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England and the right boot of Owen Farrell have opened the Australian tour with an 11-point win over the Wallabies inside Suncorp Stadium.
The Red Roses got home in the end, grinding to a 39-28 scoreline, despite Australia outscoring them four tries to three.
England fly half Owen Farrell slotted six penalty goals and three conversions to end the night with 9 from 10 in front of goal, stamping his authority on the game as the difference maker while his opposite number, Bernard Foley, struggled with the boot.
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» Watch the full highlights
The Wallabies shot out of the gate in the opening stages of the game, running riot over an England defence that struggled to find their feet.
Tries to Michael Hooper and Israel Folau got the home crowd on their feet in the first 16 minutes as the Wallabies took the early 10-nil lead.
Their joy would only go downhill from there though, as England began to find the run of play and grind their way back into the game.
The visitors continued to battle against the rolling Wallabies attack, however, they leaped over the hurdles that continued to impede the Australians, seizing their opportunities up the other end to chip away at the lead with penalty goal after penalty goal.
The game would take its hardest turn against the home side before half time, gifting Johnathan Joseph a five pointer after some slippery ball handling errors at the back handed England the lead.
Australia were playing catch up for the rest of the game from that point, but the penalty count, handling errors, and lack of execution at the line out continued to drag them down.
The scrums were a mess all night, with just one in the whole game ending in clean ball out, the rest descending into a rhythm of resets and penalties.
A brace in the second half for Michael Hooper, as well as a Kuridrani try in the final ten minutes gave the Wallabies a sniff at the win, but it was a controversial decision to go for goal in the dying minutes that backfired in the end.
With three minutes on the clock and trailing by one converted try, Bernard Foley decided to take the three points instead of going for the try to equalise.
A final five pointer on fulltime rubbed salt in the wound for the Australians, but it was deserving for an England side that ground their way to a hard fought, and ultimately, well deserved victory.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.