Best player in the world? (picture http://bit.ly/18GAL7I)
Ireland performance against Australia was what the people used the earth was – flat, flat as a pancake. We leaked 4 of the easiest tries you’re going to see Ireland give away ever. I say that in hope anyway. Actually, I’ll forgive Cooper’s try because with a backline of Murray, Madigan, Marshall and O’Driscoll, nobody knew exactly what everyone was doing. We tackled too slow, we tackled to soft, and we didn’t get around the park. I’m scratching around for positives – we nearly scored a try I suppose. Really the best thing to do is forget this performance ever happened, sweep it under a carpet, it’s so flat no one will even notice. Australia, for their part, were efficient if not inspiring, coming up fast, handling the ball well as you’d expect, and taking the golden opportunities given to them. There’s going to have to be a bit of soul searching this week if we want to avoid humiliation by the All Blacks
Earlier on, England got their hopes up briefly, before the All Black machine coughed back into action and took the game away from them. England played well in the middle of the park, although their backline is still in a muddle. New Zealand looked a bit tired after their epic match against the French – I hope they’re completely flpping exhausted by the time they roll into Dublin. The AB’s still have a enough class to pull something out the bag when required, and game breakers like Read to force tries. England’s scrum is at least a good and sizeable block to build their team on.
Finally, I saw the Springboks on briefly get out of second gear to see off Scotland. The Springboks were hungrier, faster and more physical, and made the Scots look flat footed. Scotland never really looked like they thought they could win, and it only underlined the Boks no 2 status in the world today.
International Match
Saturday , November 16
Italy 37 - 31 Fiji
Wales 40 - 6 Argentina
England 22 - 30 New Zealand
France 38 - 18 Tonga
Ireland 15 - 32 Australia
Sunday , November 17
Scotland 0 - 28 South Africa
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