By Lucy Smith

England 6 New Zealand 32

So England's autumn Internationals have come to an end with another loss to the All Blacks.  Whilst there seemed to be an improvement in the team from the previous week, there still was some silly indiscipline which handed points to the All Blacks. 

For New Zealand, the result against England completed their third "grand slam" to add to their previous successes in 1978 and 2005.  Also, they ended their tour without conceding a single try in the victories against Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England

England gave away a host of penalties - 15 in total which would have angered Martin Johnson.  The indiscipline negated any momentum England built whilst gifting the All Blacks easy points.  It also led to 4 sin bins for England - Lee Mears, James Haskell, Toby Flood and Tom Rees.  The margin of defeat could have been greater if Dan Carter had not missed 5 kicks at goal. 

The first half was a messy affair with England hassling their revered opponents and the All Blacks struggled to find their rhythm.  Nick Kennedy pressurised the All Black line-out and the English defensive line kept the dangerous New Zealand attack in check by denying them quick ball.  However, the penalty count was rising for England with them conceding 10 penalties before the break.

Toby Flood, replacing Danny Cipriani for this game, had the first chance to put points on the board but his fifth minute penalty drifted wide.  Carter scored the first points after Danny Care gave away a penalty by kicking the ball away from a ruck.  However, this was levelled when Flood kicked a penalty conceded by Tony Woodcock collapsing a scrum. 

Mears was the first to be sin-binned after he was caught with his hands in the ruck to slow down a New Zealand attack, but Carter missed his attempt.
Carter did make the score 6-3 when Care went over the top of a ruck but he was wasteful again after James Haskell saw yellow for a swinging arm to the head of Rodney So'oialo on 32 minutes.

Two more penalties at the end of the half were slotted over by Carter but it did not seem to affect the home side as they made a superb start to the second period.

Full-back Delon Armitage caught the restart and released number eight Nick Easter but the Harlequins forward was tapped by Carter just metres from the line.   Flood was the next to be sin-binned after being harshly penalised for a high tackle on Jimmy Cowan as the scrum-half broke from deep.   Delon Armitage was given the kicking duties whilst Toby Flood was sin binned and he reduced the deficit to six points with a well-taken penalty but that was the last moment of joy for the home side.  New Zealand took control of the game when England were pushed off a scrum deep in their own half, the ball was spread wide quickly and Muliaina dived over in the corner.

Carter added another penalty on 62 minutes before Muliaina scored in the same corner after collecting a cheeky kick from his fly-half.
England's battling forwards were tiring by the minute and the All Blacks took full advantage, Nonu running in from halfway after a break and neat offload from hooker Keven Mealamu.  The game ended with Tom Rees yellow-carded for another breakdown infringement but it did not matter as the game was over - and it leaves Johnson with plenty to think about ahead of the Six Nations.

ENGLAND DEJECTION!

England 6 South Africa 42

South Africa handed England their heaviest defeat at Twickenham as they repeated the World Cup final.  It was a good start for England as they managed to win a penalty from the kick-off.  This was to be the only highlight in a truly dismal match for the English.  South Africa were 20 - 6 up at half time due to 2 penalties and 2 tries from Danie Rossouw and Ruan Pienaar.  The South Africans then ran in more 3 tries from Adrian Jacobs, Jaaque Fourie and Bryan Habana.

England's previous outing against the Australians saw a gifted victory to the Aussies through conceding kickable penalties, failure to take their chances and an inability to generate enough quick ball from the forwards.  After the bright start, the same old problems soon surfaced. 

A good example of this is when Tom Rees charged a kick down to give England a five metre scrum but the resulting attack was laboured and the South African defence drove them back.

However, when the South Africans won a five metre scrum of their own two minutes later, Danie Rossouw had enough power to take the English mindfield over the line with him.

Cipriani paid the price again for taking too long with a kick as Pienaar charged him down and had all the time in the world to jog under the posts.  Delon Armitage was bundled into touch at the corner flag after a quick tap by Danny Care finally produced an English attack with some pace.  England made some changes before half time with Toby Flood replacing the injured Rikki Flutey and Simon Shaw replacing Tom Palmer.

England came out for the second half on the front foot and nearly scored through Danny Care but the South African defence again held firm.  Victor Matfield won quick ball off the top of a line-out and when the ball was moved in to the midfield Jacobs cut through for a sparkling try.

Jaques Fourie claimed a kick ahead before muscling his way over, with Francois Steyn converting before Bryan Habana added the fifth and final try to leave England totally humiliated with boos ringing out at Twickenham and in the ears of the England Team and their manager.

England 14 Australia 28

So the "honeymoon" period is now over for Martin Johnson (if there was ever a honeymoon period).  The theme of the day was England giving away silly penalties within kicking range of the posts and the team generally not playing well.

England's main punisher was fly-half Matt Giteau kicking 6 penalties out of 7 and Stirling Mortlock adding a long range effort.  England managed to score some points through a Delon Armitage drop goal (to say it was like a dying duck would be an understatement and it made Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal in the 2003 World Cup Final look amazing) and a short range try scored by Nick Easter which made the score at half time 12 -11.

