Scrum of the Earth /

Martin Johnson described Australia as a “smart” team, but his players clearly didn’t take heed of his warning. For all the Wallabies talents, and cripes there is a lot, England’s role in this sucker-punching defeat will hurt the most.

Where did it all go wrong?

Johnson’s message was clear. “We needed to pull the trigger earlier.” Johnson talked about mismatches as early as the 30th minute but England’s boss said: “We need to trust ourselves and go through with what we talked about.”

Did England gift Australia the win?

Well you can’t win the game without the ball and England’s charitable donations would’ve been warmly appreciated down at the local Oxfam let alone in Test match rugby.

What were the critical areas?

Robbie Deans was delighted with his pack “passing the test,” meeting the physicality of the English forwards full on. Australia kept the scoreboard ticking over, a striking difference to the hosts who coughed up eight kickable points, but Matt Giteau put in a virtuoso performance that would’ve made Jonny Wilkinson proud. His 20 points were valuable but the livewire number ten’s game management, especially firing punts into both corners, prevented England from getting any momentum. Even without the referee.

England were pretty beaten up at the breakdown…

It was just a mess. England were careless - piling in like children hunting down the sweetie drawer - trying to beat one another to the ball rather than sharing the feast. Play-ground bully George Smith was treating himself to a handful of tasty pickings while Al Baxter was enjoying every moment of Australia’s revenge in the scrum.  

England just needed someone to make a decision then...

You’d never have caught Dean Richards flinging reverse passes or launching towering garryowens but Nick Easter, enigmatic to say the least, was a mixed bag. One of Johnson’s key voices in England’s engine room, the number eight epitomised the sloppiness that proved to be England’s undoing.

Did England try and play a little too much rugby?

You almost had to pinch yourself as England circa 2008 is a team on an adventure. Perhaps a little too quickly to beat the best but it was the startling realisation that there wasn’t a Plan B that reverberated around the 80,000-strong Twickenham crowd.

Back to the boring board then?

It’s hard to criticise invention and ambition but Johnson wasn’t known for seeking positives from defeat. Winning is everything. His pragmatic mentality was the thing that attracted the RFU to shelling out thousands of pounds in the first place, so let’s see some more of it.

Any positives…

Cipriani kicked his heels on a couple of occasions and showed a flashing turn of pace but Matt Giteau definitely edged the battle. Danny Care struggled on his scraps but Riki Flutey is growing into the jersey nicely and Delon Armitage plays like he’s had 20 and not 2 caps.

Final thoughts…

England’s points tally illustrates they are half-way there and that’s probably about right. Australia’s discipline both with and without the ball was far superior. Understandable considering they’ve been bubbling together for a year now.