Rugby World Cup 2011 Match Report: England 41 - Georgia 10
England score six tries, but give away too many unnecessary penalties against a resilient and typically physical Georgia side.
As I sat at an hour that time forgot and my shoulders draped in an England flag (thanks 02) doubling as a poor excuse for a duvet, my overwhelming feeling for this game was please be better England. Not please win, just better. Why? Well this game, with the greatest respect, was not one that should have been thought of as a maybe. Admittedly the Georgians have made great strides from World Cups of old (anyone remember 85-6 against England in 2003?) and gave the Scots a though time earlier this week, but given our standing in the world game, anything but a W would have been unacceptable. The team selection didnt give too many surprises. As is the done thing now, the team was rotated wholeheartedly with the Youngs and Flood partnership given the chance to validate a more attractive attacking set up. An opportunistic early try from Shontayne Hape got proceedings off to a good start, with England showing an eagerness to go wider than we saw against the Pumas. However Ben Youngs was fortunate for to see Ashton drive his opposite man in to touch after a mistake at the base of the scrum, saving a try that would have brought parity on the scoreboard. What followed was ten minutes of Georgian dominance, with the England penalty count creeping worryingly up to 6 within the first 15 minutes. But the white wall held firm, with the Georgians seemingly looking for an arm wrestle with every forward drive. After turning a lineout over, England spread the ball, showing some of the most enterprising attacking play so far in New Zealand, with Toby Flood finding gaps and support through the Georgian line. Chris Ashton looked like he would score before being held up just short, with the ball being switched right and Hape went against the grain and scored his second, Flood again converting. Englands supremacy on the scoreboard was boosted by the Georgians missing their first three penalties before deservedly scoring with their 4th after a marginal call by the referee against Tuilagi for a dangerous tackle. (Many would argue all his tackles are dangerous, such is the ferocity of his hits but he is Samoan you know). A penalty from Toby Flood created more breathing space as the clock ticked towards the end of the first 40, dispelling any chance of blaming the ball if he demonstrated the lack of accuracy Wilkinson experienced last week. With half time looming, Dylan Hartley stupidly got himself sin binned for hands in the ruck, leaving England short in the pack going into the half time break for the second match in succession. To add insult to injury the Georgians sneaked over from the resulting scrum, the conversion making the score a fair 17-10 to the men in white but making the Georgian coachs half time team talk much easier. Martin Johnson sent his men out with the message of must do better no doubt ringing in their ears and they responded almost perfectly through Armitage after two minutes, with the left touchline denying its second try of the night, courtesy of the TMO. Haskell punched a hole in the Georgian defence, leading to a line out five metres from the Georgian line. Playing through a penalty advantage the ball went wide again, and with Foden cutting inside and drawing three defenders, Delon Armitage was not to be denied again. As is so typical in the professional game, a succession of set pieces and substitutions broke up the pace of the game with the atmosphere becoming subdued before Manu Tuilagi came from out-to-in on what is becoming a trademark straightening line through the heart of the Georgian defence to score yet another try, Swing Low echoing around the stadium in approval. With a 19 point margin and the defence tiring, the subtly impressive Tom Wood stepped through a weak tackle to gallop up field before giving the ball inside to Chris Ashton to perform the Ash Splash for the first time since the Six Nations. I just wish hed ground it normally though itll go wrong eventually. 
With 15 minutes to go, England started to relax and Joe Simpson was given his World Cup and in fact England debut from the bench at scrum half. Tiredness and inevitability took their toll, with overlaps being ignored and passes forced as the game wound down. Im admittedly not a fan of Banahan and his brief cameo did nothing to change this view unfortunately. The game began to peter out, with the superior fitness of England increasingly on show. Foden was unlucky not to get a try after spending much of the game acting as creator, but a correctly called forward pass put paid to any celebrations. Not to be denied, Foden darted for the line from a five metre scrum deep into injury time, only to be held up agonisingly short. But a clever pop from the floor meant Ashton just had to fall over the line for the final try of the game. Final score 41-10. So was it better? Yes, but still not good enough to win a World Cup. On this form we should win our last two pool games against Romania and Scotland but work still needs to be done before the knock out stages. The second half was a framework for how we should be playing. Disciplined, dogged forward play with speed on the pass with the back three getting involved. With the team that started against Argentina no doubt being rotated back into the starting line up for Saturdays game (Another 7am start you know woo), it is still hard to say what the nailed on best XV is. Cueto will have a job getting back in to the back three and although Hape had a better performance, this was amplified by his two tries and wasnt enough to break up Tindall and Tuilagi. Youngs didnt look like he had been out for so long, and Flood had a decent crack at unsettling Wilkinson from the 10 shirt. Within the forwards Hartley didnt take his chance today, while the props may be picking themselves if Stevens injury in the second half is bad. Simon Shaw and Tom Palmer did well in the set piece and offer more in the loose than Deacon, but still dont think either will usurp him from a starting place in the second when Lawes is back from his two-week suspension due to his Martin Johnson-esque ways. The back row is probably the most contentious place, with Croft and Haskell being notable today. I would expect a similar score line next week as a minimum, and I will stick my neck out and say that the team for Romania will be: Foden, Ashton, Tulagi, Tindall, Armitage, Wilkinson, Youngs, Haskell, Moody, Croft, Deacon, Shaw, Cole, Thompson, Stevens. So things weve learned: There was an improvement but the contact area needs to be tightened up the set piece and attacking game, if it can be sustained, are starting to fire. Lewis Moody lasted an hour and looked OK, given how much rugby he has played of late. It must have been a tough game as Toby Floods usually immaculate hair was all over the place. The penalty and turnover counts were again too high and would have been punished mercilessly by a better opposition. Simon Shaw may be a Terminator 38 years old, Englands oldest captain shows no signs of slowing down. Ashton will benefit from the confidence of scoring two tries but needs to learn to ground the ball. Please.