November 16, 2008

AUSTRALIA served up some sweet revenge with a gritty 28-14 victory over England in the Cook Cup Test at Twickenham.

An inspired second-half revival and a record goalkicking performance from five-eighth Matt Giteau were enough to give the Wallabies their first win over England at rugby's spiritual home since 2004.

The backs-to-the-wall triumph, after the Wallabies had fallen 14-12 behind in the 51st minute, was a payback of sorts for England's shock World Cup quarter-final win over Australia in France 13 months ago.

And it was an especially satisfying win for the maligned Australian scrum, which scored a clear points victory over the vaunted English pack which had mauled the Wallabies front row in Marseille, and equally so at Twickenham in 2005.

Coach Robbie Deans praised his much-maligned pack.

“I'm delighted for the boys. They put in and got their reward, not only in the set-piece but around the ground,'' Deans said.

“They (England) asked the question and our guys passed the test.

“We had confidence in our scrum, it's been good for us all year.

“We were able to bring pressure to bear and that drew a stress response from England.

“The good thing for us is that we were ahead at half-time, just, and we got home.

“In a couple of recent outings against the All Blacks we've been ahead at half-time and haven't got home.

“Now the skill we want to acquire is to make that a lasting shift.”

In a powerful display, the Wallabies forwards - led up front by props Al Baxter and Benn Robinson and hooker and man of the match Stephen Moore - were awarded three scrum penalties, and, tellingly, also secured two scrums against the feed.

England loosehead Andrew Sheridan, the architect behind his side's World Cup win in Marseille, cut a dejected figure after being replaced with 13 minutes remaining, his pride battered and his side's scrum on its knees.

The match was in the balance at half-time, with Australia clinging to a 12-11 lead after England had clawed their way back into the contest in the key five minutes before the interval.

Giteau booted Australia to an early 6-0 advantage with two penalty goals in the opening six minutes.

South African referee Marius Jonker called time off in the 17th minute to bark out some instructions to the two front rows following a series of scrum collapses.

“You need to get the scrum up and take responsibility,'' he ordered.

England upped the tempo midway through the half and only a Giteau try-saver on hooker Lee Mears denied the home side the game's first five-pointer in the 20th minute.

England eventually posted their first points through a 35-metre drop goal from full-back Delon Armitage two minutes later before two further penalty goals to Giteau in the 26th and 32nd minutes pushed the Wallabies out to a 12-3 lead.

England were denied a try by the video referee shortly after when replays were unable to determine if Sheridan was able to ground the ball in a desperate tackle from Wallabies half-back Luke Burgess.

But Australia could not keep England No.8 Nick Easter out in the 35th minute as the hosts narrowed the gap to four points.

A penalty goal to five-eighth Danny Cipriani a minute before the break set up a tense second half.

England hit the lead briefly through a second Cipriani penalty, but Australia responded in style, producing some enterprising counter-attack to take play deep into the opposition quarter, where Giteau slotted another penalty to nudge the Wallabies back in front.

He added a sixth - equalling Michael Lynagh's record as the most by an Australian in a Test match against England - to leave the Wallabies ahead 18-14 on the hour.

Mortlock's 48-metre effort gave Australia further breathing space before the Wallabies drove the nail in England's coffin with a converted try to full-back Adam Ashley-Cooper 12 minutes before full-time.

England manager Martin Johnson, who captained his country to victory against Australia in the 2003 World Cup final, saw his first match in charge against major opposition, end in defeat following last weekend's 39-13 victory over the Pacific Islanders.

“Australia scored 28 points and we didn't make them work hard enough for 28 points,'' Johnson said.

“We gave them eight kickable penalties and they got seven. We went a little bit off script.

“Guys in the heat of the battle went with instinct and what they do week in, week out instead of sticking to what were trying to achieve and that was the frustrating thing.

“If you're doing one thing and 14 guys are doing something else that's when you get turnovers and mistakes. We made far too many of those to keep the pressure on.

“We've got to trust ourselves and back ourselves.

“We'll get together on Monday. The guys will be sore, more mentally than physically. But we've got to bounce back and put things right as best we can and be here next week.''

Defeat did nothing for England's grip on fourth place in the world rankings. Last year's World Cup finalists need to be in the top four come next month's draw for the 2011 tournament in New Zealand if they are to avoid the ‘big three' of the All Blacks, the Wallabies and world champions South Africa in the pool stages.

“There were opportunities for us to create try-scoring chances. We didn't see them or didn't exploit them,'' said Johnson, whose team face the Springboks at Twickenham a week on Saturday.

“There were situations when they got slow ball and then we gave a penalty away when we didn't need to. We need to trust ourselves more.''