Ruthless England deny Wallabies perfect Twickenham return

The Wallabies have been unable to replicate last year’s brilliant win at Twickenham, losing 25-7 to a ruthless England who are now on an eight-Test winning streak.

Last November, two Wallabies stars Max Jorgensen and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii announced themselves on the global stage, but this year England provided a perfect ensemble performance in the air and on the ground.

The Wallabies hung on until 58 minutes with England leading 10-7, before tries from Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Luke Cowan-Dickie put the game completely out of reach in London.

Last year, the Wallabies arrived through the passport gates of Heathrow airport without much fanfare and left Twickenham with a stunning victory.

This year, Australia were heavily marked men. On Thursday, London’s Telegraph reported England coach Steve Borthwick had presented 40 examples of the Wallabies illegally entering rucks from the Rugby Championship. In terms of lobbying referee Nika Amashukeli, it was not subtle from England and would have made the political spin doctors down the road at Westminster blush.

Speaking after the game, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt expressed his disappointment in the tactics.

“I think it’s a bit of gamesmanship, we’ve had up until today 1256 attacking rucks, there are two players at least in each of those, that’s 2500 ruck entries, we had one yellow card,” Schmidt said.

No one has left the field injured as a result of our clean-outs, we haven’t ever been excessively penalised for side entry, so, you know, I always find those things disappointing, but not distracting.”

Last November, England had been stunned by the aerial dominance of debutant Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and the decision to field 102 cap five-eighth George Ford, who specialises in pinpoint spiral bombs, was designed to make life as difficult for the Wallabies in the backfield.

What a difference a year makes. Suaalii, normally so assured in the air was easily beaten by England winger Tom Roebuck, before England No.8 Ben Earl ran through to give his team a 10-point lead, to add to an earlier Ford penalty.

The Wallabies had opportunities to respond, turning down a penalty to kick for the corner, and rumbling forward with an attacking maul metres from the line, before getting penalised with a try in sight.

The Wallabies’ attacking strategy became increasingly narrowed, best summed up with Wilson alone on the wing and just missing a 50-22 by inches with a brilliant kick.

The captain then uncharacteristically knocked the ball on, leading to England breaking through the Wallabies’ defence, with Earl denied his second try by winger Harry Potter, somehow holding him up.

Potter’s selection had raised some eyebrows, after Dylan Pietsch returned so strongly against Japan. Ultimately, Potter silenced any critics emphatically by single-handedly keeping his team in the game in the first half.

Under immense pressure, on his line, Potter intercepted a pass from Dingwall that would have led to a certain try, running the length of the field to score the Wallabies’ first try and bringing his side back into a game that looked far off the pace. Edmed’s conversion cut the lead to three.

The Wallabies had been brave, but also fortunate to still be in the game at half-time, given the amount of attacking opportunities that England had butchered. England coach Steve Borthwick had understood the Wallabies’ propensity to finish strong and had a bench ready with six British and Irish Lions.

The English cavalry from the bench eventually arrived and was led by the peroxide-haired young star breakaway Henry Pollock on 50 minutes, giving the home side fresh legs and ideas that were desperately needed in the face of the Wallabies’ stubborn defence. They ultimately won the Test.

Pollock immediately made his mark with a try for England after Roebuck beat Edmed in the air, allowing the breakaway to sprint through to score to extend his team’s lead to eight with 20 minutes left.

England’s bench was designed to counteract the Wallabies’ habits of late victories, including last November in Twickenham. This year, it successfully squeezed the life out of the Wallabies’ defence, grinding down their energy.

England halfback Alex Mitchell stepped neatly to score his side’s third try and put the game out of sight, with hooker Luke-Cowan Dickie adding another.

The day had begun with hope and bright sunshine at Twickenham, and ended for the Wallabies with a scuffle in the rain as the Wallabies were unable to score despite late pressure, being held up on the England line. Next Saturday, Italy await and Schmidt confirmed that he would be reviewing the return of English-based Tom Hooper, Len Ikitau and James O’Connor for the Test in Udine.

“I know the dressing room’s disappointed, Harry’s disappointed, we all are, but there are two things that probably stick out to me is that we didn’t give up, we kept trying,” Schmidt said. “It wasn’t like we were utterly outplayed, but in moments of the game, I felt they dominated us and there’ll be learnings in that for us.”

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