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Key Battles: How the Red Roses dominated the Wallaroos

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 20: Hannah Botterman of England scores a try during the WXV1 Match between England and Australia Wallaroos at Sky Stadium on October 20, 2023 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Mark Tantrum - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

WXV 1 Kicked off with a ferocious encounter between England and Australia that saw the world number one Red Roses dominate almost from the first whistle, winning by 42 points to the Wallaroos’ seven. Despite missing a number of big-name players, and with incoming head coach John Mitchell looking on, the Red Roses laid down a challenge to the rest of the competition. Here are a few of the key battles and why England won them.

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Front Row – Advantage England
What a first 40 for Hannah Botterman. She was everywhere, opening the scoring, threatening at the breakdown and a constant thorn in Australia’s side. She showed her set piece nous too, bending the Australian scrum and securing a penalty that gave her team a scoring opportunity. Connie Powell had a great game too, some nice breaks and solid contributions in the set piece.
For the Wallaroos front row it was a quieter day at the office. They held their own in the scrum against their opposition despite being the smaller group but struggled to make their mark in the loose.

Second Row – Advantage England
Australia’s Annabelle Codey was yellow carded for a shoulder to the head in the first half, and in the second half received another for a similar offence.
Her opposite numbers showed their usual lineout dominance and efficiently controlled the ball in the loose. Replacement Sarah Beckett saw yellow in the closing seconds, bearing the brunt for repeated infringements by her team defending their line.

Back Row – Advantage England
The battle of the sevens was the highlight in the backrow. Emily Chancellor was one of the best players in a green shirt, but Marlie Packer eclipsed even her, scoring two tries, winning turnovers and dominating the psychological battle.
Ashley Marsters, off the bench after 50 minutes, opened the scoring for the Wallaroos with a deft step through the English defence.

Half backs – Advantage England
Holly Aitchison’s best performance in the 10 shirt came at the right time to crown this new tournament. Flawless distribution, some powerful running and 100% accuracy from the tee showed exactly why her coaches have kept her in that spot. Ella Wyrwas scored her first international try and was a constant pest.
Layne Morgan distributed well for the Wallaroos and, prior to having to leave the field with what looked to be an elbow injury, Carys Dallinger showed some deft touches to create space for her team.

Centres – Tied
It was a suspiciously quiet first half for Meg Jones, but alongside Tatyana Heard she quietly got on with her business, biding her time before popping up to increase the English lead in the second half.
Arabella Mackenzie kept her team ticking even when the game was lost and stepped up as their chief playmaker once Dallinger left the field.

Outside Backs – Advantage England
Australia’s Ivania Wong showed flashes of what a danger she could be, though her finest moment came early in the second half when her searing pace saved Australia from conceding another try by rescuing a loose ball close to the try line.
Jess Breach scored a trademark try for the Red Roses while Abby Dow seemed determined to snuff out every Australia attack on the flanks.

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J
JW 8 hours ago
New report details source of Ardie Savea's All Blacks frustrations

Yeah it’s hard to be critical of Razor but of choices in his first year of the loosies he constantly played Ardie at 8. It would seem that was always the plan and that Hoskins was surplas to requirements (7, with Dalton then Cane, as was fairly happy with but understand the calls to drop Cane for his last test, along with TJ, and 6 was shared around nicely I thought) and he didn’t have the alround game of Ardie to simply overtake him at 8 (and use Ardie elsewhere). Of course he did that exact thing next year, too late for HS. Then last year 7 was fine if though the same problem was brought about by using Ardie (always leaves a component of a back three missing) there so often stopping Dalton from getting opportunities. At 6 Parker just had one or two too many games for me but 8 was shuffled around nicely, even if I don’t know why Lakai was thought to be the key there.

Of course a lot of rotation was brought about by, you guesed it, injury, still. Now to be fair to Razor, in reality we have no idea if he had to manage Ardie this way, based on NZRs desires with his contract (we have seen them move heaven and earth to retain him), and if he benched him often whether that would have caused him to leave or not. Or even that Hoskins would have accepted a jersey unless it was with a single digit on it, and a regular pick, as he had had to work his way back to the team without a big bump in his contract (of loosing AB selection early on) of other people his standing, so he also might have still put his family and therefor more over the jersey.



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