England fall to South Africa yet again as Scots scare the World Champs

Sigh. There was a collective gasp of exasperation from the Twickenham crowd as England once again succumbed to a side which – at one point in the second half – they appeared to have on the ropes. It was their fifth successive defeat (the first time that’s happened since those dark 2006 days) and, although all five have been against the world’s top two sides, questions are rightly being asked. Why is England’s kicking game so disjointed? Why are the attacks largely lateral, slow and predictable? Why was the clear-out ineffective? Why do the back row not hunt out in the wider channels (as do Read and Vermeulen) to take advantage of the size and power against smaller opponents? These are some of the questions that will be asked when displays are put under the microscope – and that’s without even getting into the various selection debates – but the bottom line is that the men in white must stop gift-wrapping opportunities to top sides and failing to make periods of dominance really count.

In stark contrast, the Springboks needed no second invitations for their tries, showing a ruthlessness as Jan Serfontein intercepted one of the most telegraphed passes of all time from Danny Care in the 16th minute and then, 30 seconds after the break, Cobus Reinach dotted down for a superb try as Le Roux fed the scrum half off the back of a delightful Lambie chip. A yellow card for Victor Matfield appeared to turn the tide, with tries from Dave Wilson and Ben Morgan pulling England level in the space of five minutes, but again they couldn’t make this period of dominance count and the magnificent Schalk Burger plunged over later on. The introduction of Ben Youngs and George Ford helped England’s fluency but once again they were brought on too late, with Brad Barritt’s try proving just a consolation in the 28 – 31 defeat.

The southern hemisphere claimed another victory north of the border but this defeat for the north carried a very sizeable silver-lining. Scotland had put in arguably their most fluent and exciting display of the last decade against Argentina and followed this up with a physical and enterprising performance against an All Blacks side who, although fielding a largely second-string line up, still oozed quality throughout. Things started pretty badly when Victor Vito plunged over for an outstanding individual try from halfway, but a Tommy Seymour intercept pulled the red-shirted Scots right back into it, and for the next 60 minutes, they went toe-to-toe with the World Champions. The Gray brothers were magnificent as the Scots defended with aggression and discipline, earning Laidlaw the kicks at goal to keep the hosts in the game and – with just over 10 minutes to go – the skipper missed a very-gettable kick to put them into the lead for the first time. It proved a case of “what might have been” as Jeremy Thrush plunged over late on to take the visitors out of sight. Brave defeat is all too common an occurrence for the Scots, but this one really does carry some extra merit you feel.

At the Millennium Stadium, Wales failed to build on two fine early scores from George North and Alex Cuthbert, despite dominating the game for large swathes. They weren’t helped by some inconsistent refereeing, but a scoreless second half for the men in red against 14 men would not have left many Welsh fans satisfied, despite the 17 – 13 win. Ireland did the business as expected at home against Georgia, running out 49 – 7 after a slow first half, whilst France inflicted the first defeat of Michael Cheika’s coaching tenure by turning over the Wallabies 29 – 26 in an enthralling encounter in Paris. Les Bleus deserved the win – leading 29-19 with 10 minutes to go after tries from Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Teddy Thomas (his fourth in two games) – but the Wallabies fought back twice. Even Cheika admitted that anything aside from a French victory would have been unjust. The French are showing ominous signs as we approach the World Cup year.

Autumn International Star Man: Schalk Burger

Chiefs stun Saints as Wasps go North with a bang

The most eye-catching result of this weekend’s Aviva Premiership fixtures was Exeter’s superb 18 – 24 win over the reigning champions, Northampton Saints, at their fortress, Franklin’s Gardens. Saints may have been shorn of plenty of international quality – like many of the top sides – but they still had bucket-loads of talent and experience in a strong line-up, so it would have come as a shock to everyone when the Chiefs, who are less affected by the Autumn Internationals, scored a try through Luke Cowan Dickie in the opening 30 seconds from a lineout drive after Jack Nowell had gone close. It set the tone for the game as the visitors largely took control of possession and suffocated when in defence, creating two tries for Thomas Waldrom – one of them a 50 metre intercept which showed off the portly number eight’s surprising pace over the ground. Saints were 21 – 6 down at the break and, although they came back strongly through Tom Stephenson and Jamie Elliot, it was too little, too late, and the Chiefs have moved up to the giddy heights of second in a season where many probably wrote them off as far as playoff challenges go.

Elsewhere, there was a massacre at Adams Park as Wasps put sorry London Welsh to the sword in a ruthless display in their final fixture in Wycombe before executing their controversial move north to Coventry. Welsh have now conceded an average of nearly 50 points a game whilst scoring just 10 themselves and, despite under-performing ‘big-names’ like Olly Barkley and Piri Weepu being injured, there was no respite – or mercy – to be had at the hands of Wasps. I won’t list all the scorers as we’ll be here all day, but the Wasps pack simply brutalised their opponents, with Nathan Hughes scoring a double and Ashley Johnson plunging over for a hat-trick, a feat shared by in-form winger Christian Wade in 71 – 7 thumping. We can patronise Welsh with comments like “they never stop fighting” all we want, but the harsh reality is that this side – currently – is arguably the worst side to ever play in the Premiership. The decision to replace the majority of players who won promotion with so-called more established names now appears to be rather ill-thought, to put it mildly.

Elsewhere, there were good wins for Quins away at Gloucester and Sale at home to Irish, whilst Bath ground their way to a 23 – 14 win against Falcons at the Rec. The Tigers against Sarries may have seemed like one of the fixtures of the weekend before, but in miserable conditions the two sides played out a turgid, tryless encounter which ended up in an appropriately unsatisfying 21-21 draw.

Aviva Premiership Star Man: Ashley Johnson

Try of the Week: There were tries for all tastes this week, with North scoring a set-move beauty against Fiji, Victor Vito running in a thunderous solo effort for the Kiwis and Ben Morgan crashing over off the back of a brutal rolling maul, but I can’t look past Cobus Reinach‘s effort against England. Moments of class and precision from Lambie and Le Roux – a joy to watch.

Hero of the Week: I know I gave Schalk Burger the player of the weekend, but one guy who impressed me just as much was Pat Lambie. It’s a position of uncertainty for the Springboks, with Meyer not sure who is general should be, but Lambie put in a display of authority and creativity, proving a pivotal figure in the Springbok win – he’s surely nailed down that spot for the next couple of tests.

Villain of the Week: It’s since come to light that Georgian flanker Viktor Kolelishvili decided to clean his boots on Dominic Ryan’s face on Saturday’s game against Ireland. The footage looked nasty and he’ll probably be cited, and I’m sure there’ll be a debate about intent going forward – if he knew what he was doing, there’s no place for that in rugby and he’ll receive a hefty ban.

By Mike Cooper (@RuckedOver)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images