Patrick McKendry: Wallabies not as good as English press making out

The Wallabies were good and took their chances but England made some odd decisions, writes Patrick McKendry. Photo / AP

Not even the All Blacks, the English press are saying, could have stayed with the Wallabies in their demolition of England at Twickenham.

But, just as England will be missing from the knockout stages, so their writers are missing the point - that Stuart Lancaster's team were poorly selected, had poor tactics, were smashed in the scrum, and couldn't function under pressure.

Take the first significant moment of the game. England are on attack and win a free-kick from a Wallabies scrum. Decision? A quick tap, the ball is recycled, and then is kicked away.

It was a daft decision - a common sense one would have been another scrum in order to attempt force a kickable penalty. Points, potentially, on the board; scoreboard pressure exerted.

It followed Chris Robshaw's decision in the dying moments of the Wales defeat to kick for touch rather than at goal in order to go for a draw - in doing so potentially claiming two competition points, but, just as importantly, denying Wales two as well.

Robshaw, by all accounts a good and loyal man, doesn't seem have a natural feel for the game. He's not an openside flanker, either, and that became even more obvious as David Pocock and Michael Hooper created mayhem at the breakdown.

Bernard Foley's two tries were well taken, but the opportunities were created by poor defensive systems around the breakdown. It's hard to imagine the All Blacks making the same mistakes.

The Wallabies were good. They took their chances and in Pocock, Hooper and Israel Folau they have three world-class players - they made a mockery of Danny Cipriani's ridiculous assertion that no Australian would make the England line-up. But the No1-ranked All Blacks probably would have stayed with them because they are several levels above the No6-ranked England - more so than their rankings suggest.

Australia, who next weekend play Wales at Twickenham before their quarter-final, will be dangerous opponents in the knockout rounds, but will they feel the effects of the Pool of Death if they make the final? All Blacks coach Steve Hansen suggests yes, just as Wales would.

Hooper, meanwhile, has every right to feel nervous about being cited for his illegal clean-out of a ruck late in the Twickenham match. He charged in on an angle and used his shoulder - really it was a yellow card offence because it was reckless.

It's a sad thing to have to ask, but would a Pacific Island player have got away with a similar offence? Not on the evidence of this tournament.

- By Patrick McKendry in Darlington