ALL BLACKS SEAL WHITEWASH WITH WIN OVER ENGLAND
The All Blacks became the first team to win a grand slam of the home nations without conceding a try, and the Hillary Shield, after their 32-6 win over England at a full-house Twickenham. Martin Johnson’s team, who were humbled 42-6 – a record at home – by South Africa last week, had wanted, in the words of James Haskell, to “regain some respect”. And they did, holding the tourists to 12-6 with only 20 minutes remaining, despite having lost three men to the sin-bin in that time.
Then, alas for Johnson, the proverbial floodgates opened, with full-back Mils Muliaina crossing twice and centre Ma’a Nonu, named man-of-the-match, capping the win with a 60 yard dash and score. And this on a day when New Zealand’s star fly-half, Dan Carter, scored only 17 points, having misfired five kicks at goal. It was the visitors, however, who were handed the new Sir Edmund Hillary Shield, with Johnson left to lick his wounds – after four games as manager of England, his record stands at won one, lost three.
As they did in the 28-14 defeat to Australia a fortnight ago, England conceded a raft of penalties to the All Blacks in the first half. Carter, the world’s best No10, needed no second invitation to punish Johnson’s team for their ‘indiscretions’, as referee Alain Rolland called them. Coupled with the 11 penalties handed to the tourists before the break, hooker Lee Mears and blind-side flanker Haskell were sin-binned by the Irish official for peccadilloes at the breakdown.
In the week England captain Steve Borthwick had urged his team to shake off their naivety and “get more streetwise” against the All Blacks, who are masters of rugby’s dark arts. They put theory in to practice, but were over-keen for Rolland’s liking in the tackle area, and aside from the penalties conceded England lost many attacking positions.
Scrum-half Danny Care could have been ejected after Mears’s yellow card on 23 minutes. And when Haskell was shown the same card 10 minutes later, Rolland warned Borthwick, the Saracens’ lock, “if I have to put another four players in the bin, I will. This has to be the end of your indiscretions”. It was for the half, but Carter had been kind and missed two of the six shots he took at the posts to take the score to 12-3 at the break.
Toby Flood, the Leicester Tigers’ fly-half preferred to Wasps’ misfiring No10 Danny Cipriani, kicked a penalty in reply, and was feeling his way into the game when, just a minute into the second half, was dismissed for a high tackle on New Zealand No9 Jimmy Cowans. This, again, undid impressive England work. No8 Nick Easter had rampaged forward and the hosts were camped in front of the All Black try line, but another rush of blood to the head and England were down to 13 men once again.
It was to Johnson’s team’s credit, and a show of their bristling character, that they did not concede another point until 23-year-old Flood had returned to the action. In fact Delon Armitage had pulled the score back to 12-6 with a penalty kick just inside the New Zealand half while Carter had inexplicably missed another attempt at the sticks.
The All Blacks, who in September won their sixth Tri-Nations title in the last seven years, looked like a team who had played 15 Tests this year. They were sluggish but effective when they needed to be, soaking up England’s pressure. Rarely did they sparkle, or rather have chance to. It took until the hour mark when they had their first sniff at the England whitewash. They managed to turn an England scrum and Cowan’s out-of-the-back pass was shipped through the hands of Nonu and winger Joe Rokocoko before finding Muliaina on the loop. The Waikato man crossed for his 23rd try for his country and put an end to England’s valiant hopes for registering an unlikely win.
Muliaina went over again as a tired England struggled to now cope with New Zealand’s backline, which was starting to fire. Nonu’s line break and converted score, with nine minutes left were the last points of the game. It could have been closer, but with four players yellow carded – substitute flanker Tom Rees was ejected in the second half – England were always going to struggle against the unofficial world champions, who won their third grand slam in as many years. Johnson has much to ponder before the Six Nations begin next spring.
England
Tries: None
Conversions: None
Penalties: Flood 1 (2), Armitage 1 (1)
New Zealand
Tries: Muliaina (2), Nonu
Conversion: Carter 1 (3)
Penalties: Carter 5 (8)
England: D Armitage; P Sackey, J Noon, R Flutey; U Monye; T Flood, D Care; T Payne, L Mears, P Vickery, S Borthwick (capt), N Kennedy, J Haskell, M Lipman, N Easter.
Replacements: D Hartley, M Stevens, T Croft, T Rees, H Ellis, D Cipriani, D Hipkiss.
New Zealand: M Muliaina; J Rokocoko, C Smith, M Nonu, S Sivivatu; D Carter, J Cowan; T Woodcock, K Mealamu, N Tialata, B Thorn, A Williams, J Kaino, R McCaw (capt), R So'oialo.
Replacements: H Elliott, J Afoa, A Boric, K Read, P Weepu, S Donald, I Toeava.
