All square as England bring down Wallabies
THIS series-levelling battling England victory over Australia in Brisbane was a wakeup call in more ways than one.
It reminded England that international rugby is first and foremost about winning, and that the safety-net flannel talked during the week by Eddie Jones and his captain, Courtney Lawes, about this match being good World Cup practice, and performance being more important than the result, will get them nowhere.
The England head coach insisted the last time he was in Australia in 2016 that winning is everything, and the lift in confidence and cohesion this team will get from digging in for this victory means they have a chance of clinching the decider in Sydney on Saturday.
This Red Rose outfit should also recognise it is time to summon the hardedged combativeness and urgency they showed at the Suncorp Stadium on every occasion they are fortunate enough to pull on the England shirt. If they had played with the same intensity they managed for most of this game they would never have been beaten by 14 men in Perth last weekend. This applies also to their shocker against the Barbarians, and the hot-and-cold losses to Scotland, Ireland, and France in the Six Nations.
However, there were still enough signs of inconsistency
even in this deserved win to warn Lawes and his team that only their best will do in England colours.
These fault-lines surfaced mainly after England had established a 19-0 lead with just half an hour on the clock, and they are why the final ledger showed that Australia scored two tries to one, through heavy-duty prop Taniela Tupou and powerhouse centre Samu Kerevi, following an early Billy Vunipola touchdown. It meant that England were never in the clear, and had to rely on Owen Farrell’s 7/8 goal-kicking to keep their noses in front.
Even so, the tourists were by far the better side before the interval, hardly putting a foot wrong as experienced hands like Lawes, Billy Vunipola, Farrell, and Ellis Genge took the game to the Wallabies – and, this time, finished the stronger of the teams.
England also owed a debt to precocious scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet, who played like a veteran despite it being his first
start. The young Leicester No.9 picked up from last week’s try-scoring bench cameo by giving England’s chasers sharp teeth thanks to the accuracy and height of his box-kicking.
Van Poortvliet’s service and footwork were smooth and helped England to start at high tempo, and maintain it, and although the other new boys in the backline, Guy Porter and Tom Freeman, were not as prominent, both made steady contributions.
A steaming early run by Genge, in which he bowled over the Wallaby captain, Michael Hooper, signalled England’s determination, and they were rewarded with a dream start when immediately afterwards they went to the driving line-out, which was their best weapon in Perth.
This time the cutting edge was even sharper as a well-executed move saw Maro Itoje fire the ball straight into the hands of Billy Vunipola at the front of the line, and the snap drive from a pod including Genge, Sam Underhill and
Lawes saw the No.8 plunge over.
When Farrell converted and added a further penalty after another strong Vunipola carry for a 10-0 lead in as many minutes, Australia were rattled. This showed when Tupou, unhappy about conceding a free-kick in his first scrum head-to-head with Genge, compounded his error with an illegal ruck clear-out, with Farrell’s penalty making it 13-0.
By this time Australia had lost full-back Jordan Petaia to concussion, and they were in further difficulties when his replacement, Izaia Perese, was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock down as Marcus Smith tried to put Freeman away.
Farrell punished the infringement to make it 16-0, and England failed to finish a chance to go further ahead when a break by Underhill and Jamie George into the Australian 22 saw Jack Nowell thwarted by Hunter Paisami’s strong cover tackle.
The mounting pressure was reflected in another Farrell penalty, but just after the half-hour Australia finally found some momentum after winning a scrappy scrum penalty.
They kicked to touch in the 22, and from a line-out by the impressive Matt Philip they made inroads from a punishing Paisami charge, before Angus Bell barrelled to the line. Enter Tupou, demonstrating how he got his ‘Tongan Thor’ nickname by blasting through Farrell’s tackle to score, and with Noah Lolesio converting England led 19-7 at the break.
The only other negative at this point was Itoje being forced off by concussion after making a rush-tackle on Paisami in the last act of the first half.
No sooner had the second half started than the physical attrition continued when Perese’s knee buckled in a high ball challenge. He was replaced by James O’Connor, but the Wallaby woes continued when Farrell kicked his sixth penalty to make it 22-7. However, with England’s scrum penalised when Will Stuart slipped his bind, Australia sniffed another comeback. Kicking for the corner their line-out drive made headway, and with Rob Valetini and Hooper initiating a series
of pick-and-drives which saw Tupou come within the inches of scoring again, the ball was whipped wide for Lolesio to put Kerevi over.
After Lolesio converted to narrow the deficit to 22-14 England’s focus wavered, and they looked vulnerable when an Underhill breakdown penalty was followed by Smith being sent to the sinbin in the 52nd minute for a deliberate knock-down.
With Lolesio punishing the infringement Australia were now trailing only 22-17, and with one converted try in it, as the benches emptied going into the final-quarter, the match was in the balance.
This time England regained their composure, and by going back to their set-piece basics, they held Australia at bay. Inevitably, there was a scare when Tom Wright made a brilliant chip and chase break out of the Australian 22, but with Joe Heyes putting in a solid late scrum shift, and Farrell kicking one of two late penalty attempts to give the visitors a two score cushion, England managed to put the lockdown on the Wallabies.
It saw England bring an end to their four-match losing streak. Now the challenge is to show that they can summon the fire and brimstone to win two matches in a row, and return from Sydney with a series victory which a week ago looked unattainable.