Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: England edge the Wallabies in Sydney to draw the series

Sunday, June 20, 2010

England edge the Wallabies in Sydney to draw the series

England returned to Sydney for the first time since their famous 2003 World Cup victory to taste success seven years on as they edged out the Wallabies 21-20, tying up the two Test series at a win apiece.

Center Matt Giteau returned to the Wallaby side to score all 20 of their points, crossing for two great tries, but missed a crucial kick from right out in front with only ten minutes left in the game. One might be tempted to say it was karma at play after he looked to have milked the penalty after minimal contact with English centre Shontayne Hape.

"It's not my proudest moment. But these things happen, you've just got to move forward," Giteau said afterwards.

Earlier in the game Ben Youngs scored a superb individual try as he sniped through the defense, and then Chris Ashton did something similar with his effort.

Jonny Wilkinson came on as a replacement and kicked the deciding penalty as it was ultimately a successful return to Sydney for him. After the game, he said he could relate to the unfortunate missed kick of Giteau.

"There's nothing harder than to stand up each week and take the shots and when that happens, which it does to everyone, it takes even more strength to stand up and go on," Wilkinson said.

"And something he does is stands up and goes on every time. It's just one of those things that happens once in a very very blue moon, and when it does it's tough to take.

"I've done it more times that he has. Fair play to him, he's an enormous professional, an awesome player and he showed that today regardless of whether he kicked another one."

England coach Martin Johnson said the win should answer some critics of his team.

"There's been a lot of negativity around them at times in terms of their ability and what they do on the field — so they've been mentally pretty tough to come through that and play well," Johnson said.

"It is really good for the players and coaches. It doesn't happen that often so to win one here is pretty special," he added.

Time: 05:04

Well done England, oh and FIRST! ;)

By Unknown, at June 20, 2010 7:15 pm
Unnnn-believable. Congrats to the English. Very good win. Ben Youngs - what a champ.

By Scotsdale, at June 20, 2010 7:15 pm
how did gits miss that kick?!

By Chris Boy, at June 20, 2010 7:21 pm
i don't think giteau is reliable as a kicker should have had cooper

By rosh, at June 20, 2010 7:26 pm
that giteau dive is diabolical

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 7:30 pm
That game could have gone either way, and we English could have punished them in this game but it went a bit slow funny enough when Care came on.

All in all excellent stuff boys, keep bringing in the youth as they are making England a more dynamic unit!

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 7:35 pm
youngs is class

By Unknown, at June 20, 2010 7:39 pm
what about the game France vs Argentina A

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 7:52 pm
Love it, some welcome news for English fans. Shame our footballers don't have the grit and drive of this lot.

By Phil, at June 20, 2010 8:06 pm
Chris Ashton, give that man a carrot!

By The Schpoople Master, at June 20, 2010 8:09 pm
i might be a wallaby fan but sometimes i had fun watching them hammered by the poms...

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 8:10 pm
@Phil : ahah i'am french, may be that the english footbalers are bad, but did you see the french footbalers? ;)
Great game

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 8:15 pm
Aussies are bottlers as usual

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 8:16 pm
at last.... get them shackels of Mr Johnson

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 8:34 pm
Matt Giteau deserved to miss that penalty for his Oscar winning Dive!!! The best team won... Bring on the Maoris

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 8:44 pm
Roman Poite calling a scrum: "Crouch...touch... ... ...pause... *whistle* early engagement!". Ridiculous!

Glad England won it. I feel like Youngs' try came off a sort of bum call, though, since Brown (the Aussie) was one of the tacklers - so was he really offsides (overall, I think the Wallabies got pissed on by the referee)? Great effort though - some sneaky scrumhalf stuff...like something du Preez would do.

It looked like England finally learned something after losing a match. They put pressure on Cooper and basically made him a non-factor for the almost the entire match, and they got the ball out to their backs...which led to tries (who would'a thought?)

Why did Wilko even bothered coming on the tour, though? 30 minutes for the game's highest point scorer ever? I get that Johnson is pretty dead-set on Flood for the RWC, but the kid can sure play some stale rugby.

As for Giteau's 70th minute dive...pathetic! Somebody must be watching a bit too much of the World Cup.

By miner, at June 20, 2010 9:44 pm
Giteau could go to hollywood when he retires.

Well done England you deserved to win just for that shameful act alone.

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 9:57 pm
Well done to the Poms! For the first time in a while they put in an abject performance then actually learn from it. Ben Youngs you beauty! This will keep the fans happy (and Johnson in his job!) at least until the end of next year, such is the drivel that England have been dishing out up to now. As for Australia, how embarrassing! Doesn't look great for the 3N, and Matt Giteau you cheating little f*ck! That missed kick at the end was some good old fashioned karma shark action!

