Australia vs England player ratings: James Haskell and Owen Farrell shine as Wallabies suffer rare home defeat
Man-for-man marking from the first Test at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane
Australia vs England first Test player ratings
Show all 30England secured a thrilling 38-29 victory over Australia in the first of three Tests to secure just their fourth victory Down Under, despite being outscored four tries to three.
Australia shot out the blocks and scored two tries in 15 minutes, with Michael Hooper and Israel Folau gong over to build an early 10-0 lead. Fly-half Bernard Foley missed both conversions though to let four points go begging, and after Owen Farrell got England on the board with three penalties, the visitors took the lead when Jonathan Joseph took advantage of errors from Folau and Samu Kerevi to score their opening try.
The same followed after the break as a fantastic break from man-of-the-match James Haskell set-up the platform for replacement George Ford to find Marland Yarde, with the wing going over unopposed.
Farrell would add another two more penalties to his four successful first-half efforts, but Australia mounted a ferocious fightback to reignite the contest. Hooper scored his second before Tevita Kuridrani barged his way over from close range, and when Foley added a penalty the lead was just four points with two minutes to play.
England held on though, and having withered the Australian storm, they pounced on loose ball to score a third and final try, with Ford chipping over the defence to allow Jack Nowell to rush onto the ball and score in the corner.
So who were the star men in Brisbane? Click on the gallery above to see our first Test player ratings.
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