Former Wallaby Glen Ella has fired a warning to his compatriots ahead of the end-of-season rugby union showdown with England at Twickenham in London today — Eddie Jones’ team are better than they were in June.
Ella helped out his former Randwick teammate Jones as skills coach when England thumped Australia 3-0 in a Test series in Australia in the mid-year international window.
The Wallabies have struggled since, losing three games to the All Blacks and once to South Africa, as well as having their Grand Slam bid ended by Ireland last weekend in Dublin.
Ella, who was an assistant coach with the Wallabies at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, said England had progressed even further.
The former Test fullback highlighted the growing influence of playmakers George Ford and Owen Farrell as key to England’s winning streak of 13 matches.
“This team has ... improved since they last met in Sydney as Eddie, whilst happy with the series win, always wants his team to move forward and they have, especially in the backs,” Ella wrote in an online column. “The generals, Ford and Farrell, are now well established and both could control the game when required, whether it be through the hands or from the boot, an area which the Australians can’t match at this stage.”
Ella said that Jones and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, also a former Randwick teammate, had engaged in a war of words ahead of the Twickenham showdown with the accent on the scrum.
Jones said he would meet with referee Jaco Peyper to discuss the Wallabies tactics at the scrum, while Cheika fired back that England loosehead Dan Cole was a serial cheat.
Ella praised Cheika for responding to Jones after keeping mostly silent in the June series, but hoped his players would not react to the rows with the sort of “niggle” they displayed in matches against England and the All Blacks this year.
Despite favoring England to win and go unbeaten through the calendar year, Ella believed the Wallabies would be tough opponents for the hosts to break down.
“It’s fair to say that this Wallaby team is a much better outfit than the side they put on the field in June,” he wrote. “They are finally starting to trust their instincts and are playing like a cohesive team. I think the Wallabies will have the shackles off them after their defeat in Ireland. Now that the Grand Slam is behind them, they will hold nothing back and will run everything at the English ... and this game will be a close one that could go either way.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to