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| June 22, 2003 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 21,1424 |
England outplay Australia for historic triumph
MELBOURNE, June 21: England completed a momentous week by vanquishing the world champion Wallabies 25-14 for their first rugby victory in 40 years in Australia here on Saturday.
The English leave for home this week with historic back-to-back triumphs over southern hemisphere giants, New Zealand and Australia, and confirmed as favourites to win the World Cup, whick kicks off in Australia in October.
England are the hottest team in world rugby after winning their 13th consecutive international and the last four Cook Cup contests against the Australians.
Last week Martin Johnson’s team downed the All Blacks 15-13 in Wellington for England’s first win in New Zealand in 30 years and followed that up with their first victory in 11 internationals in Australia stretching back to 1963.
But the historical significance of Saturday’s win meant little to coach Clive Woodward.
The English looked a well-drilled outfit, honed by being largely together for five years, and the backs and forwards knitted well together and their execution was first-half.
In comparison the Wallabies looked a metre behind them in pace and thought.
In putting the Australians to the sword, England buried the notion that they play a boring 10-man game, such was the deftness of their teamwork.
The defeat leaves Australia with major work to do during the July-August Tri-Nations series with New Zealand and South Africa to come up with a combination to successfully defend the World Cup they won in Wales four years ago.
Skipper Martin Johnson, nominated as man-of-the-match, and number eight Lawrence Dallaglio proved a handful for the Australian defence while Wilkinson provided a steady stream of quality balls for the backs.
Kiwis hammer Wales
HAMILTON: New Zealand ran in eight tries and notched a record 55-3 victory over a hapless Wales team on Saturday.
The All Blacks were clearly bent on eliminating the problems that beset their performance against England last week and proved much too strong for a Welsh team.—AFP
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