ENGLAND HAMMERS LUCKLESS AUSTRALIA
Autumn International Rugby
England made it five wins on the bounce over a resurgent Australia as a late trio of exhilarating tries saw them battle to a 30-6 victory in a game featuring several hotlydebated decisions at Twickenham, London on Saturday (18).
The Wallabies lost their Captain Michael Hooper and full-back Kurtley Beale to firsthalf yellow cards and had two tries of their own disallowed as a series of marginal calls went against them.
A week ago it had been Eddie Jones left cursing in the stands, but this time it was his counterpart Michael Cheika left fuming as his side went from near-parity to the ropes in a dramatic final quarter.
Elliot Daly’s try early in the second half, given only after repeated checks that the ball had not gone out of play, had built on an early lead established by Owen Farrell’s boot.
Australia winger Marika Koroibete thought he had made it 13-11 with a simple conversion to come, but 28-year-old Referee Ben O’keeffe ruled it out for an off-side against replacement hooker Stephen Moore, and England took full advantage.
Jonathan Joseph, Jonny May and the impressive Danny Care all crossed late on as the home side’s ‘finishers’ overwhelmed an exhausted goldshirted defence.
It means England have now won 21 of their 22 matches under Jones, the Twickenham crowd celebrating wildly at the end of a messy thriller of a contest.