The Sports Corner

Australia revels in English triumph

After weeks of being criticised, belittled and questioned by the English press, the Wallabies had their revenge Saturday with a convincing 28-14 win over England at “Fortress” Twickenham.

It was a tale of two halves as both teams fought for early ascendency in a tight struggle marked by tough defence and plenty of handling errors.

Ultimately it was turnovers which cost England any chance of beating the Wallabies, amassing a whopping 35 turnovers which killed several promising plays.

Both teams only managed to cross the line once, with penalties being the story of the game.

Australia rode the radar boot of star Matt Giteau who kicked superbly converting six of his seven shots on goal and adding a conversion after Adam Ashley-Coopers decisive try. Captain Stirling Mortlock added a long range penalty goal to complete the Australian scoring.

For England, young wunderkind Danny Cipriani was erratic on the big stage. Whilst his calmness with the ball exuded class, his kicking was well off target including two drop goal attempts from in front of the posts which sailed wide.

The costly misses allowed Australia to build more momentum and eventually break the game open in the second half with England posing no real threat of winning in the last twenty minutes of the game. Cipriani eventually made way for Toby Flood as English manager Martin Johnson looked for a spark.

The Australian’s had been hearing all week about the vaunted English scrum and were set to face old rival Phil Vickery, recalled into the starting lineup for what many thought was an added psychological edge.

Vickery who before the game had warned the English press that the Australian front row was tougher and stronger than years past bore the brunt of a full on attack as the Aussies answered their critics. Al Baxter in particular was marvellous in the scrum, as was Benn Robinson.

Front row partner, hooker Stephen Moore, was named man of the match as he got the better of English counterpart Lee Mears.

“They’ve buried a demon today,” scrum coach Michael Foley said of his front row. “I’m just so rapt for them, particularly someone like Al.”

“Those are people’s opinions and I’ve been in this game long enough to know that if you let those things disturb you, you’re in trouble,” Baxter said. “So a lot of it was just fluff on the side.”

“Full credit to Foley,” said Moore. “He’s done an enormous amount of work, particularly before we left Australia, on our technique and once you bed that down and then you get the attitude out on the field, it’s amazing the results you can achieve.”

The Wallabies move on to play France this week, with the English set to face the touring South Africans.