Australia v Canada - Australia wins but unimpressive
Australia wins but unimpressive
From Jim Morton in Bordeaux, France
September 30, 2007
AUSTRALIA scored a 37-6 victory in the Pool B match against Canada in Bordeaux, with Drew Mitchell the star of a stinking match with two tries.
Australia's scrappy and unstructured performance had a sour footnote with No.8 David Lyons and second row Nathan Sharpe joining the side's growing casualty ward.
Lyons trudged off early in the second half and was taken to the changing rooms in a wheelchair having sustained an injury to his left ankle, while Sharpe hyper extended an elbow. (CR*P!)
Sharpe sustained the inuury in the first half but played until the 72nd minute as Australia scored six tries in drizzling rain at Stade Chaban-Delmas.
Wallabies coach John Connolly thought that Sharpe would be fit to play against England in the quarter-finals next weekend.
Lyons was unlikely to play a role in Marseille, but he had been in bulldozing form before falling awkwardly at the end of a half-break.
The victory gave the Wallabies a clean sweep of their pool B matches, but the match was a stinker punctuated by the pedantic refereeing of English referee Chris White.
The slippery conditions didn't help but Australia's handling was nevertheless below the standards to which it aspires. "We're happy to be here and get away with a win," Australia coach John Connolly said. "It wasn't the greatest game to watch. The conditions played into it a little bit, but we probably played into the wrong parts of the field a lot of the time.
"The Canadian defence was tight and good. "But we were playing a (five-eighth) who's played mostly at (full back) and two wingers in midfield. The lack of teamwork was quite evident at times." (You're not wrong their knuckles...so many times players seemed to get the ball and go 'what the? why do i have the ball'...)
Wallabies captain George Smith said his team's defence had been pleasing.
"In terms of the positives out of the game, the defence was fantastic," Smith said. "We didn't allow the Canadians to get too much advantage line and possession."That's definitely a positive and come the quarter-final stage we'll definitely be on song."
The Wallabies killed off the abrasive Canadians only midway through the second half, when Mitchell scored two tries in three minutes to take his tournament tally to seven. Mitchell latched on to a Julian Huxley banana kick, juggling ahead before beating two defenders in the 62nd minute to put Australia ahead 25-6.
He then finished a scintillating try sparked by a rampaging Lote Tuqiri (I will give him some credit for this but it was a beautiful pass from Latho) and aided by beautiful hands by full back Chris Latham.
"Credit to our guys," Canada coach Ric Suggitt said. "They got stuck in and didn't leave anything easy for Australia. "Speaking to a couple of the Australian players after the game, they said we really competed well at the break down and put them under pressure, which they needed for their preparation for the next stage of the World Cup."
While Mitchell continued his try-scoring touch, Tuqiri again failed to open his tournament account. The millionaire wing, playing in the centres, got into the clear three times in the match but he took the right option only once - for Mitchell's second five-pointer. (I love Jim Morton right now...damn straight Lote!)
Indeed Tuqiri was booed by the capacity crowd only 10 minutes before setting up Mitchell's try - for going himself when the wing was unmarked on his right. (bahaha i didn't notice that! Maybe it was because i was booing so much...)
When Tuqiri put Latham over soon after in a well-worked backline move, the full back commiserated with the star back by saying: "Oh mate, you can't buy one." (Hahahaha :iconrofl:)
Tuqiri wasn't the only Australian guilty of being selfish, with Stephen Hoiles, playing as a replacement for Lyons, ignoring three men in support before belatedly handing off to Cameron Shepherd, who failed to grasp the back rower's poor pass to bomb a certain try. (I felt so bad for Sheps here)
The scoreline won't bother the Australia coaching staff, who were more concerned about avoiding injuries. Indeed, coach John Connolly will have be pleased by the rugged driving play of his forwards in a warm-up for the quarter-final against England.
Australia took 24 minutes to cross the Canucks' line, with tight-head prop prop Al Baxter scoring his first try in his 50th Test. First-time captain George Smith put Baxter, seagulling on the wing, over with a deft pass.
Baxter until then had endured a frustrating half, as he had been penalised once, and then pulled aside with rival prop Rod Snow by White, who berated them for their scrum engagements.
Hooker Adam Freier crossed for the second try in the 34th minute, when he finished a clinical 10-metre driving maul. The Wallabies almost had another try on half-time when Tuqiri ran into open space, but Shepherd fumbled his long spiral pass. (and again for Sheps...the poor guy had a terrible game...though thank god he started kicking...i wanted to take over from Huxley...)
Flanker Hugh McMeniman was particularly menacing and was held up twice over the line. (I thought he had a brilliant game)
Canada, whose coaching team includes former Wallabies back Glen Ella, scored two second-half penalty goals through James Pritchard.
The Canucks competed well but were dominated in the lineouts, where they struggled to win their own ball and conceded an easy try to Smith just after the break for a 18-3 lead.
AAP
