Report: Australia 28-39 England

Australia 28-39 England: Eddie Jones secure historic win with fantastic display in Brisbane

  • England claimed a historic 39-28 win as they overcame Australia convincingly in Brisbane
  • Eddie Jones’ men led 19-13 at the break thanks to Jonathan Joseph’s try and 14 points from the boot of Owen Farrell
  • Marland Yarde and Jack Nowell touched down to secure the historic triumph
  • Michael Hooper (2), Israel Folau and Tevita Kuridrani all touched down but it wasn’t enough for the Aussies
England made history by winning in Brisbane for the first time with a 39-28 win over Australia at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

Despite a slow start England grabbed control through the excellent goalkicking of Owen Farrell, who finished with nine out of ten attempts, and the hard work upfront from Maro Itoje and James Haskell in particular.

Last year’s World Cup finalists did outscore England by four tries to three. After that fast start though they were left on the back foot, paying the price for Bernard Foley’s struggles off the tee.

Eddie Jones’s Grand Slam winners fell behind early on, but came roaring back to build a double-digit lead in the second half – only for Australia to pull back to within four points in the dying moments.

But are magical break on the counter-attack from England scrum-half Danny Care sliced the Wallabies open, and delivered the ball to George Ford who chipped the ball into space for Jack Nowell to collect and touch down for victory.

MATCHACTION

Australia started the brighter with Michael Hooper crossing for the first try after just eight minutes. The initial break came through Israel Folau in the midfield who passed to Hooper down the right. The flanker couldn’t score, but Australia recycled, and when the ball came back he had a simple finish. Bernard Foley sent the difficult touchline conversion attempt wide, 5-0.

Fullback Israel Folau then scored the home side’s second try after 16 minutes. The Wallabies worked the ball up the right before spinning it left. Foley held up the defence then offloaded to Folau, who rounded Farrell to touch down. The Aussie fly-half though couldn’t add the extras.



England then got a minor foothold in the game as Owen Farrell knocked over a pair of penalties to close the gap to four points.

The Wallabies then though they had try number three as Foley weaved his way through England to score spectacularly in the corner. However, Rory Arnold obstructed Luther Burrell in the build-up, and the score was wiped off after a trip to the TMO.



Farrell slotted a third penalty to reduce the deficit to one point after 29 minutes before soon after Jonathan Joseph took advantage of Folau’s misplaced pass to hack the ball forward and regather to score England’s opening try. Farrell then continued his great kicking form by adding the extra two points, 10-16.

Foley and Farrell in the closing moments of the first 40 traded penalties as Eddie Jones men despite their nervous start were leading 19-13 at half-time.



George Ford, who came on as a tactical replacement for Burrell after just half an hour came up trumps as his phenomenal long pass found Marland Yarde in acres of space and the wing, made no mistake diving over the whitewash unchallenged. Farrell then added the extras, 13-26.

England’s relentless pack saw Australia lose Scott Sio, who was given ten minutes in the bin for repeated infringements at the scrum. Farrell soon after stepped up to extend England’s lead further with yet another three-pointer.



Despite being a man down, the Wallabies struck back as Hooper touched down for his second. Foley though couldn’t make the tough conversion, 18-29.

Farrell knocked over a penalty for England  but it was Australia who were on top and they closed the gap when centre Tevita Kuridrani stormed over. And Foley added the extras to make the score 23-32 with ten minutes to go.

Foley then set up a grandstand finish as he slotted a penalty to cut the deficit to four points with three minutes to go, 28-32.

Nevertheless, it was England who would finish the game with a flourish as Jack Nowell got on the end of a pinpoint knock through from Ford to dive over in the corner. Fly-half Farrell then crowned the win  a phenomenal touchline conversion, 28-39.

MANOFTHEMATCH

JAMES HASKELL

LINE UPS

Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 James Horwill, 20 Dean Mumm, 21 Sean McMahon, 22 Nick Frisby, 23 Christian Lealiifano

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Jack Nowell


Date: Saturday, June 11
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-off: 20:00 local (10:00 GMT)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)