The All Blacks became the first team to win a grand slam of the home nations without conceding a try, and the Hillary Shield, after their 32-6 win over England at a full-house Twickenham. Martin Johnson’s team, who were humbled 42-6 – a record at home – by South Africa last week, had wanted, in the words of James Haskell, to “regain some respect”. And they did, holding the tourists to 12-6 with only 20 minutes remaining, despite having lost three men to the sin-bin in that time.
Then, alas for Johnson, the proverbial floodgates opened, with full-back Mils Muliaina crossing twice and centre Ma’a Nonu, named man-of-the-match, capping the win with a 60 yard dash and score. And this on a day when New Zealand’s star fly-half, Dan Carter, scored only 17 points, having misfired five kicks at goal. It was the visitors, however, who were handed the new Sir Edmund Hillary Shield, with Johnson left to lick his wounds – after four games as manager of England, his record stands at won one, lost three.
As they did in the 28-14 defeat to Australia a fortnight ago, England conceded a raft of penalties to the All Blacks in the first half. Carter, the world’s best No10, needed no second invitation to punish Johnson’s team for their ‘indiscretions’, as referee Alain Rolland called them. Coupled with the 11 penalties handed to the tourists before the break, hooker Lee Mears and blind-side flanker Haskell were sin-binned by the Irish official for peccadilloes at the breakdown.
In the week England captain Steve Borthwick had urged his team to shake off their naivety and “get more streetwise” against the All Blacks, who are masters of rugby’s dark arts. They put theory in to practice, but were over-keen for Rolland’s liking in the tackle area, and aside from the penalties conceded England lost many attacking positions.
Scrum-half Danny Care could have been ejected after Mears’s yellow card on 23 minutes. And when Haskell was shown the same card 10 minutes later, Rolland warned Borthwick, the Saracens’ lock, “if I have to put another four players in the bin, I will. This has to be the end of your indiscretions”. It was for the half, but Carter had been kind and missed two of the six shots he took at the posts to take the score to 12-3 at the break.
Toby Flood, the Leicester Tigers’ fly-half preferred to Wasps’ misfiring No10 Danny Cipriani, kicked a penalty in reply, and was feeling his way into the game when, just a minute into the second half, was dismissed for a high tackle on New Zealand No9 Jimmy Cowans. This, again, undid impressive England work. No8 Nick Easter had rampaged forward and the hosts were camped in front of the All Black try line, but another rush of blood to the head and England were down to 13 men once again.
It was to Johnson’s team’s credit, and a show of their bristling character, that they did not concede another point until 23-year-old Flood had returned to the action. In fact Delon Armitage had pulled the score back to 12-6 with a penalty kick just inside the New Zealand half while Carter had inexplicably missed another attempt at the sticks.
The All Blacks, who in September won their sixth Tri-Nations title in the last seven years, looked like a team who had played 15 Tests this year. They were sluggish but effective when they needed to be, soaking up England’s pressure. Rarely did they sparkle, or rather have chance to. It took until the hour mark when they had their first sniff at the England whitewash. They managed to turn an England scrum and Cowan’s out-of-the-back pass was shipped through the hands of Nonu and winger Joe Rokocoko before finding Muliaina on the loop. The Waikato man crossed for his 23rd try for his country and put an end to England’s valiant hopes for registering an unlikely win.
Muliaina went over again as a tired England struggled to now cope with New Zealand’s backline, which was starting to fire. Nonu’s line break and converted score, with nine minutes left were the last points of the game. It could have been closer, but with four players yellow carded – substitute flanker Tom Rees was ejected in the second half – England were always going to struggle against the unofficial world champions, who won their third grand slam in as many years. Johnson has much to ponder before the Six Nations begin next spring.
England
Tries: None
Conversions: None
Penalties: Flood 1 (2), Armitage 1 (1)
New Zealand
Tries: Muliaina (2), Nonu
Conversion: Carter 1 (3)
Penalties: Carter 5 (8)
England: D Armitage; P Sackey, J Noon, R Flutey; U Monye; T Flood, D Care; T Payne, L Mears, P Vickery, S Borthwick (capt), N Kennedy, J Haskell, M Lipman, N Easter.
Replacements: D Hartley, M Stevens, T Croft, T Rees, H Ellis, D Cipriani, D Hipkiss.
New Zealand: M Muliaina; J Rokocoko, C Smith, M Nonu, S Sivivatu; D Carter, J Cowan; T Woodcock, K Mealamu, N Tialata, B Thorn, A Williams, J Kaino, R McCaw (capt), R So'oialo.
Replacements: H Elliott, J Afoa, A Boric, K Read, P Weepu, S Donald, I Toeava.
Labels: All Blacks, England, Martin Johnson, Rugby Football Union
