On a grey old day in south-west London few anticipated great splashes of gold and green being daubed on a distinctly monochrome canvas. Australia will for ever remember this gloriously seesawing game, finally settled by a last-gasp try from the young replacement wing Max Jorgensen after England had overhauled a 10-point second-half deficit.
It was a mad finish to an extraordinary match that seemed to have been clinched by a 78th-minute converted try by Maro Itoje. While England were also indebted to two tries apiece for Chandler Cunningham-South and Ollie Sleightholme, this was Australia’s first win on the old cabbage patch since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Having been 15-3 up inside the first quarter and in front again entering the closing moments, this was a contest England allowed to slip through their fingers. It was a particularly tough result for Marcus Smith who had a hand or foot in the first four of his side’s five tries.
England have now lost six of their past eight Tests, with the world champions, South Africa, bearing down on them like a menacing juggernaut and the optimism of the summer tour has drained away.
Steve Borthwick will wince when he rewatches the final minutes. After Itoje had plunged over to draw England level and Smith’s conversion made it 37-35 it seemed England had wriggled free from 28-18 down. Up went the restart and as Itoje came down the ball was dislodged forwards. The visitors, alert all day, applied crucial scrum pressure, another knock-on from Dan Cole further prolonged English agony and, finally, the ball was fizzed left for Jorgensen, born in Sheffield, to apply the steely blade.
Give these young Wallabies quick ball and, on this evidence, next year’s British & Irish Lions tour may yet be closer than some anticipate. The new bolter from rugby league, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, looks a rare prospect already and will be even better once he has had more time to adjust to his surroundings. The captain, Harry Wilson, led by energetic example and the fly-half, Noah Lolesio, kicked almost everything.
What a triumph it was, too, for Joe Schmidt who loaded his bench in expectation of a tight finish and had his strategy pay dividends. It was a far cry from the implosion at last year’s World Cup under a certain other high-profile coach. Maybe appointing a wily Kiwi to revitalise Australia was not such a bad decision after all.
This was some contest, either way. Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel is out next week but for no-holds-barred action it is hard to beat an international rugby stadium on a big match day. Hopefully, the Rugby Football Union will soon see fit to give visiting anthems more respect than playing a muted version over the public address before inviting a professional singer to belt out God Save the King.
There was nothing wrong with England’s opening salvo once the formalities had concluded. With barely four minutes gone Cunningham-South was diving over for his first try in the right corner, Smith’s initial little chip over the top having scattered the defensive line.
Cunningham-South bagged his second inside 13 minutes, with Smith’s knifing break the catalyst on this occasion. England really do have some talented players when they let them off the leash.
It seemed impossible England could be caught, unless you had watched their past few games. A golden Wallaby day felt even more improbable when a Smith penalty extended the margin to 12.
The turning point? Maybe it was the moment the contest screeched to a grinding halt when Tom Curry was knocked out in the act of tackling Rob Valetini and had to leave the field after 23 minutes. It was the latest heavy blow for the Sale flanker, who will surely be unable to feature against the Springboks next Saturday.
onward flick from Suaalii giving Tom Wright oodles of time and space to finish. Lolesio slid over a super touchline conversion and, against the odds, the visitors were briefly back within five points.
Suaalii, though, is still learning aspects of his union trade and a spot of unnecessary misadventure in his own 22 led to a knock-on and a scrum penalty for England, which Smith duly punished. Australia were still buzzing around persistently in attack and a darting Tate McDermott, on for a bloodied Jake Gordon, put Wilson over for a well-taken score.
The crowd went even quieter when Australia stormed back upfield and forced a panicked defence to concede an offside penalty Lolesio never looked like missing. With the scoreboard 20-18 in the visitors’ favour, it was a completely different ball game.
Twenty points was the most the Wallabies have scored in a first half against their old rivals in London. And they were not finished, an acrobatic score in the left corner from lock Jeremy Williams offering further encouragement.
England did respond positively through Sleightholme but an overly intricate midfield move broke down to yield a soft try for Andrew Kellaway and, when his big moment came, Jorgensen also had more than enough pace to burn off the cover for a spectacular debut score. What a finish, what a game.
