia of course are regarded by most as the best attacking team in the world right now, which they proved in their win over Wales, scoring three tries, two from breakdowns. However, they can only attack if they have the ball, so provided England can cut out the mistakes and deprive them of the ball, then they will have a great chance of beating the Wallabies for the second time this year.
Whilst these Autumn matches are little more than exhibitions, there is certainly no love lost between the rivals from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and whilst England will have one eye on fine tuning ahead of the 6 Nations early next year, the ultimate aim will be to defy the rugby world cup odds next year when New Zealand themselves will host the tournament that England has won and been beaten finalists of on the last two occasions.
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