By Bokke_2007, at June 20, 2010 10:19 pm
Part of me was actually hoping Giteau would've made the kick, just so Wilko would've had to land a drop goal to break Aussie hearts all over again.

By peterson, at June 20, 2010 10:27 pm
haha

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 10:51 pm
Aussie's were in perfect droppie territory at least twice could have been some sweet justice.. Youngs was outstanding being involved in the 2nd try as well, I think most english have been crying for him to start. Lawes was a big ball carrier even though he's a bit of a lanky lock he's still an aggressive, skillful, powerful unit. I hope they get a lot more chances in the future!!

By H, at June 20, 2010 10:52 pm
Good to see all you cowards come in for your free kick to the guts while oz is down. ;)

By castigliano, at June 20, 2010 10:57 pm
why oh why didnt they get given a chance earlier lawes also had a brilliant game you could see the fear had gone and they played with instinct rather than the coaches voice in there ear

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 10:58 pm
come on england!!!

australia have lost to scotland and england in the past year

come on northan hemisphere!!

By john, at June 20, 2010 10:59 pm
Its either Youngs has the most powerful left arm in the World or Giteau has done an Italian style dive

By BigBucks, at June 20, 2010 11:05 pm
Finally everything kicked into place for England. How big difference it is when young guys are introduced, and the pace, quick ball, offloading game and vertigo that Lawes, Youngs, Ashton and Foden provide, plus the desire to run and play the ball.

Bring in Haskell at no 8 for Easter and Geraghty at 12 for Hape, and keep Wilkinson as back up and they are on!

BTW, Lewis Moody is a machine... kept Cooper on his toes all the match.

By Joost, at June 20, 2010 11:15 pm
^^ vertigo? As in fear of heights?

By Phil, at June 20, 2010 11:24 pm
What's all this anti-Easter stuff I've seen the past couple of games? As a neutral, and as far as I've seen, he had a pretty good game this last time around, didn't he?

And BigBucks, I think it was Hape (not Youngs) who sent Gits reeling like it was a Robert Rodriguez film.

By caulkin, at June 20, 2010 11:25 pm
What's all this anti-Easter stuff I've seen the past couple of games? As a neutral, and as far as I've seen, he had a pretty good game this last time around, didn't he?

And BigBucks, I think it was Hape (not Youngs) who sent Gits reeling like it was a Robert Rodriguez film.

By caulkin, at June 20, 2010 11:25 pm
Also, vertigo isn't the fear of heights - just the dizziness that comes with it. Either way, it doesn't make sense in the context Joost used it....

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 11:26 pm
Why do you have to be old and kiwi born to play at 12 for England?

Put Hape and Flutey aside, and bring the English fellas on board!

Geraghty, Allen, Turner-Hall, Waldouck, Goode, Barkley, have done enough to deserve a place!

By Juggernauter, at June 20, 2010 11:28 pm
Giteau deserved the miss that kick... if he wants to dive like that he can go join the italian footballers.

By Bagman, at June 20, 2010 11:51 pm
Who the hell teaches you to call the scrum like that? It's ridiculous. And how is he still doing the calls the same way? Surely someone would have called him up on it.

-Ken Gardener

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 12:03 am
Spot on Bagman! Those cheating theatrical buggers stole an epic result from the noble All Whites!

By Bokke_2007, at June 21, 2010 12:22 am
Great to see the youngsters Lawes, Youngs and Ashton all having good games. How come the Wilkinson winning penalty wasn't in the highlights though?

By Smark, at June 21, 2010 12:31 am
Chris Ashton...who does he think he is wagging his finger around and running all over the place like he's won the world cup? Pushing the Australian player while doing it as well. Pathetic.

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 12:34 am
^ god forbid someone getting pushed in a rugby international

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 1:12 am
^^Yeah, totally! Who does he think he is, scoring a try against the number 3 IRB ranked international side - like that's anything special...and it's not like Will Genia pushed Ben Youngs out of frustration when he scored or anything.

By you're a cock, at June 21, 2010 1:30 am
*dislike* :(

Didn't watch the game, but it looked from the highlights that England exploited (very well) some lapses in Australian defense.

And yes, Giteau dived. Probably cashing in a little on the fact he gets targeted in a lot of games (Fiji being a prime example).

By granite, at June 21, 2010 1:44 am
Australia's first try- surely crossing?!
Should have been a definite card on the English player who pushed over Giteau at the end too..

By J, at June 21, 2010 1:48 am
I won't lie, I secretly wish JW had finished the game off with a drop goal attempt in the final play

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 1:50 am
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHA!! YES YES!!! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHA!

