The boys from down-under stand tall in Europe

Australia and the All blacks have stood tall, buried some demons and sent a shiver through Europe with strong wins over the weekend.

Heading into the games there was a lot of pressure and personal attacks especially on the Australian forward pack. In a display even the most die-hard English supporter would be proud of Australia took it to the English pack and taught them a lesson on scrummaging and overall grunt. As the old saying goes test matches are won up front and this was very vivid in front of a capacity Twickenham crowd made up 76,000 singing English Rose supporters and 4,000 of Australia’s finest travelers.

Leading the way were the front 3 in the gold jerseys. Al Baxter has been in front of the firing squad for the last 4 years with the British media, he took all that ammunition fired at him and turned it into some genuine steel & belief of his own on the field. In a commanding display of patience, technique and the occasional smile he and his big boys up front totally out played England from second one to the last scrum of the match.

With the go forward Mr Giteau and Mr Mortlock made some inroads into England real estate, being on the front foot always helps and Matt Giteau controlled the match and played like he can as one of the most dangerous weapons in the game. The hosts had their moments too, Easter crashed over for a marvelous muscle try to give them hope and confidence. This though was snuffled out as Australia stuck to the game plan, scrummed well and picked off the easy penalties from the English faults under pressure & comfortably won 28-14. It was a case of Australia out playing England at their own style of play & Robbie Deans the man holding the magic wand of this team will be very happy with the way his team is heading. Under Dingo Deans Australia has now taken 2 massive scalps overseas, something that has eluded them for many years and now the team confidence will be soaring as they hunt for more starting in Paris this weekend.

Across the channel in Dublin the Irish through a lot at the All Blacks, like soaking up a storm the men in Black absorbed it all then unleashed some class just before half time and again just after. These came right when the Irish thought they were in the hunt, killer blows were delivered and in clinical fashion. In the 47th minute Joe Rococoko sliced through and unloaded beautifully to Ma'a Nonu to power away for a try near the sticks. Not only did this sting the Irish but it silenced 80,000 of their supporters and the deflation of hope was deafeningly quiet.

New Zealand played the rest of the half with a tight grip on proceedings, they let a couple of chances go bye, but played with control and growing rhythm that will give the Welsh and English coaching staff some sleepless nights. In the end powerhouse forward Brad Thorn bulldozed over some backs to score and it topped off a character display for the AB’s with victory by 21-3. Their try line has not been crossed in this visit to Europe and their general attack is getting more and more scary and now the sights are firmly set on another grand slam.