The England rugby team travelled to Brisbane knowing no team from that nation had won a Test match in the river city in the entirely of their long and proud history.
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But, last Saturday night, the Poms made short work of the Wallabies in winning a pulsating Test match by 39-28.
(And it really was a pulsating game – both teams came to play with speed and adventure and physicality, and it was brilliant to see.)
As we all expected, the Poms were tough and uncompromising, strong at set piece and nearly flawless kicking for goal. As we possibly DIDN’T expect, they were also really smart at the breakdown and willing to use the ball to expose the Wallaby midfield and score some really nice tries. Despite the score line, it was great to see.
Hopefully the results at last year’s Rugby World Cup – where the Southern Hemisphere sides dominated -have opened the eyes of the Northern Hemisphere to the fact that running, skillful rugby is the best route to success.
Despite the defeat, it need not be all doom and gloom for the Wallabies.
In a sport where the referee has an unusually large bearing on the result, it felt like all the 50/50 calls made by Frenchman Romain Poite went against the Aussies. None of the decisions (barring, possibly, the yellow card issued to Scott Sio) was outrageously poor, but they definitely had the effect of turning the game at crucial stages, allowing the Poms to weather the storm in defense and keep the scoreboard ticking over.
In addition, the Wallabies conceded a soft try following a disastrous pass from the usually composed Israel Folou (and a comedy attempt to collect the loose ball by Samu Kerevi, in which he resembled a toddler trying to pick up a rolling ball) and then had a try disallowed for an obstruction that, on a different day and from a different angle, might have been awarded.
The Wallabies made good ground in attack all night. They got over the advantage line with absolute ease and their tactics, of using passing forwards and dummy runners in the midfield to create space out wide, caused problems for the Poms throughout.
In addition, the Wallaby debutants were all very good (particularly Dane Haylett-Petty, who looked every bit the Test player).
Which is not to say there are no challenges to overcome. The lineout was a screaming farce (and the problems there were largely self-inflicted), the scrum was under pressure all night and the goal kicking was haphazard. In addition, the Wallabies will be without chiseled rugby genius, environmental warrior and all-round good bloke David Pocock for the rest of the international season, and look to have lost line-out general Rob Simmons as well.
These blokes will not be easy to replace, and the Poms are sniffing blood.
So off we go to Melbourne where we can only hope the Wallabies fight back and send the series to a mouth-watering decider in front of a packed crowd in Sydney next weekend. Bring it on.
Early Bet: Those who took our early bets last weekend will be stinging as the Wallabies failed to live up to expectations. It seems there’s not much between these teams, so take Either Side to Win by Less Than Seven at $2.05, and sit back and enjoy.
For just $20.00 per week you can get a detailed preview, a tip and a suggested bet for every Super Rugby game of the round! Last weekend we scored a perfect winning record, and a 200% return on investment. Now is the time to get involved!
Elsewhere, the Welsh were excellent against the All Blacks in Auckland.
Many teams have travelled to Eden Park over the years and been completely overwhelmed by the experience (many of those teams might even have been wearing gold and speaking with a broad Australian accent), but the Welsh can’t be put in that category.
They took the game to the Kiwis and led at the break, before eventually succumbing to the sustained excellence of the All Blacks.
The big worry for them is that they might have fired all their shots and it will all be downhill from here (and a flogging at the hands of Super Rugby side the Chiefs in mid-week won’t have helped things).
Meanwhile, the Irish overcame being reduced to 14 men for an hour of the game to score a famous 26-20 victory over the Springboks at Newlands. The Springboks were pretty abject, but plenty of credit has to be given to the Irish who dug in and fought hard to hang on in a tense final few minutes.
Early Bet: The three Southern Hemisphere giants were a bit rusty last weekend, and it showed. We expect them all to hit back so I would take New Zealand / Australia / South Africa at $2.40.
Don’t forget that for just $20.00 a week, you can get a detailed preview of every game, a tip and a series of suggested bets. The Super Rugby Expert picked four from four last week, and is set for another winning performance!
This article first appeared on TopBetta HERE.