By Benjamin Saunders, at June 21, 2010 1:51 am
So uh, how will that aussi show 'the rugby club' respond to this? Reckon Giteau will get try of the week again?

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 1:54 am
yeah, how come the winning penalty isn't shown yet Giteau's one at the start of the match is? I'm not complaining, just wondering.

And yes, ideally Giteau would have got one of his last two misses (not the diving one preferably) and then Wilkinson lines up a 25 meter drop goal with his right foot just to the left of the posts to seal the win in the final minute.

By Rowan DeBues, at June 21, 2010 3:32 am
The commentators were very gracious in England's win, as far as it sounded to me.

They did complain about the scrums, but...well, it's just in their nature to complain when the Wallabies are sucking at something, just as Brian Moore complains when England get pinged (also, Poite is horrible at managing scrums, it seems). But they acknowledged that it was a completely different English attitude/playing style from what it was the week before and were quick to admit how good Youngs, Lawes, Ashton, etc. played.

I can only hope they pick on Giteau for his terrible nancy boy dive.

By elvis, at June 21, 2010 3:34 am
Well, whilst im thrilled England beat Australia (not an Eng fan, but DEF not an aus fan.)...I do somewhat despise the comments that are coming out....

...I mean come on...20-21 hardly out of the woods yet are they...

As luck has it they won....but it wasn't entirely convincing and whilst England will ofcourse build on the performance I can't see it leading to anything in the next few matches.....

So watch the comments or it will be humble pie all round!!!

By (u-p)rick, at June 21, 2010 4:09 am
What the fcuk Matt Giteau? How could you miss that?

By Jeremy, at June 21, 2010 4:20 am
I referred to "vertigo" as a sensation of incredible, fast as lightning twinkle toes and desire to attack from the english youngsters.

Nah.

By Joost, at June 21, 2010 4:44 am
How different is England under Lewis Moody than soft-as-jelly Steve Borthwick!

Moody suffocated Cooper all match long and was always the first to charge down kicks, flying in the process. What a player and what a leader!

Borthwick would have lost a couple line out balls, missed a few tackles, commited some penalties and got into a scuffle. No place fr you in the secon row of Lawes and Palmer, buddy.

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 4:57 am
How different is England under Lewis Moody than soft-as-jelly Steve Borthwick!

Moody suffocated Cooper all match long and was always the first to charge down kicks, flying in the process. What a player and what a leader!

Borthwick would have lost a couple line out balls, missed a few tackles, commited some penalties and got into a scuffle. No place fr you in the secon row of Lawes and Palmer, buddy.

By I wear purple boots, at June 21, 2010 4:59 am
Shame on you Matt Giteau. Don't make it a habit of taking a dive, this isn't futbol.

By BigWhit, at June 21, 2010 9:24 am
51 comments of armchair expertise. Keep it coming guys.

By HD, at June 21, 2010 9:57 am
I think you mean 52. Make it 53 now, although mine is more like a desk chair than an armchair. ;)

By Benson, at June 21, 2010 10:04 am
What's that with Kearns and the referee, he doesn't really like him, does he. Making jokes about his name and pronunciation.. Pretty funny though

greets from Holland (yes we play rugby too)

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 11:11 am
RE: What was Chris Ashton doing after he scored his try - his father passed away last month so he dedicated the try to him. Probably allowed to feel passionately about that score.

By iceman!, at June 21, 2010 11:12 am
I'm the only one to have noticed that England played off side during all 1st half??!

Moody yes obscured Cooper, but all England started from the middle of the rucks and not from behind the last feet.

Amazing the ref never blowed that

By Madflyhalf, at June 21, 2010 1:42 pm
even if i'm italian, I'm not a big soccer supporter, i play rugby, but still i don't like to hear giteau was "looked like an italian". EVERY soccer players dives, no matter where he comes from! i.e. ivory coast...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0gq_uKOSTU&feature=popular

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 2:19 pm
What a poorly managed game, scrum pings were mostly BS he took an immediate dislike to maafu, youngs ruining a great attacking scrum opportunity by jumping all over brown at the back of the scrum was BS too. also anybodies defense/restarts look great when the ref refuses to call offsides. Send that shite ref Poite back to the top 14 where the rules aren't really held to so strongly.

beyond all of that however gits didn't even get ready for that kick right in front he missed, watch him set it up, not even a moments consideration; too cocky, didnt realize the importance of it, aussies payed the price.

By Sam, at June 21, 2010 3:41 pm
I know Eng wanted scrums, but surely not with Poite in charge. Is he the worst ref in Rugby? I thought so after the Ire- Baa Baas game and more so now. And before French posters bring up the language barrier, that has nothing to do with it. Unless the reason is, he is trying to remember the English for the sequence.

