Rugby Rewind - England vs the Wallabies, 13th November 2010
This autumn’s Old Mutual Wealth series continues this weekend, with England taking on Australia at Twickenham on Saturday in a hotly anticipated match up. England looked far from their best against Argentina at the weekend, whilst Australia seem to have turned a corner with a victory over Wales after some mixed performances of late. So in order to whet the appetite, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane and reminisce about one of the all-time great match ups between the two old rivals – in 2010.
After beating New Zealand in Hong Kong, Australia followed up with a victory over Wales in Cardiff before they took on England. The home side for their part had been well beaten by the All Blacks the week before and were looking to improve their patchy defence ahead of their clash with the Wallabies. England brought in Dylan Hartley as a starter, replacing World Cup winner Steve Thompson, while Australia also switched hookers with Stephen Moore coming back from injury to take over from Saia Faingaa. Much was made pre-kick off about the importance of the front row battle, with Australia’s deficiencies in the scrum a serious point of concern during their match with Wales.
England knew they wanted to target the set piece, but they would have to be wary of Australia’s dangerous back line, featuring hall-of-fame candidates like Kurtley Beale, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Giteau, Quade Cooper and Will Genia. That England’s own centre partnership of Mike Tindall and Shontayne Hape had been found out somewhat the previous week did not help matters. However, Chris Ashton had made a blistering start to his international career, and whilst he had a lot to learn defensively, England were hoping to make use of the former league man to cause some havoc of their own.
Martin Johnson’s fiendish plot came to fruition after 24 minutes, with Ashton leaving his wing and crashing over following some neat interplay between Tindall, Mark Cueto and Tom Croft. Toby Flood and James O’Connor then exchanged a series of penalties, but the action in-between was end-to-end, with Giteau being sent to the naughty step after infringing at the breakdown with England camped on the Wallaby 5 metre line. The scoreboard read 16-6 at half time, but Australia were far from finished and if O’Connor had brought a better pair of kicking boots the score line would have more accurately reflected the tightness of the game.
The second half scoring opened with another Flood penalty, but it was the next score that has gained iconic status amongst England supporters, even if people now reckon the man who scored it is a bit of a muppet.
With Australia banging on the door inches from England’s try line, the home side somehow managed to snaffle a turnover. Rather than doing the sensible thing and just booting the bloody thing out of harm’s way, Ben Youngs, winning just his fifth cap sold an immaculate dummy, shipped it out to Courtney Lawes who drew two defenders and popped it off to Chris Ashton who sprinted 90 metres before hitting his patented “Ash Splash” (ugh.) under the posts.
Australia refused to die though, and Kurtley Beale sent Twickenham into squeaky bum time with two splendid tries, the first a neat chip and regather over fullback Ben Foden, and then getting on the end of a flowing left-to-right move courtesy of Berrick Barnes for the second. With momentum now firmly with the men in gold, a comeback looked possible with the scores set at 29-18 and with 15 minutes to go.
However, a missed conversion from O’Connor, and two more penalties from Flood put an end to any hopes of a late revival, with the final score 35-18. Flood, for his part, wrote his name into the record books with his 25 points against the Wallabies more than any other English player.
A lot has changed since that day. Only five of England’s contingent remain in the squad, and only four of Australia’s match day 23 from seven years ago featured against Wales on Saturday. Australia’s status as a world superpower has come into question in recent years, first with the exodus of players to the Northern Hemisphere, and more lately with New Zealand’s dominance down under, but they have shown signs of life in their recent performances and will present a real challenge to England, especially given the injuries facing Eddie Jones’ squad.
England will be looking desperately around the locker room to work out just where that Ashton-esque spark of magic might come from, because for all their genuine talent, they might need something special to beat the Wallabies this weekend.
Comments on RugbyPass
> If the game of rugby is to grow globally, then the rugby Sth Africa play needs to be exterminated. Their performances at World Cup ‘19 & ‘23 were the antithesis to what the game should be. If the World Cup final is the grand spectacle of the game, please no more having to endure the drudgery and insipid ‘style ‘ of play harking back to pre WWII days, where the soulless rugby of the Bok reflected the mindset of a nation. > Gotta agree with Ben Smith, “ the Springboks took the trophy by default, with what might be the most unimpressive escape of all time “.
73 Go to commentsI think Rassie should bring in some new guys and give them a go in these irrelevant games. It’s a chance to blood some guys that might otherwise not get a chance and see if they’re up to it. As for the who’s number 1 dispute? Don’t care. As long as the trophies are brought home, that argument isn’t important. Champions don’t fuss about the could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. They just do, and that for me makes SA and NZ the top dogs. Followed by Ireland and occasionally England.
