With the exception of France, the northern hemisphere teams struggled in Game 1 of the Summer Series. Now, France were playing a ‘worse’ team. But nevertheless, the likes of Ireland, England and Wales all seem to have an uphill battle against them. What did we learn from Game 1 of the Summer Series?
New Zealand 42 – 19 Ireland
The All-Blacks were dominant. Despite Ireland starting strong, New Zealand were the better team on the day. No small part to their three tries in eight first half minutes.
Defensively, New Zealand are incredible. As a neutral it was a great game to watch. Whatever Ireland threw at them, they were able to deal with it without any issues.
Ireland can take the fact that they scored as a positive thing. There are chinks in the All-Blacks armour. They just have to exploit them. Silly costly mistakes didn’t help Ireland on the day. Despite them playing well, all their opposition needs is a sniff of an opportunity and they’ll be away. They managed to draw the second half 14-14 so really it was just the lapse of concentration towards the end of the first half that cost them. Ireland need to iron out their mistakes and they should have a decent chance of a win in Game 2.
The loss of Johnny Sexton was a big blow to their chances. Due to the new concussion protocols he’s set to miss at least 12 days, which will mean he also misses Game 2. However, at this current time, he’s passes HIA (Head Injury Assessment) 2. If he passes HIA 3, it’s concussion not confirmed, and he may have a chance of playing.
Now, let’s take a break for a second to talk about refereeing. Karl Dickenson was the ref for this first game. As a neutral, you could say he did very well and managed the game appropriately. However, if you’re a fan of Irish Rugby, Northern Hemisphere Rugby or even just fair play; this was one of the most frustrating pieces of refereeing we’ve seen in recent times. From un-straight line-out throws not being called, to inconsistent advantage calls leading to tries. From intentional knock-ons and dangerous tackles not being penalized. It was a horror show from that perspective. Hopefully the next game is more balanced.
Australia 30 – 28 England
Hat’s off to Australia. This score-line flattered England. Australia played with 14 men for 46 minutes. If it wasn’t for two late tries by Englands uncapped youngsters, the score-line would not look as flattering.
Australia’s Darcy Swain was given a red card for an incident with England’s Johnny Hill where Swain went into to head-butt the English lock. Bias aside, both players should’ve been sent off. This was just the climax of altercations that were happening for the entire of the first half. Honestly, Hill started most of them. The Swain head-butt was provoked by Hill pulling Swain’s hair in a maul. Crazy to think that in International mens professional Test Rugby, there are discrepancies over hair pulling. Nevertheless, Swain was off and Australia had a real battle on their hands as England looked the better side.
Owen Farrell didn’t quite have his kicking boots on. On another day, he buries all his missed chances and England win the game. It wasn’t to be this side. All credit to Australia, after the red card, they rallied themselves and performed out of their skin. They deserved the win.
The question for England now is, have Arundell and van Poortvliet done enough to start next game for England or where they just fresher against a tired, depleted Aussie team. The Arundell try was something special. Individual brilliance that England needed at the time.
Hopefully Game 2 is more interesting to watch. The first game seemed
South Africa 32 – 29 Wales
As a neutral this was a cracker of a game. Wales were leading 18-3 going into the second half. A double from Rees-Zammit saw the Welsh side look very good and very comfortable against the current world champions.
However, everything changed in the second half as South Africa’s driving maul steam rolled Welsh resulting in two tries. Elton Jantjies was having a shocker of a first half for the Springboks, and we subsequently saw Damian Willemse take over kicking duties. Willemse had a fantastic game. He looked very comfortable with the ball.
The second half was all South Africa after Wales ended the game with four yellow cards and conceding a penalty try.
The last penalty awarded against them for an intentional knock-on was harsh. On first glance it looked like it just hit Biggar’s hand but that’s the rule, and unfortunately the Welsh paid the price for it.
Ordinarily we’d say that the Welsh can take positives from Game 1 and focus on Game 2. Especially when for the most part, they looked the better side. Unfortunately, the Springboks are making 14 changes to their starting lineup. Welsh legend, Gareth Edwards has called it disrespectful from the South Africans.
Honestly, we agree. Call it how you see it, they’re entitled to prepare their squad for the world cup however they like. But to do it in such a drastic fashion in a test series that was so close? It’s not like they walked all over Wales. There was only three points in the game. Wales need to turn up in Game 2 and give this second-string Springbok team a good bashing.
Game 2 is setting up nicely for every team, most of the southern hemisphere sides could seal off the series here with a win. Hopefully the northern hemisphere sides pull through to tie the series up so that it's all to play for in Game 3!
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