Crouch... am?.. Touch.. Pause ... Engage(z).

Evenly matched game in the end a couple of missed kicks (3 each i think) could've changed result.

By Huh!! the 3rd, at June 21, 2010 4:09 pm
What does this result say about the level of the Guiness Premiership in England ? And what does it say about the Top 14(winner of the European H Cup with 4 clubs in the QF against only 1 for the Premiership)?
I wonder what the SA coach think ?

By Pierre, at June 21, 2010 4:28 pm
A really good game of rugby, very entertaining and some great tries but we have got a very long way to go yet before we're really competitive with the SH.

If you realise the next time England get together will be to play the ABs I think that puts it into perspective.

By Ted, at June 21, 2010 5:20 pm
to the guy posting football dive links,........ how about this italian dive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJX9gvNHYWQ&feature=related

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 7:35 pm
I know it's unfortunate, and it's a total stereotype...but, like most stereotypes, there is some truth to it. While all Italians don't dive, there's a reason that they're "known" for it.

That, and I'm sure a lot of NZ supporters are a little resentful of how easily de Rossi fell after having his shirt pulled (especially if they're mostly rugby fans).

---------

Anyways, that's neither here nor there since it has nothing to do with the game. I thought England managed to really outplay OZ the entire match. I know it was only a 1 point difference, but it's still something to be proud of (beating the number 3 side in the world), especially if the past year you've seemed to either play like crap the whole match or let it all slip away in the second half.

So, I'd say we saw an improved England side last weekend. Here's to hoping they keep it up.

By juan, at June 21, 2010 8:36 pm
It was a very close game with some great tries from both teams. England actually played rugby for a change instead of sticking to the same old moves.

It's good to see a Aussie fans taking it graciously (at least on this board) and glad to see England fans (me being one of them) Enjoying an England performance for a change.

Let's hope the ABs game is played with as much passion.

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 9:17 pm
Even Italian commentators said the penalty of De Rossi was too generous... :p
Italian football team against NZ deserved a defeat, not a draw!!!!
NZ All Whites deserves to move on to playoff, instead of us!

And I remember how we beat Australia in 2006 WC: Totti diving over an OZ player... penalty!

a shame!

Well... let's continue watching, talking and playing rugby!!!

By Madflyhalf, at June 22, 2010 11:48 am
I don't understand why they don't change the kicker... Giteau scores two tries but he missed a lot of kicks... Australia could have won this, they should have won...

By Anonymous, at June 22, 2010 3:59 pm
Chris Ashton...who does he think he is wagging his finger around and running all over the place like he's won the world cup? Pushing the Australian player while doing it as well. Pathetic.

I went back to watch the vid again and there's nothing wrong with wagging your finger the way he did. He wasn't in anyone's face or anything. And that wasn't a push, it was a hand on the back with nothing it. Lord knows how you'd respond against something serious.

-Ken Gardener

By Anonymous, at June 22, 2010 9:00 pm
Fucking aussie commentators! talk a load of bollocks

By Fridge, at June 22, 2010 9:28 pm
Dam, they didn't show the first tackle where Mad Dog smashed Cooper :)

By vinniechan, at June 23, 2010 7:59 am
Easter was beyond crap last game. as somebody pointed out, he managed to get tackled behind the gain line when the scrum was going forward.
He did made some huge carries in this game, but he made some mistakes as well.
Bottom line is, as long as he is still undroppable, it's really hard to build depth at no8.

By vinniechan, at June 23, 2010 8:01 am
Another thing is, I have been Moody's fan all through my playing career, but I'm not sure if it is a good idea to hand him captaincy in the sense that he will be a dead cert as captain and that denies some very good players (like Steffon and Rees) the chance to come on. The important more thing, he should know when to switch off "Mad Dog mode". It worked in this game and paid huge dividend but in games like the first test, when players were missing tackles in all quarters, Mad Dog Mode would only make things worse.
Why did Palmer take so long to get recognition? He has always played well everytime in an England Jersey. He made 15 tackles in the first test and put Ashton through a gap for a try in the second. He is 31 now already.

By vinniechan, at June 23, 2010 8:07 am
Chris Ashton...who does he think he is wagging his finger around and running all over the place like he's won the world cup? Pushing the Australian player while doing it as well. Pathetic.
----------------------------------
What, and no comment about Genia whacking Youngs in the back of the head as he stood up from his try?

By Anonymous, at June 24, 2010 6:15 am
looking at it i think it's hard to accuse Genia of "whacking" youngs in the head after his try. if anything it looks like it could have been a congratulatory pat from one scrum-half to another after what can only be described as a pretty spectacular solo effort.

By Anonymous, at June 24, 2010 5:48 pm