Yesterday saw England, France and Ireland all start their Southern Hemisphere matches, which they compete in regularly. England faced the world’s best New Zealand, France faced the explosive Australia side who are quickly improving before the coming World Cup and Ireland faced a understrength Argentina side who were desperate to show the world they were not push overs.
England faced New Zealand in Auckland, where they haven’t lost a game at Eden Park for twenty years. The All Blacks were also on the back off the first ever unbeaten year for an international side and are yet to lose at home for thirty games. England were also very undermanned with no players who featured in the Premiership Final picked to start, meaning that England were left with their second string players in many positions. England were able to push New Zealand all the way to the end of the game, only for a last minute try from Conrad Smith to leave England players devastated. Freddie Burns proved many doubters wrong and kicked 12 points out of England’s 15 as well as having a try disallowed for a knock on in the build-up. What the game showed for the visitors, is the fact they now have a very good problem which managers will love. The problem of having very strong depth, meaning Lancaster has to choose between several players who are all potentially good enough to start for the national side. Lancaster will be delighted with the fact that his side has found a steely reserve which the England side has been missing since the 2003 World Cup triumph. Many other teams would off folded in England’s position and hid behind the fact they had their second string players playing from the start. However the second string players nearly gave New Zealand the shock of their playing careers. New Zealand may not have gained as much from the game, but it is still another game which they are yet to lose. It can only aid in them building momentum for the World Cup next season, beating an England side who are being tipped as potential winners of the tournament. Another positive for the home side is the result and the manner of the result, shows that even when they aren’t playing their best they can still grind out the results against the top sides.
Then Australia and France faced off, in an eagerly anticipated clash. However France did not turn up defensively and were torn apart by a rampaging Australia attack. The Australian’s stuck 50 points on the French side scoring seven tries in the process all scored by different players. Which put into context means out of a team starting team of 15, nearly half of them players went on to score a try. This game will have no benefits for the French national side defensively, with them being shown the run around for the entire game. However at least when they had the ball they scored 23 points of their own, with two tries. Although one was a penalty try. France have been called out by members of the rugby press as being the worst out of the top teams. In other words the worst team out of the likes of England, New Zealand and Australia etc. They will need to improve quickly if they are to stand a chance at the coming World Cup. Whereas Australia are hitting form just when you need to in the international calendar with just over a year to go for the World Cup. With this vein of form Australia will be hard to beat for any team especially in neutral territory.
Now onto the Ireland game against Argentina. Ireland are the current Six Nations Champions, after defeating France in the final game to claim the trophy as theirs. However they were pushed the distance against an Argentine side not expected to cause much of an issue. However they only ran out winners by 12 points, struggling to get their attacking moves flowing as they tried to break down a sturdy Argentine defence. Much like the New Zealand win, this result shows that Ireland have the mental steel to overcome dogged defences, who are very much sitting back and not committing to many men to the break downs preventing the Irish from opening to many gaps. It is still a good performance for the Irish and a win is a win.
