Australia vs England report: Jack Nowell seals record victory Down Under in first Test thriller
Australia 28 England 39: Wallabies outscore England four tries to three but Owen Farrell and Eddie Jones' masterplan sees tourists to victory
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Your support makes all the difference.England won in Australia for just the fourth time in their history after sealing a pulsating 39-28 victory to take a pivotal lead in the three-Test series, with Eddie Jones's revolution pressing on at full speed.
The tourists were in danger of being blown away in the opening 15 minutes as Australia scored two tries against little resistance, but England rallied to lead at half-time through the boot of Owen Farrell and a Jonathan Joseph try.
England pressed on after the break and scored a second try through Marland Yarde, and despite an impressive Australian fightback with a second score for Michael Hooper and a fourth team try - finished by Tevita Kuridrani - Farrell kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Kuridrani's try reduced the lead to seven points and a Bernard Foley penalty set-up a thrilling finish with Australia needing to go the length of the field to win the Test. England turned the ball over however, and Jack Nowell scored on the stroke of the full-time hooter to seal a rare victory Down Under for England.
Israel Folau proved to be the orchestrator of England’s early undoing as he laid on the opening try before scoring the second himself. The gifted full-back, who had been mooted with a potential outing at centre as he has done for the Waratahs this season, isolated Mako Vunipola in front of him and broke through the defensive line. He fed Michael Hooper out on the right wing, and the flanker sidestepped through the first tackle before brought down metres short of the line. The ball was recycled, and debutant Samu Kevisa sucked in Luther Burrell and Anthony Watson to feed Hooper, who duly cantered over the line to score in the corner.
Minutes later, Folau was at it again. Australia made immediate progress down the right through another debutant in the impressive Dane Haylett-Petty, and when they spun the ball back left, Bernard Foley delayed his pass to catch Farrell in two minds. The split-second of indecision allowed Folau to get on his outside shoulder and sprint through to score Australia’s second try inside 15 minutes.
Foley missed both kicks though and it proved costly. Three penalties from Farrell chipped away at the lead, and despite Australia dominating the early exchanges, the tourists seized the lead shortly after the half hour mark. Having starred during the first 30 minutes, Folau turned villain as his careless pass left Foley unable to take the ball. Jonathan Joseph, his eyes wide with the opportunity presented to him, took advantage of Kerevi failing to collect the ball and fly-hacked it forwards before gathering to score next to the posts.
Farrell added the conversion and his boot stretched the lead on the stroke of half-time to send England in with a 19-13 lead, with Foley finally finding his kicking boots to add a penalty of his own minutes before. However, Foley had a try correctly chalked off the scoreboard when they were leading 10-9 after Burrell was obstructed by Rory Arnold, and Burrell would be hauled off immediately after in a tactical switch by Jones.
England picked up where they left off after the break and were over for their second try within six minutes of the restart. After winning a penalty just inside the Australian half, Farrell turned down a long-range shot at goal to kick towards the corner. The gamble paid off.
Man-of-the-match James Haskell found a gap near the fringe of the lineout drive to break towards the line, with the Wasps forward hauled down agonisingly short of the line. But England refused to panic, a sigh rarely seen during the Stuart Lancaster reign that will be defined by missed opportunities, and the replacement George Ford – on as an early tactical switch for Burrell – floated a beautiful 15-metre pass to the unmarked Yarde, allowing the Harlequins wing to go over and stretch the lead.
Farrell added another three points after Scott Sio had been sent to the sin-bin and Scott Fardy was penalised for collapsing a maul, but the Wallabies would hit back – and then some.
Fardy made amends for the penalty by rampaging down the left into England’s red zone. The ball was spread right, and with the back line coming onto the ball from deep, an excellent running line from Foley allowed him to suck in the defence. He passed to Folau, who committed Watson, and Hooper cropped up on the wing once again to faint inside before beating Chris Robshaw for pace and dive in for his second.
Australia then spurned a great chance to score as Folau surged clear on the right wing. His pass inside allowed the England cover defence to scramble back, and Kuridrani was guilty of white-line fever as he went it alone, only to fail in reaching the line. The giant centre would make amends though a minute later, as from the resulting penalty he crashed over from close range to make it a seven-point game with nine minutes left on the clock.
That lead was soon down to four points as Foley kicked a penalty – Australia clearly favouring a victory over a possible draw – but unlike England, their gamble would not pay off. England sent the restart deep, and with two minutes on the clock, challenged the home side to go the length of the field to win the game. They nearly did.
Folau continued to rack up the yards as he took the Wallabies out of their own 22, and Haylett-Petty ensured the progress up-field ad England on the ropes. However, his offload inside to Kuridrani was dropped forwards, and the ball was popped up off the deck to an alert Care who surged into the Australian 22. The replacement scrum-half was just caught by the covering defence, but the ball came back to Ford to send a delicate chip over the defence and present the opportunity for replacement wing Nowell to touch down in the corner and spark wild celebrations, Farrell capping off the performance but adding the touchline conversion.
The victory means England take a 1-0 advantage to Melbourne, where the two sides meet again next Saturday in the Cook Cup second Test at the AAMI Park in what could prove to be a first series win Down Under for England.
Teams:
Australia: Folau; Haylett-Petty, Kuridrani, Kerevi, Horne (Lealiifano, 29); Foley, Phipps (Frisby, 78); Sio (Slipper, 66), Moore (Polota-Nau, 57), Holmes (Kepu, 57), Arnold (Mumm, 48), Simmons (Horwill, 25), Fardy (McMahon, 68), Hooper, Pocock.
England: Brown; Watson (Nowell, 70), Joseph, Burrell (Ford, 29), Yarde; Farrell, Youngs (Care, 72); M Vunipola (Mullan, 66), Hartley (Cowan-Dickie, 72), Cole (Hill, 66), Itoje, Kruis (Lawes, 60), Robshaw, Haskell, B Vunipola (Launchbury, 73).
Scorers:
Australia: Tries: Hooper 2, Folau, Kuridrani. Con: Foley. Pens: Foley 2
England: Tries: Joseph, Yarde, Nowell. Cons: Farrell 3. Pens: Farrell 6
Att: 52,500
Referee: R Poite (France)
Match rating: 9
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