Danny Cipriani was somewhat overshadowed by his Australian counter part and gave a somewhat mixed performance although he did manage to score 2 penalties.  This was overshadowed by the penalties which he missed and an easy drop goal which he managed to slice to the right of the posts.  Adam Ashley-Cooper's try sealed the match for the Australians which the reward for a combative and composed Australian side.

Much of the build - up to this match was dominated by the anticipated advantage that the England pack would enjoy at the scrum.  However, the Australians managed to bury the ghosts and the torment from the matches in 2005 and 2007 with their scrummaging.  They even managed to win a penalty in the second half via the scrum.

England started this match poorly by giving away 6 points in as many minutes as Tom Rees was penalised for going off his feet a ruck and Steve Borthwick was blown for offside as he ran straight through a line-out.  Cipriani missed his first shot at goal after George Smith was penalised at the breakdown, however, the 21 - year - old fly -half brought the crowd to their feet with a tantalising glimpse of this talent.  Having spotted two Australian forwards in front of him, Cipriani surged between them and then left Luke Burgess on his backside before releasing his club - mate Riki Flutey.  Flutey was tackled but the ball was passed left to Luke Mears, only for Giteau to force the hooker into touch in the left corner. The England pack found some impetus as the first half drew to a close, their forwards finally making some inroads.

Prop Andrew Sheridan was unable to ground the ball after a brilliant last-ditch tackle, before Mears was again denied after a pass from Matt Stevens - who was on for Sheridan.
But when the ball was recycled, Borthwick drove Easter over from a metre out.

Cipriani was again off target with the conversion, but his penalty a minute before the break, and a missed attempt from Giteau, left England only a point adrift at the interval.  Cipriani's mixed afternoon continued on the resumption though, another scintillating break between two Wallaby forwards preceding a horrible missed drop-goal from barely 15m that Jonny Wilkinson would have landed in his sleep.

So there is a lot for Martin Johnson to consider after this game, namely the penalties which were given away so easily and on a regular basis.  Also, there seemed to be no forward who really made any breaks and acted on their own iniative.  Even Martin admitted that players went and did their own thing and as a result gave away silly penalties rather than played the way that was set out in training (I think the phrase "going on and off menu was used").  When you consider that 21 points out of the 28 scored by Australia were from penalties, anyone can see where the problems lie.

If the team play like that against South Africa and New Zealand, I think that the points difference may well be a lot bigger than 14 points.

England 39 Pacific Islanders 13 

So the latest new dawn for English rugby began with a victory over the Pacific Islanders.  It was a low - key affair as the game was played in front of a two thirds full Twickenham.  The Pacific Islanders are made up from the islands of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji and are essentially a scratch squad when you compare that they only had a few days to prepare to England's fortnight.

It started well for the home side as Paul Sackey scampered over the line following fine work by Danny Care, Tom Rees, Danny Cipriani and Delon Armitage.  England made a mess of the restart (a running theme throughout the game) and Cipriani's attempted clearance kick was charged down and Rabeni collected the ball to touch down for the Islanders.

Care had a chance to further England's lead midway of the first half as he fumbled the ball after a kick ahead by Paul Sackey.  England was awarded a penalty after the ensuing scrum but skipper for the Autumn Internationals, Steve Borthwick opted for another scrum.  Another penalty came England's way and Cipriani converted the 3 points.  This heralded a period of intense pressure from the Pacific Islanders but England's defence held firm and forced a penalty.  Care took a tap deep inside his own half this release Monye who raced through Vilimoni Delasau's tackle and fed Cipriani who scored in the left corner.

As mentioned before, England lost concentration at the restart and allowed the visitors to surge forward and set up a penalty for Hola just before half time.

Just seconds after half time, England won a lineout when Nick Kennedy fed clean line- out to Danny Care who carved through the Islanders before feeding Kennedy to score on his debut.  Seremaia Bai, the replacement for the Islander narrowed the gap, however, the game went slightly off the boil in the 3rd 20 minutes as a whole host of replacements were introduced to the game. 

The crowd were awoken by Monye's break set up good field position and hooker Lee Mears crashed his way over the line.  England scored in the final 5 minutes when Sackey managed to dive over the line for his second try of the game, despite an arm around his neck.

At the end of the game, there was a sense that this was a satisfactory performance with an acknowledgement that there will need to be an improvement for the next 3 games.

England will be encouraged by their efforts; however, they will be tested in different ways when they play Australia next weekend (15th November) South Africa on 22nd November and New Zealand on 29th November. 

I suspect that Martin Johnson was in a quandary that if England won comfortably, he merely matched expectations, however, if the team lost then the protective bubble around him as the captain of the World Cup-winning side may deflate rather quickly.  So England now looks towards the next 3 games as being incredibly important as the results will have a direct bearing on the seedings for the 2011 World Cup......