Hello Wave, nice to see you again. Yes, that was then and this is now. Last Saturday's game was a good contest and I think in the end the best team won.

Jonny gave a very good performance on his comeback and scored all England's points but sadly the team was lacking too many first teamers to make an impression on a Wallabies team that showed the first signs of becoming a major force again. I like that new scrum half. He can play a bit..!!!

England's problem right now is the injury list. We're missing the entire first choice front row, both the Armitage brothers, Nick Kennedy, Nick Easter Harry Ellis, Riki Flutey and even Crash-Bang-Tindall is out..!! All in all, more than two thirds of the first choice players are crocked... some of them long-term.

When we play Argentina on Saturday, we will have an 18 year old prop on the bench who has only a total of four hours of Premiership rugby to his name... And he may have to come on against one of the meanest scrummaging teams in the world. Ouch.

But hey, all this might just come across as excuse making. The truth is, it is at times like this that we find out the true depth of English rugby. Last Saturday's team did have bright flashes against the Wallabies and they showed pretty good organisation. England also seem to have learned the lessons of the six nations from last winter and have stopped leaking penalties like water.

One of our weaknesses though, is that we have no real back up to Harry Ellis at scrummy. Danny Care is sloooooooooooooooooow and Paul Hodgson seems to want to pass the ball as if he was throwing to the lineout. Wilkinson is receiving the ball way above his head and that'll only make him a target for Flankers.... Luckily, George Smith had a poor game at Twickenham or Jonny could have been back on the physio's couch...!!

England need to be quicker at the breakdown. Care spends far too long getting the ball out and deciding what to do with it. In that time, defences become set... we need to be moving the ball while the defence is in disarray. Another thing is that we need to use decoy runners better. Our centres are running good lines, but defences can see them coming. There is no "deception" about the England running lines. We need more decoy runners.... or at least more clever ones.

The Wallabies will come good and I think that the next Tri-Nations will see a bit of payback, particularly to the All Blacks, who are also not at their best right now.

So, good luck Wallabies for the rest of their tour, and lets hope England's 2nd XV can put in a winning performance against the Pumas. Martin Johnson needs it.


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