England beaten by Australia in Perth
Despite two late tries England were beaten 30-28 by the Wallabies in their opening Test in Perth.
Tom Curry was the catalyst behind England's first penalty inside the opening five minutes, forcing a turnover on fly-half Noah Lolesio - who was promoted to start after Quade Cooper sustained an injury before the match - and Owen Farrell, back in the fold for the first time since November 2021, nudged the 30 metre kick to hand England a 0-3 lead.
Eddie Jones' charges entered a period of set piece dominance, and rhythm in attack, as Marcus Smith and Farrell combined well to unlock Joe Cokanasiga and Jack Nowell out wide. A break from Curry on the 20 minute mark saw him scythe through the Aussie defence, and lift a pass into the onrushing Joe Marchant, who would have scored if not for a superb cover tackle courtesy of Marika Koroibete. A penalty from the resulting attacks enabled Farrell to momentarily extend the lead to 0-6, but Lolesio got one back for the Wallabies with an effort of his own moments later.
The dynamic of the Test changed as half time approached - Jonny Hill was shown a yellow card, and Darcy Swain red for a head butt - and the hosts levelled on the stroke of half time, Lolesio bagging his second penalty from in front of the posts. Stats at the break highlighted how tight the Test was: England making 48 more metres, 12 more carries, and beating six more defenders. Whilst Australia boasted the greater share of possession (55%).
Dave Rennie's men started the second half as they ended the first - with a Lolesio penalty - handing them the lead for the first time in the match. But restored to 15 men, England took advantage of the extra player, and soon had the game's first try on 50 minutes. From a five metre lineout rolling maul, the ball was moved back into the arms of Ellis Genge who barrelled over from close range - Farrell missed the extras, but England led 9-11.
Farrell claimed his ninth point on the hour mark, after hooker Jamie George forced the penalty, extending the lead to five. But again the Wallabies battled back with a Jordan Petaia try, and Lolesio's successful conversion made it 16-14 to the hosts.
As full time neared Billy Vunipola was shown a yellow card for what was judged to be a high tackle on Michael Hooper, and replacement Folau Fainga’a scored Australia's second try minutes later. Lolesio's extras made it 23-14. The Wallabies confirmed their first win over England since 2015 through a converted Pete Samu try in the 79th minute - but there was late drama.
Henry Arundell, who came off the bench to make his debut, scored with his first touch of the game - bursting through the tackles of Andrew Kellaway and Len Ikitau, he rounded James O'Connor to dot down in the corner. And following Arundell's lead, scrum half Jack van Poortvliet sniped from the base of a one metre ruck to score on his debut in the final play of the game. Farrell converted both, and the Test ended 30-28.
Reaction
Courtney Lawes: "We had a pretty solid strategy coming out for the second half but we didn’t execute on that front and that let us down. Our defence wasn’t good enough today, but we played plenty of good rugby. We’ve got no end of strong players, so plenty of good things to come. The main things for us is to focus on our discipline and defence."
Eddie Jones: "At 14-9 and with 20 minutes to go we should have put that game away and we didn't so we are very disappointed in that. But the commitment from the players now is that we have to win the series 2-1. We will learn from this game and make sure to not let them off the hook next time.
"The message at half time was to put more pressure on them and we did that in spurts but we let them off, two or three times we were on their line and we didn't finish the move off, and contrary when Australia got into our 22 they finished their movement off. We have to tidy up our ability to finish in attack and defensively we could have gone after them more."
Teams
England
15. Freddie Steward, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Owen Farrell, 11. Joe Cokanasiga, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Danny Care, 1. Ellis Genge,
2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Courtney Lawes (C), 7. Tom Curry, 8. Billy Vunipola.
Finishers
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Mako Vunipola, 18. Joe Heyes, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Jack van Poortlviet, 22. Guy Porter, 23. Henry Arundell.
Australia
15. Tom Banks, 14. Andrew Kellaway, 13. Len Ikitau, 12. Samu Kerevi, 11. Marika Koroibete, 10. Noah Lolesio, 9. Nic White, 1. Angus Bell, 2. David Porecki, 3. Allan Alaalatoa, 4. Darcy Swain, 5. Caderyn Neville, 6. Rob Leota, 7. Michael Hooper (C), 8. Rob Valetini.
Replacements
16. Folau Fainga’a, 17. Scott Sio, 18. James Slipper, 19. Matt Philip, 20. Pete Samu, 21. Jake Gordon, 22. James O'Connor, 23. Jordan Petaia.
Fixtures & Results
Australia 30 - 28 England
Saturday 9 July - Australia vs England, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (11am BST KO)
Saturday 16 July - Australia vs England, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney (11am BST KO)
