The English winter is closing in and at Twickenham the temperature is dropping quick. This week, they didn’t miss the last-minute kick and it didn’t make any distinction. This week, Marcus Smith stayed on the pitch and that didn’t repair it both.
England misplaced, once more. The three earlier than it had been all to the All Blacks, however this one was to an Australian group who’re ninth on the earth rankings and had misplaced 5 of their previous six video games coming into this fixture. It occurred although England had a 12-point lead on the finish of the primary quarter and a two-point lead on the finish of the fourth one.
Or close to sufficient to the top of it that a few the England gamers began celebrating victory after the restart after they thought they’d received a late penalty that will finish the sport. The referee, Ben O’Keeffe, disagreed and earlier than England knew it, Len Ikitau had slipped an excellent offload to Max Jorgensen and Australia had been away.
It was a hell of a match, an actual rip-roaring, seesawing, two-hour set-to. The lead modified fingers 4 occasions within the second half. England received it, misplaced it, received it again, misplaced it once more, got here again one final time, and located, ultimately, they’d one way or the other been defeated 42-37.
The 80,000 inside the bottom received each penny of their cash’s value out of it, even on the costs Twickenham prices for tickets. The query is whether or not, as soon as the exhilaration has worn off, the leisure can be sufficient for the rugby public to chop the group, and Steve Borthwick, some slack for the very fact they misplaced.
England had been red-hot for the primary 20 minutes after they smashed their approach right into a 15-3 lead by two bullocking tries by Chandler Cunningham-South. It got here so simply that you simply marvel if a few of the group switched off in these moments as a result of they had been stone chilly for the 40 minutes that got here proper after it, when Australia outscored them 25-3.
It was as dangerous a passage of play because the group have turned in since Borthwick took cost and it killed no matter swelling momentum they’d gathered in these opening moments. It’s an previous rule that you need to by no means give a Wallaby an excellent likelihood, and England allowed them a lot.
Borthwick stated their rhythm was disrupted by an extended break in play whereas Tom Curry was being handled for a head harm and a few head harm assessments on Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Ollie Lawrence. It didn’t assist, both, that they had been caught brief by Tate McDermott, who got here on as a blood harm alternative for Jake Gordon at scrum-half and made various telling breaks throughout his brief stint on the sector.
England pulled themselves collectively once more, at 28-18 down. They performed the massive a part of the remainder of the sport in Australia’s half, proper the place they wanted to be. Ollie Sleightholme scored an excellent double, which made it 30-28 with 12 minutes left to play.
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From then on, it was all concerning the finish recreation. The followers began booing after they noticed Borthwick was going to convey on Harry Randall and George Ford, however stopped once more after they noticed that this week Ford was changing George Furbank and Smith was shifting to full-back. Which was an enchancment. They had been rather a lot higher than they’d been towards New Zealand the week earlier.
Smith and Maro Itoje drove the group forwards and delivered extra of the management they wanted in these moments. However there have been so many errors in amongst all of it, probably the most telling of them the missed move that Ford threw into Lawrence’s again, which allowed Andrew Kellaway to interrupt away down area to attain, after which the failure to safe the restart after Smith’s final conversion, which allowed Jorgensen the prospect to attain within the nook.
England seemed, in these moments, the “younger, creating” group Borthwick described them as in his programme notes. However the fact is, they’re actually not. There’s loads of expertise on this group and so they have had greater than lengthy sufficient collectively. However on the finish of it, they’ve nothing a lot to indicate for it aside from a handful of losses in video games they most likely must have received.
England are on a run of 4 straight defeats and are staring down a match towards the world champions, South Africa, again right here on Saturday. They’re underneath heavy stress now, another loss this autumn would depart them in a determined place earlier than subsequent yr’s Six Nations, which begins with matches towards Eire and France. The toughest recreation of the yr is shaping as much as be an important, too.
