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THIS was an extraordinary performance by England in which they cut down Australia with a swashbuckling secondhalf surge which saw tries by Marland Yarde, Ben Youngs and Jonathan Joseph claim a Red Rose recordequalling run of 14 consecutive wins.
That they did it despite disappearing for most of the first-half, riding their luck to turn round at halftime trailing only 16-13, spoke volumes for the playing resolve, and growing confidence of this squad.
Thirteen of those wins have come on Eddie Jones’ watch in an unbeaten year, and this fourth win in a row over a Wallaby outfit coached by his old Randwick mate – or maybe former mate – Michael Cheika will have been deeply satisfying.
What a difference a year makes, with the Twickenham crowd in good voice and England’s tries roared to the rafters instead of the muted silence as Bernard Foley put the knife in to kill off their World Cup hopes.
This time the blade was in English hands, and it was Jones who put it there. This match was by far England’s biggest challenge of the autumn series against highly motivated opponents looking for vengeance, and there was a sense of real danger before the match that the roll call of injuries had left them vulnerable.
That they rose to the challenge with such spirit after the shakiest of starts was testament to the selection and motivational skills of ‘Fast Eddie’, because the speed with which he has made good the loss of key players like Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje and James Haskell has been nothing short of inspired.
After a Jones rev-up at the interval, locks George Kruis and Courtney Lawes produced command performances – Kruis topping the tackle count with 16 – while in the back row Tom Wood turned piratical after being left marooned in the first-half by the speed of Wallaby opensides Michael Hooper and David Pocock.
Nathan Hughes was another selection success story on his first start, with the Wasps No.8 growing in stature and influence so that by the final whistle he filled one-and-a-half of Billy Vunipola’s boots.
There was a similar transformation evident in another recast back three, where the loss of Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson was minimised, this time by the urgency the recalled Marland Yarde brought to the battle after the break. Jones had said before the match that he knew Yarde was ‘hot’ and would go well, and the prediction was on the money.
The England coach also came up with the pre-match line, in reference to prematch nerves among the new men that, “you only feel pressure if you don’t know what you’re doing”. Well, England looked clueless for the first quarter of this encounter. They started slowly, like a side with stage fright, and a fired-up Australia took full advantage to knock seven bells out of them.
No sooner had Foley hooked an early penalty chance than the Wallabies steamed onto the offensive, and, with Dane Haylett-Petty threading a kick deep into the England 22, Owen Farrell seemed to have it covered – until the ball refused to roll over the line so he could ground it. With Pocock slamming into him to jar the ball loose, Tevita Kuridrani followed up to touch it down – only for the TMO to calm England’s nerves by ruling out the try due to a knock forward by the Wallaby flanker.
Australia then fired the first meaningful shot in the scrum war ignited by the pre-match jousting between the coaches, winning the home team’s 5m put-in after the strike ricocheted off an England knee. When Reece Hodge made the most of it with a charge up the middle which set George Ford and Farrell on their heels, creating quick ball, Nick Phipps moved the ball quickly to Haylett-Petty.
With the England defence undermanned the winger threw a long pass to send Sefa Naivalu racing in for the opening try, and with Foley converting Australia were 7-0 ahead.
Spurred on by this success, and by the dishevelled, sluggish defensive line opposite them, the Wallabies came at England hard and fast. One Israel Folau raid required three Red Rose tacklers to bring him down, and it was followed by all-out assaults which should have yielded tries for Sekope Kepu and Kuridrani. In both cases desperate defence, first by Kruis and then Joseph, saw the Wallabies denied tries as the TMO ruled there was no clear grounding.
All that Australia had to show for their efforts was a Foley penalty for offside which took their lead to 10-0. After 20 minutes of being under the cosh England got off the mark thanks to a Farrell penalty from a lineout drive on Lawes, and when a break-out fashioned by Ford and Yarde yielded a 5m scrum he punished another Wallaby offside to narrow the gap to 10-6.
Farrell was also instrumental in England taking an unlikely lead when he reacted fastest to a spilled pass by Kepu to hack through for the arch-poacher, Joseph, to outpace Hodge and Foley to the bounce for an opportunist try.
With Farrell converting the hosts had to pinch themselves that they were 13-10 up, but with Cole whistled for a collapse and Wood penalised for a neck-high tackle on Pocock, Foley tied it at 13-13. Justice was partially done when the Wallaby fly-half added another penalty on the stroke of half-time to give Australia a three point advantage.
However, the way that lead was overhauled ruthlessly in the first ten minutes of the second half had nothing to do with Lady Luck. England were supercharged on their return to the field, and attacked with venom. With Youngs as the
fulcrum, Mako Vunipola, Mike Brown and Hughes carried the game to the Wallabies and when the ball was recycled from the bombardment Joseph chipped through a perfectly angled grubber for Yarde.
With the dreadlocked England winger getting the jump on Folau he was a nano-second ahead as they dived for the ball, and the TMO ruled that he had grounded it first. No sooner had Farrell added the extras for a 20-16 England lead, than a Wood charge, followed by a break from the scrum by Hughes, saw them score again.
This time Youngs was the creator and finisher, taking a quick tap which caught the Aussie defence on the hop before dummying a pass to Yarde which Phipps swallowed whole, opening the way for him to scamper home. With Farrell converting Cashing in: Jonathan Joseph is congratulated by Marland Yarde after scoring England’s fourth try from an interception and then adding a penalty to make it 30-16 Australia were on the rack.
They were given a brief respite when, amid the raft of replacements, England’s focus wavered – not least Joe Marler’s, when he missed a tackle which allowed Kepu to romp over. Although that narrowed the gap to 30-21, the Wallabies were reduced to playing catch-up with 14 men when Haylett-Petty was sinbinned for a shoulder charge on Brown.
They were made to pay when Pocock threw a desperate looping pass to Folau which Joseph picked off to race home for England’s fourth try. With Ford converting it was job done, with Jones knowing he has a playing depth capable of carrying England to a successful defence of their Six Nations title.