By Kath
November 3 2013

England kicked off the QBE 2013 Autumn Internationals with a Win over Australia to take the Cook Cup

England 20  v  13 Australia

England win the Cook Cup 2013 but first a bit of nostalgia.......

On a cold, sharp wintery autumn day Twickenham bathed in the glory of past achievements.  At half time during this match the class of 2003 paraded the Web Ellis Trophy around the stadium and a satisfying feeling of contentment and memories flooded back to the minds of the crowd.  

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England took to the field with new pairings and a feeling of expectancy.   The first twenty or so minutes England had the better of the wallabies.   Andy Farrell put the first points on the board from a penalty .....one of the many penalties that Australia gave away this day.     However, Farrell did not have his kicking boots quite on today as we should have had 12points at least from penalties but we coasted along with just 3.  And then England gave a penalty almost in front of the posts and the score was 3-3.  

After those 25mins England lost concentration and focus and the Aussies went in with a soft try with poor defending from England in particular Ashton, next thing we know we are 6-13 at this point I thought 'here we go again' -   England really need to look at that period of play this week because frankly the Australians were poor yesterday and England just switched off and that is not acceptable at this level.  They trundled off on the first half with the score 6-13

The Australians lately are taking to staying on the field at half time, not sure that it is helping them to be honest?  Maybe they should have gone in for a cup of tea or Fosters because when they started the second half England had the measure of them and upped their game.  Their scrum was awful, they took some injuries, they lacked class and made England look really good.

We had darting cheeky Try from Farrell and a brilliant opportunist Try from Chris Robshaw in the second half and generally all round, especially in the Scrum England looked good.   England as a squad pulled together well yesterday and worked hard but that lapse in the first half needs urgent attention.  Thought the Sky man of the match Mike Brown was definitely correct ( he is such a good player) and Joel Tomkins first outing went off really well.  Felt sorry for Foden he was the only player not to get on the field.  

And now for a bit of fun and merry moment let's remember this quote again

David Campese said " Australia will have the edge over England at Twickenham"

England (6) 20