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Sunday, 10 November, 2002, 14:59 GMT
Winged wonders take centre stage
Jonah Lomu is always impressive against England
Much of the build-up to Saturday's tumultuous Twickenham set-to between England and New Zealand was dominated by the impending confrontation of two contrasting wings. The All Blacks' tormentor-in-chief, Jonah Lomu, was under pressure to reproduce the form that has terrorized defences around the world for the past seven years.
And the juggernaut was up against England's own wide boy, jinking James Simpson-Daniel, making his Test debut after running rings round Lomu in a Barbarians shirt last May.
In the event Lomu did not disappoint, collecting his seventh and eighth tries against England, and taking his overall tally to 37 - up to third on the All Blacks' all-time list. The first was straightforward enough, ploughing over from a few metres out as Mike Tindall and Jason Robinson manfully tried to prevent the inevitable. Tindall was on the receiving end again in the second half as Lomu bulldozed through the Bath centre and touched down with four England players hanging off him. Simpson-Daniel, by contrast, had precious few opportunities with the ball in hand, but did bring Lomu down at the first attempt and won praise from coach Clive Woodward afterwards.
"For a 20-year-old playing his first Test I thought he acquitted himself very well," Woodward said. But while those two had their moments, it was the contribution of the two other wingers on show that caught the eye, and ultimately decided the outcome.
For New Zealand, Doug Howlett confirmed his emergence as possibly the most dangerous and dynamic runner in world rugby right now. "I think he is right up there with some of our best in All Black history," coach John Mitchell said. "His repertoire of skills has improved to make him a complete winger." The Aucklander popped up on the left to provide the scoring pass for Lomu's opener, but his own try - his 15th in 22 Tests - before the interval simply took the breath away. Profiting royally from Tana Umaga's ball juggling on the halfway line, Howlett covered the remaining 50 metres with such alacrity that he made Jason Robinson look cumbersome by comparison.
English hearts were in mouths again two minutes from time as Howlett's devastating pace took him 70 metres out of his own 22 before feeding Ben Blair for what looked a certain try. But up stepped Ben Cohen, who had raced across from the opposite wing, to pull off a match-winning tackle as he bundled Blair into touch to huge acclaim.
It was the Northampton wing's second memorable contribution of the day, having shown the entire New Zealand back-line - including Howlett and Umaga - a clean pair of heels half-an-hour earlier. Tindall's tackle forced Andrew Mehrtens to spill the ball, and the timing of Cohen's 50 metre burst onto Jonny Wilkinson's flipped pass showed his pace and power in full effect. Like Howlett, Cohen is only 24, and his strike-rate is even better. Saturday's superlative effort was his 16th try in just 19 Tests. With Lomu back to his best, Simpson-Daniel starting out, and Howlett and Cohen reaching their prime, England and New Zealand are blessed with four winged wonders to take on the world. |
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