Daily Mirror

IF WE’RE WALLIES WALLABIES WE’LL

Mako warns sloppy England to sharpen up or face a big Twickenham defeat by revitalise­d Australia

- BY ALEX SPINK Rugby Correspond­ent

SLOPPY England have been told to buck up their ideas or be taken apart by Australia.

The warning comes not from the Twicken-hambound Wallabies, resurgent after beating Wales to extend their unbeaten run to seven games.

Nor from boss Eddie Jones, who responded to his side’s lame display against Argentina by thundering: “How f***ing stupid are we?”

But from Mako Vunipola, man of the (dire) match for an England team which found it more difficult to walk the walk than talk the talk against Argentina.

“There is a cohesivene­ss we need to work on,” said the plain-speaking prop (above). “If we don’t have that, Australia – the team they are at the moment, in the form they’re in at the moment – they will take you apart.”

Against opponents losing for the 12th time in 13 Tests, England managed only a third of the possession and territory.

They made fewer clean breaks, gained fewer metres and conceded more penalties than a Pumas side hamstrung by its policy of selecting only players based in Argentina. And they did it in the week captain Dylan Hartley spoke of the team’s total belief they can “get to No.1 and win a World Cup”. All teams have off days, but it is a tougher sell when you scream your sky-high ambition from the rooftops and then charge people a fortune to share in the vision.

Tickets on Saturday cost up to £110. This weekend the top price increases to £127.

Then there is England’s latest kit, a dark grey number designed, we were told, “to make it harder to distinguis­h aspects of the body during the tackle”. Of the 41 tackles missed on Saturday, 26 were by England.

Jones’ side did edge the try count but both scores came with a heavy dollop of good fortune. George Ford and

Alex Lozowski played key roles in the scores for Nathan Hughes and Semesa Rokoduguni.

But so did the ref, who sinbinned Pumas fullback Joaquin Tuculet moments before the opener for his innocent part in Mike Brown crashing to earth head first – then overlooked Henry Slade’s forward pass for Roko’s clincher.

Still, England escaped to victory and stretched their unbeaten home record under Jones to 11 straight wins.

But he has much to ponder, with Sir Clive Woodward calling for Jamie George to replace skipper Hartley against the Wallabies and for Owen Farrell to come back in at fly-half.

“I think deep down Farrell wants to play 10 – he doesn’t want to play 12,” said Woodward. “If you’re the top centre-forward in world football you want 9 on your back, there’s a real charisma about it.

“He wants to strut out with 10 on his back. I’d like to see him play 10 because he’s never had a proper start for England in that position.”

ENGLAND - Tries: Hughes, Rokoduguni. Con: Ford. Pens: Ford 3.

ARGENTINA - Try: Sanchez. Pen: Boffelli.

 ??  ?? RARE BIT OF FLAIR Rokoduguni flies over for England, Sanchez (top left) replied and Hughes scored – but it was a grind
RARE BIT OF FLAIR Rokoduguni flies over for England, Sanchez (top left) replied and Hughes scored – but it was a grind

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