England Player Ratings vs Australia
The Cook Cup will stay in England for another year, as England chalked up their sixth-straight win over Australia, in the 50th meeting of these two age-old rivals.
The hosts triumphed 37-18 at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon, as they continued to exorcise their 2015 Rugby World Cup Australian ghosts.
We have rated all 23 players on an encouraging day for England in south-west London.
- Elliot Daly – 7
An up and down showing from Daly, who still hasn’t quite cemented the 15 jersey. His positioning was good, he contributed in the territory battle and displayed the footwork that makes him a devastating counter-attacker, but his dealing with the high, contested balls still falls short of the reliability that Mike Brown provides at the position. His line outside Farrell for his second half try definitely made his performance a more positive one.
- Joe Cokanasiga – 8
The wing showed great power to ride the tackle of Dane Haylett-Petty and then excellent acceleration to fly passed the remaining Wallaby defenders for his second half try. Impressed with his work rate off the wing and when chasing kicks, and was rarely far from the action, despite his position out in the wide channels. Showcased the potential of what he could become for England with a devastating counter-attack that left five or six Wallabies clawing at thin air.
- Henry Slade – 6
After some defensive criticism against South Africa and New Zealand, Slade turned it on in that area against Australia. He ripped the ball from Wallaby carriers, chased kicks energetically and made a number of solid one-on-one tackles on powerful carriers like Samu Kerevi. He couldn’t quite make it click offensively, however, with a knock-on when he took his eyes off the ball summing up a frustrating attacking outing.
- Ben Te’o – 7
The centre had some solid moments early offensively, running outside to inside lines and keeping play alive with accurate offloads, but he telegraphed an inside pass off the lineout that was intercepted and England were lucky to avoid a try, thanks to an Australian forward pass. Grew into the game as England improved their ball-security and kept hold of the ball, giving the centre more opportunities to carry.
- Jonny May – 6
May took his early try well and was consistently solid under the high and contested balls. He didn’t have too many opportunities to influence the game, with England tending to have more joy down Cokanasiga’s wing or through the midfield. A couple of uncustomary missed tackles on Haylett-Petty will have irked the Leicester wing.
- Owen Farrell – 7
Certainly not a flawless display from Farrell, who was lucky to avoid a yellow card and a penalty try for what looked close to a shoulder charge on Izack Rodda at the end of the first half. That said, he was the architect of England’s best attacking moments, including the run and offload for Daly’s eye-catching try, as well as making six of his seven kicks and crossing for a try of his own, providing his side with 20 valuable points. Invariably picked the right runner with an array of well-judged passes.
- Ben Youngs – 8
Another very strong showing from Youngs this autumn, with the Leicester man showing great awareness of the space around him. He took the ball to the blindside cleverly for May’s early try and repeatedly spotted gaps in the Australian defence. If you were looking for a negative, he perhaps put a little too much on his box-kicks. The Wallabies weren’t getting free runs, but the kicks were often just out of the reach of English chasers.
- Ben Moon – 8
Moon’s stock continues to rise as he delivered another dominant scrummaging performance. He tore into Sekope Kepu at the set-piece and was busy in the loose, frequently being England’s first man to attacking breakdowns, helping to deliver quick ball.
- Jamie George – 7
A flawless lineout display from George, who connected on all eight of his throws and mixed up his lengths, hitting on short, intermediate and long throws alike. He kept himself busy in the loose, too, without breaking off any of his trademark marauding runs. His chances of starting in the Six Nations will have been done no harm at all.
- Kyle Sinckler – 10
One of, if not the best performance Sinckler has put in in an England shirt. He was dominant in the scrum against Scott Sio, carried frequently and powerfully, ran some incisive lines and showed the soft hands to link play and keep phases alive. Clean performance in terms of discipline, too, and forced a knock-on with the power of his tackling.
- Maro Itoje – 7
The lock stepped up again with his work at the breakdown, both offensively and defensively, but misread Israel Folau’s line for Australia’s opening try, stepping forward on the decoy, rather than drifting and filling the space that Folau went on to exploit. The contrasting nature of the performance continued, as he was ripped in contact by Pete Samu, but also managed to get his hands on a couple of Australian lineouts and disrupt their ability to get quick ball. Carried with more confidence and effect as the game went on.
- Courtney Lawes – 7
The Northampton forward was England’s go-to man at the lineout, taking all five throws in his direction cleanly and providing quick service off the top or an efficient set-up at the maul. Blotted his copybook somewhat when Dane Haylett-Petty ripped him in contact on one of his carries. The early rip aside, Lawes carried purposefully.
- Brad Shields – 7
A couple of dominant tackles and a steal at the breakdown had it looking like Shields breakout performance for England, but it was reeled in somewhat by a penalty for not releasing at the contact area and a carry which saw him ripped in contact. He worked hard for the 80 minutes and did provide a solid third lineout option, though.
- Sam Underhill – 8
Like Shields, Underhill made a number of dominant tackles that drove Australian ball-carriers back. When the opportunity to drive Australian carriers up and backwards didn’t prevent itself, he would go low and efficiently wrap up in the tackle. He also popped up with a steal at the breakdown and the only real negative was one tackle when he went high on Kerevi and got brushed off.
- Mark Wilson – 8
A typically industrious performance from Wilson and one that England fans have been getting used to this autumn. He was ultra-reliable fielding kicks deep inside in the English 22 and carried powerfully off of the base of the scrum, on the rare occasions England opted to go down that route.
Replacements
- Dylan Hartley – 6
The hooker came on for the final 10 minutes and kept everything ticking over nicely at the set-piece.
- Alec Hepburn – 6
Not too much to do once he replaced Moon, with the game sewn up, but had one particularly strong scrum late on.
- Harry Williams – 6
Like Hepburn, the damage was done once Williams came on, but he had a bit of fun against the second-string Wallaby front rowers.
- Charlie Ewels – n/a
Came on too late to have an influence.
- Nathan Hughes – n/a
One strong carry after coming on late.
- Richard Wigglesworth – 6
The veteran scrum-half looked lively after his second half introduction, bringing the same kind of tempo Danny Care usually does in the role.
- George Ford – 6
Came on too late to have a real effect on the game but made the backdoor pass that sent Farrell over for his try.
- Manu Tuilagi – 6
Didn’t have too many opportunities to influence the game but did run a nice decoy line to spring Farrell and allow the fly-half to grab a try.
Watch: Rory Best talks about receiving his recent OBE.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments