This will go down as one of the greatest victories in international rugby. As a technical and psychological challenge, England beating the Kiwis is not to be underestimated.
The breakdown was a very English affair. Whilst not resorting to be being offside at every given opportunity as our New Zealand cousins like to do, we simply challenged at the point of contact and made sure we got hands on the ball before anything was formed. Dan Cole was again instrumental in this and he has the skills of openside but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look it) he is the build of a Kodiak Bear.
The back row were simply magnificent Wood and Robshaw changed their approach and challenged with some conviction the belief that a team needs an out and out number seven. They simply out muscled their opposite number, carried until they could no more and made god knows how many close quarter tackles. Ben Morgan just does what Ben Morgan does week in week out and I still can't believe we left him out for the first two matches. I doubt, injury permitting, this will be the case in the Six Nations.
Ben Young's kicking was off at points and didn't give his chasers much of a chance but his service was twenty times better, passing from the base rather than look for a snipe around the fringes where there was never likely to be space. Farrell was a steady head all game and looked like a 50 cap fly-half. Its unbelievable he looks so assured after just 12, never scared to change the flow of the attack or try something different.
Centres were excellent and the shut out they provided in the midfield was as key as the set-piece domination of the England pack. Barritt just loves hitting people and made a break which even Saracens fans don't get to see too often. Tuilagi carried with aggression and even showed some silky hands when he offloaded to Barritt and intercepted a pass that was not at all easy to get hold of.
Goode and Ashton both had solid games, but the standout was Brown. He simply refuses to go down at times and is deceptively fast. He eats up the ground and is hard as nails in a scrap, never shy to dish out some stoosh to anyone unlucky enough to get in his way. A great competitor, like Delon Armitage without the propensity to get sin-binned.
In all a proud day for the fans and players alike and so much to be positive about. I was despondent after the South Africa game, but things started to click on Saturday. About bloody time. The really exciting thing is the entire England team collectively had only slightly less caps than the entire New Zealand front row. Still so much room for potential.
In other news, our World Cup group looks unforgiving with both Wales and Australia in it. A few days ago this would have made me want to curl up in the corner and make darts my new favourite 'sport'. Now, it feels like more of a warm bath than a pool.
Also, well done to the England Womens team who whitewashed the Kiwis in a three match series. Great for them too and now they can rightly take their place as the best womens team in the world. No third round entry into the World Cup pools for them!
The breakdown was a very English affair. Whilst not resorting to be being offside at every given opportunity as our New Zealand cousins like to do, we simply challenged at the point of contact and made sure we got hands on the ball before anything was formed. Dan Cole was again instrumental in this and he has the skills of openside but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look it) he is the build of a Kodiak Bear.
The back row were simply magnificent Wood and Robshaw changed their approach and challenged with some conviction the belief that a team needs an out and out number seven. They simply out muscled their opposite number, carried until they could no more and made god knows how many close quarter tackles. Ben Morgan just does what Ben Morgan does week in week out and I still can't believe we left him out for the first two matches. I doubt, injury permitting, this will be the case in the Six Nations.
Ben Young's kicking was off at points and didn't give his chasers much of a chance but his service was twenty times better, passing from the base rather than look for a snipe around the fringes where there was never likely to be space. Farrell was a steady head all game and looked like a 50 cap fly-half. Its unbelievable he looks so assured after just 12, never scared to change the flow of the attack or try something different.
Centres were excellent and the shut out they provided in the midfield was as key as the set-piece domination of the England pack. Barritt just loves hitting people and made a break which even Saracens fans don't get to see too often. Tuilagi carried with aggression and even showed some silky hands when he offloaded to Barritt and intercepted a pass that was not at all easy to get hold of.
Goode and Ashton both had solid games, but the standout was Brown. He simply refuses to go down at times and is deceptively fast. He eats up the ground and is hard as nails in a scrap, never shy to dish out some stoosh to anyone unlucky enough to get in his way. A great competitor, like Delon Armitage without the propensity to get sin-binned.
In all a proud day for the fans and players alike and so much to be positive about. I was despondent after the South Africa game, but things started to click on Saturday. About bloody time. The really exciting thing is the entire England team collectively had only slightly less caps than the entire New Zealand front row. Still so much room for potential.
In other news, our World Cup group looks unforgiving with both Wales and Australia in it. A few days ago this would have made me want to curl up in the corner and make darts my new favourite 'sport'. Now, it feels like more of a warm bath than a pool.
Also, well done to the England Womens team who whitewashed the Kiwis in a three match series. Great for them too and now they can rightly take their place as the best womens team in the world. No third round entry into the World Cup pools for them!
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