225 Go to commentsThis is like the “catches win matches" saying in cricket. If ABs were pragmatic and kicked for goal instead of hunting tries, I reckon they win that game with ease. Instead, nearly 6 months later; we have World Rugby's official mouthpiece celebrating their Almost Won the Rugby World Cup trophy. Fine Victory Gentleman! Well-earned!!
73 Go to comments“…the All Blacks nearly won…” is the only phrase you need to concern yourself with relative to this “journalistic” piece. Enjoy your Almost Won the World Cup victory…
73 Go to commentsAw common. Stop winging. There were no errors by officials. It is all recorded. Whose fault was the Cane red card? Or the Savea knock? Maybe the selectors who insisted on making a very average player their captain should be blamed. Something had to give way.
73 Go to commentsThe latest ‘Ireland are arrogant’ attack from one of the two most arrogant rugby nations on earth.
109 Go to commentsWaawaawaaaaaaaa
23 Go to commentsHow does this guy still have a job?
73 Go to commentsSorry bok you can't beat facts, we heard you all crowing how great you thought you were..lol ! We all watched the game, cheatsabeth cheating cost abs a try, only a penalty considering it was cynical and a professional foul, doesn't matter who wrote this because thats how it happened, but you go enjoy your gifting of the cup,
73 Go to commentsCan we talk about the context of how this particular journalist continues to make a living and gets published? Controversy for clicks. Shame on all of us for engaging with these irrelevant opinions.
73 Go to commentsAn astounding article !
73 Go to commentsFrance didn’t lose against New Zeland in 2011, but against Joubert…
73 Go to commentsHahahaha knew the “journalist” just by seeing the headline. Not wasting my time reading it as I know it's just another toxic manifestation of the boks living rent free in this babies head.
73 Go to commentsWhen you read those facts, you can say safely that the game was handed to the Springboks by the ruling mistakes made by the Referee and TMO. Perhaps that is why South Africans were/are so “noisey” about the win….this behaviour perhaps concealing that they realise luck played a big part in the result. Certainly not a good look for the IRB going forward…pretty shoddy sadly.
73 Go to commentsI must admit to being quite surprised by all the wine-ing and hand wringing from most AB pundits; commentators and the general analysis after a classic and engrossing final. I shudder to think how the pundits would’ve reacted if the AB’s where victors with 1 point on the day.. Most Bok fans pundits; fans and commentators take a loss on the chin; congratulate the winner and move on…and till now the NZ rugby fans where the same.. Naas Botha’s famous quote has never been more apt…. Cowboys don’t cry or make excuses.. STOP IT CRY-BABIES; …..YOU LOST.
73 Go to comments4 out of 8 beats 3 out of 10 cups. Maybe NZ are bad finishers???🤣🤣🤣
73 Go to commentsBokke bokke Bokke
1 Go to commentsThe main thing you need on your side to win a World Cup is luck. ABs had their fair share of it in the 2011 final. One score game in the SF vs Springboks in 2015 means there always things you can look at and say if this thing or that thing happened then SA would/should have won that game. Smith’s try being called back broke protocol, but it was the correct decision, so I don’t have a problem with that. If it was an SA try called back in the same circumstances I don’t think many ABS fans would have a problem with it. Cane’s shot was high, it was the classic thing NZ players have been doing, and getting carded for for years - Walking around bolt upright trying to put a big hit on someone. Stupid play by someone with a poor disciplinary record. The one that was a big problem for me was Etzebeth’s obstruction. The referee just choked on this occasion. Frustrating to have the TMO in his ear all night, apart from at this moment. Minimum yellow card for Etzebeth, but a very strong case for a penalty try also. Despite all that the ABs had the opportunity to be ahead with 3 minutes to play, so it’s hard to point fingers too much. Pollard makes that kick 99/100. JB and RM make it 50/100. That’s what it came down to in the end.
73 Go to commentsBOKS had a great side in 2011 and were in kicked out by a NZ ref and Nz were very lucky to win in final against France.
73 Go to commentsBarrett's try came from a forward pass, and perhaps the Bok game plan would have been different had the ABs remained with 15 on the pitch. We will never know. But if we are living in a world if what if's, then go back to the France v Bok game. France dominated the WC, and had they gotten past the boks, would have easily beaten the ABs in the Final
73 Go to comments