Aussie sledging fired us up, says Courtney

COURTNEY LAWES revealed that Australian taunts had helped to drive England to Test series glory Down Under, after the tourists won the decider 21-17 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The Red Rose captain delivered a monumental performance in leading the heroic English resistance to secure a 2-1 victory in the three-match campaign, despite losing the opener in Perth.

Eddie Jones’s team overcame the Wallabies at the end of a gruelling season to claim the new Ella-Mobbs Trophy and then explained how their vanquished rivals had inadvertently spurred them on.

Australia’s bold statements came back to haunt them. Taniela Tupou said he would seek to ‘smash’ Ellis Genge, Nic White accused England of dirty tricks and Suli Vunivalu said that the hosts would ‘shut the Pommies up’.

Asked about the sledging, Lawes said: ‘Yeah, we saw plenty of stuff in the press from their players and what they were saying — some people targeting Gengey and some people calling us Poms and whatnot. It’s all good fuel for our tank and any good team uses that as motivation.

‘They were talking smack about us. That motivated us, but the boys stuck together. We didn’t fire that many shots tonight, unfortunately, but we found a way to win.’

Australia launched a sustained onslaught in the final quarter and appeared to be building towards a decisive try, but England’s defence held firm and Lawes combined with Luke Cowan-Dickie to win a turnover penalty. It was a stirring rearguard action and the skipper relished it as a symbol of unity.

‘It was tough,’ he said. ‘I’ve spoken through the whole tour about how, as a team, we want to have that feeling of playing for each other. When you are in those kind of scenarios, that’s the only thing that gets you through.

‘Your body is broke, you’ve played for 11 months, you’re at the end of a tough tour and you’re under the cosh. What are you going to do? You’re going to dig in for your mates. I think we showed what it means to us.’

Jones paid tribute to his captain and the other senior players, saying: ‘I am really pleased with the leadership of the team. Courtney and Owen and Genge and Jack Nowell really set the platform for a young team. I just want to say on Courtney, for a Lions player who played their last Test [on that tour] in August, to play a game like that in July this year is an unbelievable effort. It just shows what you can do, but he needs a good rest now.’

This was another series victory for Jones in his home country, following on from the 3-0 whitewash by England in 2016.

Asked how this feat compared, he added: ‘This was tougher. We had a more established team in 2016 coming on the back of the Grand Slam. We are nurturing this team, so it was an entirely different experience.

‘We weren’t as prepared as we needed to be for the first Test because we didn’t have enough time on the training paddock, which we don’t control.’