Johnno on... sensational Aussie win

Hello everyone. I hope all you England fans are as pleased as I am after seeing that amazing win over Australia.

I wasn't too nervous watching on. You knew that both sides would have the opportunity to win it in those latter stages and it was going to be whoever held their nerve would win. A few of the England players said it wasn't a pretty game but that is Test match rugby at the highest level - it's tense. It was a great game of rugby to be at.

Everyone in the team did their job, everyone put in a serious 80 minutes of effort. I don't think you can pick out one man for special attention. True, the front row played particularly well, but everyone on the pitch could say they produced at key moments.

Australia have said a lot this week about England not being a world-class team and I think they've almost talked themselves into thinking they would win it comfortably. We had more try-scoring opportunites than them even though they got the only score. Even in winning 12-10, we left about 12 points on the field.

Australia's scrummage game is not the strongest but you have to make that a factor. Today it was a huge factor in terms of turnovers and pressure. We got more turnovers than in all four of the previous games put together. We were so much better at the breakdown. In the second half, they didn't score a point. We played most of the second half not in our third and were much better on the penalty count. We got on the right side of the ref which became a factor.

We still had a pretty high error rate particularly from the pass but we were just so resilient. We moved the ball and held on to the ball pretty well and caused them some problems and defensively we got better as the game went along. We were working very well off the ball and snuffing out a lot of their attacks and making them look pretty disorganised.

We'll probably have to score two tries at least to beat the All Blacks, assuming they beat France, and break that 20-point barrier. England will not get the dominance at the scrum, they will have to reduce the error count, take opportunities when they are there and defend even better than they did today. We are capable of that sort of performance.

It's going to be a good night. Marseille is absolutely packed full of fans. When you don't think you're going to win, it makes it even more special.

Comments

[Sport Blogger]

The Regan selection worked and he clearly got under the skin of the Aussies again and Sheridan's performance was as destructive as it promised to be, so the French front row will have to be on their mettle. Thought Shaw had another awesome game, which continues to make his benching for the Tonga game seem odd. But what are the chances of an unchanged team for France ?

[Big Rog]

Hi Martin,
I agree with every word
For myself I'd like to say. Well done England!

I’m just getting over the aches and pains of the match. The adrenaline was flowing like water and I was straining with every scrum, rolling with every maul, bracing myself for every tackle and those line out jumps have made a real mess of the ceiling.

After being written off as no hopers by everyone (including our most of our 'loyal' press) outside of themselves and the true fans, England showed that they have heart and courage. True they still aren't at 100% in midfield but they've been sensible enough to see that for themselves and play to their strengths and not their weaknesses. This approach may or may not win the World Cup but it will loosen a few fillings on the way to finding out.

I’ve seen a lot of criticism of the side because we only won by only two points, but I think the real margin was the points difference that the Australians and the press expected PLUS those two points. I’m not going to have a dig at the Aussies – why should I, Sheridan and co did a much better job than I could ever do.

Paul Sackey was excellent, that try saving tackle towards the end when he came off his wing and took man and ball was nothing short of inspired and required vision, courage, quick thinking and not a little tackling ability. As for the forwards, well get out your thesaurus, look up outstanding and compose your own tribute.

As I sit here with my glass of wine (Chilean red, no French or South African for a while) I now know all four semi-finalists. We can beat France and the survivor of the Argentina v South Africa game is going to be battered and bruised, so who knows? On the 20th I may allow myself a couple of beers. But if we win, where can I get a tanker at short notice?

I have to stop now, my wife has coaxed the dog down off the roof and now she says I need to go and apologise to the neighbours. Still I’ll have plenty of time to do that as I drive them home from their hotel, but I really don’t think that I’m responsible for the dead fish in their pond.