Many of England’s squad have not played a Test in Australia but most have experience of conditions there and will be ready for the Ashes challengeBack in 1949 John Arlott tried to work out exactly why the Ashes feels so much more special than England’s other Test series. He decided that it was not just that the rivalry had been running so long, or that Australia had so often been the better team, but because of their attitude towards the sport. “Australianism,” Arlott called it, “the single-minded determination to win – to win within the laws but, if necessary, to the last limit within them.” Related: England will be running scared of Australia yet again, claims Nathan Lyon Related: Attempted...
England coach’s pre-match charm offensive towards referee Ben O’Keeffe looks a canny move after five tight decisions against Australia favour his sideAn hour after the match, Eddie Jones snapped. Four questions into his press conference, Jones was asked how he felt about the marginal calls made by the referee, Ben O’Keeffe, and whether he felt England had been lucky to get the better of them. It was a fair question, but it set off Jones’s hair-trigger temper. “Why do we have a referee? Why do we have TMOs? I don’t understand the question,” Jones said. “How were we lucky? Ten replays of the video and they make a decision. This is the best referee in the world for today, they...
Skill at ‘seeing space and putting ball over the top’ is his finest attribute and he could make his case with Eddie Jones in Saturday’s game against SamoaDanny Care is one of the best running scrum‑halves in the world but I was really pleased with how he contributed in different ways against Australia. He is obviously a good mate of mine. I played alongside him for a long time and now coach him at Harlequins and what we saw at Twickenham were the fruits of Danny maturing as a player as he has got older.He has worked really hard on seeing the space in behind and when the opportunities are there in the big games, he really nails it. A...
England still not the finished article while TMO controversy continues; gap between New Zealand and rest is closing, and the second tier show improvementEngland will finish the year on a winning note unless Samoa, vanquished by Romania in Bucharest on Saturday, produce the result of the decade. Unbeaten in their first year under Eddie Jones, they have lost only against Ireland in 2017 without, Scotland at home apart, producing an entirely compelling performance. Jones will not mind, counting down as he is to the 2019 World Cup; he is completing a jigsaw puzzle, adding pieces each game. Against Argentina, England were largely on the front foot, building patiently, if unspectacularly, almost rigid in their approach. On Saturday, they played more...
England Ashes debutants are rare at Brisbane but they have tended to prosper and Joe Root’s side will be lifted by Australia’s unusually cagey selectionsTo say that Brisbane has not been a happy hunting ground for England cricketers is an understatement on a par with “Jacob Rees-Mogg would quite like to leave the EU”. England have not won there since the team with just three flaws – “can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field” – was victorious in 1986. Then the Gabba was a proper cricket ground. In the afternoon the smoke and smell of the barbecues on the boundary edge would add to the atmosphere in this outpost city. Now it is a stadium, a symmetrical bowl in which dismissed...