HUMILIATION FOR EDDIE
Forget Arundell’s stunning late try on debut, this was a desperate defeat against 14 men for embattled England coach and his misfiring team
ENGLAND will board a charter flight this morning and wave goodbye to Perth’s clear blue skies. After four hours in the air they will cut through the clouds of the east coast and land in Brisbane, where a storm is brewing. Wherever Eddie Jones goes at the moment, the grey weather never seems far behind.
Jones may want to make a hasty exit from the arrivals terminal and avoid picking up a newspaper in the airport lounge, for the local tabloids will offer little comfort from this humiliating defeat. It was a horrible homecoming for the coach, as England’s proud run against Australia was ended by a team who pulled their 23rd man out of the bar 10 minutes before kick-off.
Just as they did during the Six Nations, England failed to execute in attack — with the exception of late consolation tries for Henry Arundell and Jack van Poortvliet. They have spent weeks fine-tuning their new-look attack but, even against a team who played most of the game with 14 men, they failed to click when it counts.
At one point in the first half, an English victory felt like an inevitable freebie. Wallaby playmaker Quade Cooper pulled out in the warm-up, with Noah Lolesio handed the number 10 jersey and James O’Connor pulled from hospitality duties to sit on the bench.
The bad news just kept coming for the Australians. Tom Banks snapped his arm in two whilst chasing a kick, Allan Alaalatoa was knocked out and Darcy Swain was sent off for a head butt on Jonny Hill. Everything that could have gone wrong for Australia went wrong.
It should have been plain sailing for England — like the baby boats outside the stadium on the Swan River — but instead they were sunk without trace. England let their discipline slip at the breakdown. Wallabies flanker Michael Hooper, as immovable as Ayers Rock at the ruck, foiled the visiting attack time and time again.
There were early flashes of the potential in Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell’s midfield double act, yet they failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage. They did not manage to create overlaps out wide and the two wingers in white will barely make today’s highlights reels.
Farrell kicked England to a 6-0 lead inside 20 minutes, yet that was as good as it got. Smith was often waiting on Farrell’s outside shoulder but they failed to find the killer pass. Joe Marchant had a golden opportunity to score the opening try but he was hauled down by a monstrous tackle from Marika Koroibete.
As far as head-to-head duels go, Swain versus Hill was never tipped as a classic. Yet the locks were at each other’s throats from the start. Hill landed a flat palm in his opposite number’s face early on, before tensions boiled over in the 34th minute.
Footage was beamed on the big screen of Hill pulling Swain’s hair and the home crowd made themselves heard. The extended footage, however, showed Swain reacting with a butt and the outcome was red. Hill got away with a yellow and Australia were forced to dip into to their reserves. Jones selected a tall pack to compete at the set-piece, although they failed to capitalise on the Wallabies losing their chief lineout caller.
Perhaps next week Jones will opt for a second jackalling specialist in his back row, after ill discipline at the ruck helped Lolesio kick the hosts back in front.
Despite arriving here Down Under off the back of three straight defeats, England were tipped for victory yesterday. And the forecasts seemed fair when they scored the first try after 50 minutes. Maro Itoje claimed a five-metre lineout and, after the maul wheeled to the right, Ellis Genge peeled off to score.
Hooper denied them a second try with a turnover on his own line and Itoje fumbled a simple catch. Farrell kicked another penalty but, against the odds, the Wallaby resistance grew.
What England would give to have a powerhouse like Samu Kerevi in midfield. The centre made hard yards through the middle, beating defenders when he was not marked in twos. Marika Koroibete claimed a restart and the hosts launched a 10-phase attack. They attacked the short side, controlled possession and ran extra metres to ensure they were never short of numbers. Andrew Kellaway set Jordan Petaia free to score down the right wing and gradually the mood changed in the stadium.
Four minutes later, with Billy Vunipola in the sin-bin for a high shot on Hooper, Australia struck again in the same corner. They pinned England back with a smart kick, bundling Freddie Steward into touch to force a lineout.
Stand-in lineout caller Matt Philip jumped to claim the ball, before Folau Fainga’a broke off the maul to give his side a nine-point lead.
The humiliation continued as Australia realised that they were on the brink of one of their biggest victories for years. So much for the talk of England’s set-piece dominance. They were sent into reverse in one of the final scrums, shortly before Pete Samu’s footwork threw Will Stuart off balance, allowing the forward to power over for yet another score. England threw on Arundell in search of a miracle, but it was too little too late. The teen beat three defenders to score with his first touch, offering a flicker of light in the dark skies. The kids were all right, with Van Poortvliet scoring another in the final play, but it was not enough to spare Jones’s blushes.
EDDIE JONES claimed referee James Doleman ‘helped’ 14-man Australia clinch a dramatic win in the series opener, to end England’s eight-match winning run against them.
The Wallabies were plunged into chaos when lock Darcy Swain was sent off for head-butting Jonny Hill, after injuries to Quade Cooper — just before kick-off, Tom Banks and Allan Alaalatoa. But they responded to adversity with three tries in the last quarter to surge into a 30-14 lead before Henry Arundell and Jack van Poortvliet touched down for England on debut, when the game was gone.
Having suffered the first defeat of his tenure against his compatriots, Jones suggested that Doleman had penalised his side