England draw first blood in Brisbane Test
ENGLAND continued their revival under Eddie Jones with a deserved 39-28 victory over an ill-disciplined Australia side to claim their first ever win in Brisbane, and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series yesterday.
Recovering from an early 10-0 deficit, the Six Nations champions scored tries through centre Jonathan Joseph, winger Marland Yarde and replacement Jack Nowell, with flyhalf Owen Farrell contributing 24 points.
Wallabies flanker Michael Hooper scored two tries, with full-back Israel Folau and Tevita Kuridrani also crossing, but Bernard Foley, the hero of the 33-13 victory over England at last year’s World Cup, landed only three of his six kicks.
The tourists have never scored more points against the Wallabies, and will take confidence into the final two tests in Melbourne and Sydney after making it seven wins out of seven under Jones.
“We’re happy with the result, but we didn’t play well today,” the England coach told reporters. “All we’ve done tonight is to give ourselves another game in the series. We’ve made history today, but it’s not enough for us.”
England flanker James Haskell typified his team’s effort, ferocious in defence and at the breakdown as the tourists produced a fine display of disciplined aggression.
Australia coach Michael Cheika was left ruing the regularity with which his team were penalised by referee Romain Poite, describing some of the Frenchman’s decisions as “odd”.
“We didn’t play the way we started for long enough,” he said. “It makes it hard to get the speed of the game going when you get that many penalties.”
It had looked like being a good evening for Australia when debutant Samu Kerevi put Hooper over in the corner in the ninth minute after a period of sustained pressure.
The Wallabies doubled their lead seven minutes later when Foley delayed his pass to send Folau crashing through Far- rell’s tackle to touch down.
Two penalties from Farrell cut the deficit and a third after Foley had seen a fine individual try called back for obstruction, made it a one-point game after half an hour.
Calamity struck for the home side in the 32nd minute when Foley failed to get hold of a Folau pass and Kerevi also fumbled the loose ball, allowing Joseph to hack through for a converted try.
Foley landed his first spot kick three minutes before halftime, but Farrell’s fourth from the ninth penalty awarded against Australia gave England a 19-13 lead at the break.
Six minutes into the second half, a burst up the middle from Haskell and a lofted pass from George Ford gave winger Yarde a free run to the line and, after Farrell converted, England were 26-13 ahead.
Wallabies loosehead prop Scott Sio was sin-binned in the 54th minute as England reasserted their traditional dominance at the scrum and another penalty at the set piece allowed Farrell to put England 29-13 ahead.
Hooper popped up on the wing again to score his second try after a sweeping move, Kuridrani ploughed over in the 71st minute and a late Foley penalty got Australia within a try of victory.
Kerevi lost the ball as the hosts went through the phases looking for the win, however, and Nowell sealed a famous victory from the ensuing possession. – Reuters