Red Roses player ratings v Australia | 2021 Rugby World Cup
Despite torrential rain and a pitch so wet you’d be forgiven for expecting players to start swimming at any moment, England were comfortable victors against a tenacious but sloppy Australia side.
With Sarah Bern earning her 50th cap and captain Sarah Hunter becoming England’s all time appearance leader with her 138th game there was a lot to celebrate for the Red Roses and in a game marred by conditions they nonetheless dominated throughout.
With Canada next up every player will have been putting up their hand to be involved, and here’s how they rated:
1. Vickii Cornborough – 7/10
Cornborough’s scrum dominance was key for England and she quietly but efficiently went about her work around the park too.
2. Amy Cokayne – 7
Scored the Rd Roses’ fifth try of the night and was a menace all game long. Kept the England line out ticking in difficult conditions too.
3. Sarah Bern – 7
Always threatening to score but never quite got over the line. Solid and dependable in the set piece.
4. Zoe Aldcroft – 6
Worked tirelessly as always but her yellow card in the first half put England on the back foot early on and forced her team to defend hard.
5. Abbie Ward – 7
Bossed the line-out, stealing from Australia and claiming almost every one of England’s throws herself. Also managed to snag a try.
6. Alex Matthews – 8
Tremendous workrate once again from Matthews. Does all the unglamorous, and often unseen, work and does it so well. Also scored England’s sixth try of the evening.
7. Marlie Packer – 10
This is Marlie Packer’s World Cup and we are all along for the ride! Didn’t put a foot wrong all night, tireless in defence and brutally efficient going forward, as evinced by her hattrick of tries.
8. Sarah Hunter – 8
Nobody manages the ball at the back of the scrum quite like Hunter who ensured that England’s scrum dominance was rewarded time and again. Scored England’s first try to a rapturous response from the stands.
9. Leanne Infante – 7.5
Always buzzing about, keeping England’s tempo high and making a few breaks herself.
10. Zoe Harrison – 6.5
A quiet night from Harrison as England played almost exclusively through the forwards. Kicked well when called upon and made one nice break that was unfortunately called back.
11. Abby Dow – 7
Kept herself busy, cutting inside to look for work and drawing defenders time and again. Looking back to her best as a winger who is not only a scoring threat but very sound defensively too.
12. Tatyana Heard – 7
Heard will be kicking herself for being at fault for Australia’s first try, but otherwise a hard-hitting performance that outlined why she forced her inclusion in the squad. Brought the sort of physical presence that England will need against a rugged Canada side next weekend.
13. Emily Scarratt – 6
A quiet night for the former World Player of the Year. Poor kicking from the tee can be blamed on the conditions but Scarratt was also quieter than normal around the park.
14. Lydia Thompson – 5
You’d be forgiven for forgetting Lydia Thompson was in the team, so small was her involvement. A nice run in the first five minutes promised excitement but thereafter Thompson was a peripheral figure as the ball rarely ventured to her wing.
15. Helena Rowland – 6.5
Rowland had a few noticeable fumbles with the ball which took the shine off a dangerous performance at full back. Always looking for space and in drier conditions she would have been a real menace. Slotted the one conversion she stepped up for too.
16. Lark Davies – 6
Davies’ first appearance of the tournament was a solid, if unspectacular one. Carried on England’s line out dominance.
17. Hannah Botterman – 7
Threatened to score with her first touch. Botterman is a perfect bench option, bringing a disruptive energy that opposition teams always struggle to contain.
18. Maud Muir – 6
Muir was very solid at set piece and seems to grow as a defensive player with every appearance.
19. Rosie Galligan – 6
Came on for Ward and kept the line-out ticking.
20. Poppy Cleall – 7
Cleall, on for Sarah Hunter, provided a different edge to the Red Roses set piece, a running threat and a combative defender. A performance that will cause Simon Middleton headaches as he tries to fit all his back row options into just three starting spots.
21. Lucy Packer – 6.5
A steady presence, Packer maintained England’s momentum and added a little zip of her own.
22. Holly Aitchison – 6
Didn’t have a lot of time to impose herself on the game but didn’t put a foot wrong either.
23. Ellie Kildunne – 6.5
Made the most of the drier conditions available by the time she joined the fray with a few of her trademark mazy runs.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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 commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments