Jones delighted as England show ‘grit’ – and Irish beat SA

ENGLAND head coach Eddie Jones was thrilled with the “grit” his side showed as they began their threeTest series against Australia with an enthralling 39-28 victory in Brisbane.

After the Wallabies raced into a 10-0 lead thanks to tries from Michael Hooper and Israel Folau, England recovered through scores from Jonathan Joseph, Marland Yarde and Jack Nowell.

Hooper scored a second try and Tevita Kuridrani also crossed in the second-half but Owen Farrell’s 24-point haul helped England extend their unbeaten record under Jones to seven games.

“I think we showed real grit. We had a specific plan which we thought that could beat Australia,” Jones told Sky Sports 1.

“They caught us out with their pace at the start of the game and it took us some time to adjust but we did the simple things well.

“We’ve come here to win the series, next week is super important and we’re focused on that already.”

England captain Dylan Hartley echoed his coach’s sentiments as they recovered from a shaky start.

“Look, first and foremost, the result was key for us, we have to keep our feet on the ground,” the Northampton hooker said.

“The way we started the game will need looking at. We’re well aware that it’s the first of three. We put all of our energy into the first game and it was a good way to start our campaign.”

Wallabies captain Stephen Moore felt England were worthy of their victory.

“There were bits and pieces that didn’t go well so we need to look at that,” he said.

“They put us under pressure at the breakdown but we’ve got two more Tests to correct things and bounce back in Melbourne.”

Fourteen-man Ireland beat the Springboks on South African soil for the first time in front of 42,620 stunned fans at Newlands, winning 26-20.

The Six Nations side lost CJ Stander to a red card midway through the first half, but they kept playing positive rugby and Paddy Jackson kicked them home.

It was Ireland’s first red card since Jamie Heaslip was sent off in similar circumstances in New Zealand in 2010.

Jared Payne’s try helped Ireland lead 7-0 and they were 10-3 ahead when South African-born Stander was sent off for a reckless challenge on Patrick Lambie.

Lwazi Mvovo’s score saw the Springboks edge ahead as Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw was also sin-binned.

But Conor Murray’s second-half try and eight Paddy Jackson points were enough despite Pieter-Steph du Toit’s try.