AUSTRALIA OVERCAME STEVE Smith’s absence and survived another venomous spell from Jofra Archer to draw the second Test with England and retain their slender advantage in the Ashes.
An intriguing, rain-affected encounter at Lord’s concluded with neither side able to forge a positive result, despite England bidding to force the issue when declaring on 258-5 in the second session after Ben Stokes (115 not out) had posted a century.
Joe Root’s attack had enough incentive with 48 overs remaining, while a target of 267 was also encouraging for the tourists, even if Smith was unavailable having displayed concussion symptoms on Sunday after copping an Archer bouncer on the third day.
Archer (3-32) dismissed David Warner and Usman Khawaja inside the opening six overs, but Smith’s concussion replacement Marnus Labuschagne’s gritty half-century effectively ended England’s hopes, despite Jack Leach (3-37) striking with back-to-back deliveries and Joe Denly’s brilliant catch, as Australia ended on 154-6.
Fair play to Leinster ,and to heaslip , who’s balls I have broken for a while now , he was top shelf lately when they needed him.
Agree totally about Heaslip. I put my hand up as a Heaslip basher too. Eating humble pie now and gladly admit it. But as to turning a corner, stillthink there is a lot of work to be done.
I know every coach has his own style but why in the name of god did O’Connor go in the complete opposite direction to what Schmidt was doing at Leinster. He has turned ye from one of the best ball handling sides in the world to a side that now can’t string 5 passes together without someone dropping it or putting boot to ball. The sooner he goes the better it will be for Leinster and Irish rugby.
From all his soundbites and the evidence of past games, MOC seems to be a guy who tells his players to try Plan A, and if that doesn’t work, to try Plan A harder
Plan b is a fallacy. There’s the gameplan and there’s playing heads up when the opportunity arises. Coming up with one gameplan is hard enough, getting 23 guys on the same page about two gameplans is a waste of time.
I guess so, mate. It depends on the way you look at it. Maybe what I mean is that Leinster are pretty one-dimensional under MOC. Coaches should be able to tweak things at half time. Plus Leinster are lacking technically in a lot of areas, hence my suggestion that MOC just tries to get the players to try the same stuff with more intensity
Leinster were great to watch under Schmidt now they are a bore.
When Schmidt landed he could do no right , look at him now “loike”
That lasted for all of a few weeks though. We’re a season and a bit in and they’ve still only been impressive twice. Northampton away and the Pro12 final. Every time they win there’s the feeling that it was unconvincing and a bit jammy. I don’t get anything like the enjoyment from watching them play that I used to. Still just as big a supporter but there are too many ugly wins.
Your turnip stew is going cold buddy.
Ya not alone I’ve felt like that since kidney left Munster :)