England stutter to first tour victory
It wasn’t a classic, but England finally broke their duck on the tour of Australia with a 15-9 victory over the Australian Barbarians.
In a game that rarely threatened to burst into life, England once again failed to look dangerous with the ball in hand and had to rely on penalties from Charlie Hodgson (three) and Ollie Barkley (two) to secure the win.
However manager Martin Johnson will have been pleased with the scrum and lineout, as the forwards continued their good work from Saturday’s first Test against Australia. Time and time again the English pack drove the Barbarians towards their own posts but the backs could not take advantage of good field positions.
The England coach was delighted to finally register a win on a pretty dissapointing tour to date.
Johnson said: "We have won in Australia. Our second string have played their second-string twice and we have got a draw and a win.
"Am I saying it was fantastic and great? No.
"We should have finished our chances, we got in trouble with the referee and we found ourselves three points down away from home in difficult conditions.
"Ultimately in games like that you have to find a way to win. We found a way to win. It was a huge effort and credit to the guys who played."
Wasps centre Dominic Waldouck was probably the pick of the English from an attacking perspective but his game ended just before half time with a knee injury, and his departure signaled the end of England ambitions to attack the Barbarians with the ball in hand.
At the time of Waldouck’s exit, England, despite shading the possession and territory stats, were in fact 9-6 behind with three penalties from Berrick Barnes, but a hearty second-half performance, full of passion and determination saw the forwards drag them over the line.
It was the scrum that proved decisive in the end. The Australian Barbarians just simply couldn’t deal with the front row power and even finished with two hookers in the front row.
England took advantage of their dominance and second-half substitute Barkley kept his nerve and sent over two penalties to seal the victory for the visitors.
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