Autumn Internationals: Brilliant England Victory

It’s quite telling that the only words that come to mind when I try to describe the England game are superlatives like “tremendous,” “incredible” and “superb” - the truth of the matter is, England played like a transformed side, controlling every moment of their 35-18 win over the Wallabies. Sure, England have had victories in the past few years, but it’s been a very long time since they’ve been so obviously the better side for the full 80 minutes. Every member of the team was impressive, although I have to single out man-of-the-match Ben Youngs, who was simply beyond fantastic. From scrum-half he showed he was in charge of the game and he was the inspiration behind so much of the attack, including Chris Ashton’s wonderful second try (one of the most memorable tries at Twickenham ever). Fly-half Toby Flood also kicked all of his points (25 in total) and the forwards were dynamic in the loose, keeping the England play quick and ambitious. Don’t be mistaken though, Australia certainly weren’t poor, England were just better. Their fans will be feeling very positive about the remaining tests after that outstanding performance.

Wales started out dominant in their contest against South Africa, with the scoreline 17-9 in their favour at halftime. The Welsh actually put together some really decent rugby, and may have even found themselves a new rising star (18-year old George North, who scored two tries on his first game for his country). Whilst it was a good game and at times it looked like the Welsh might just win it, in the second half the Springboks piled on the pressure and were rewarded with the points. It was close, but the finishing score was 29-25, with the aggressive South Africans proving stronger than the Welsh.

The other games of the weekend were significantly less exciting. Honestly, I haven’t got much to say about Scotland’s 49-3 defeat by New Zealand. It was very humiliating for the Scots, they barely looked involved and it mostly felt like an opportunity for the All Blacks to score some tries (5 in total) before their more challenging test against Ireland next weekend. Talking of the Irish though, they weren’t that impressive against Samoa. They provided a disappointing and frustrating performance, just about managing to secure a 20-10 win over the Samoans. The match looked tough, and Ireland will be struggling for confidence going forward.

As series progresses, England are proving that they’re the only Home Nation that can really challenge these southern hemisphere sides. How they’ll fare against Samoa and South Africa is yet to be seen, but I can’t help but be optimistic about the chances of this England team. The Welsh, Irish and Scottish will undoubtedly be desperate to improve next week to show that they’re not that far behind.

The next set of games sees Wales play Fiji (Friday, 7.30pm), England challenge Samoa (Saturday, 2.30pm), Scotland take on South Africa (Saturday, 2.30pm) and Ireland confront New Zealand (Saturday, 2.30pm).

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