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England captain Dylan Hartley made a monumental blunder by not saluting his coach Eddie Jones after the men-in-white had whitewashed the Wallabies three-nil for the first time Down Under.
Jones took over the coaching job from Stuart Lancaster after England had been humiliated by failing to qualify for the Rugby World Cup quarters last year – the first host country to do so.
More of the wash-up from Wallabies vs England
» Five talking points from the match
» Match report: Wallabies go down in points-fest
» DIY Player Ratings
» Roar Forum: Wallabies to-do list for the Rugby Championship
» How hard does a Wallabies forward hit?
» Re-live the match with our live blog
» WATCH: The full match highlights
Since then Jones has set up an unbeaten record by winning the Six-Nations grand slam for the first time since 2003, and now he’s coached England to an historic 3-0 series win.
The nine successive wins has catapulted England from eighth in the rugby world rankings to second, and dumped the Wallabies to fourth behind South Africa.
In the process England has scored 265 points to 157, and 27 tries to 15.
They won the first Test against the Wallabies 39-28, the second 23-7, and last night, in front of a record Aliianz Stadium crowd of 44,063, England ran out 44-40 winners.
Before Wallaby fans start knifing their team, England didn’t win the first two Tests – the Wallabies gift-wrapped them with a series of unfathomable basic errors any coach would be upset with an under ten side making the same mistakes.
But last night was very different.
England played the better rugby, and even though the Wallabies scored five tries to four, England was genuinely the better side for the first time in the series.
And to the Wallabies’ credit they gave the Test their all, nothing was left in the tank.
The big difference was man-of-the-match Owen Farrell, a master goal-kicker.
Last night he accumulated 24 points by landing nine from ten attempts, and 66 points in the three Tests.
If teams like the Wallabies keep getting pinged off the paddock, they will lose thanks to Farrell’s unerring right boot.
For mine, Farrell was man-of-the-series.
So while Jones has every right to feel well-pleased with himself, impishly adding the team will celebrate with ice-cream last night, his opposite number Michael Cheika has some home truths to face.
He will need to do so before the Wallabies take on the All Blacks, Springboks, and the Pumas to defend their Rugby Championship, kicking off in August.
For starters, the Wallabies will never be at their peak without David Pocock.
And Cheika will be crossing all his fingers and toes Israel Folau will always be fit and ready to strut his incredible stuff – he is the most talented Wallaby with Pocock and Michael Hooper right behind.
Lock Adam Coleman was a find last night, he has amazing mobility and genuine rugby nous for such a big unit of 204 cms and 122 kgs.
Winger Dane Haylett-Petty is another find in attack and defence, he will be around for a long time – very impressive.
But Cheika’s main problem is the pack.
Last night the Wallabies scaled in at 919 kgs, England 907, and boasted 413 caps to 240, but England was a far superior pack.
Scrum-wise the Wallaby front row boasted 245 caps to 98, but again England was superior.
There has to be a message in those stats.
Out the back Cheika has precious little option but to stick with halfback Nick Phipps because Will Genia isn’t around.
But Phipps is quite capable of making half a dozen big blunders that could so easily cost 42 points – game, set, and match.
His pivotal partner Bernard Foley could be a 50 per cent more effective footballer if he had a halfback who gave him swift, and accurate support.
Foley can make a break, and he’s an excellent support player, but all too often the Phipps service puts him on the defensive, negating one of his strengths.
So Michel Cheika has a lot to worry about over the next two months.
But there’s one facet of the Wallabies he doesn’t have to be concerned about – their ticker.
Fighting spirit can often overcome shortcomings of which there are many.
But last night the true Wallaby spirit surfaced, and as a result the Wallabies very nearly pinched the Test.
One thing for sure, the 44,063 at Allianz really got value for their hard-earned.