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Will Genia and Ben Mowen will not have slept well in London last night after gift-wrapping England a 20-13 victory at Twickenham.
For the Wallabies to bomb their potential Grand Slam tour in the first 80 minutes was a crushing blow after leading 13-6 at the break, playing some positive rugby.
But an eight-minute spell early in the second half was game, set, and match.
Genia tried a poorly judged box-kick on his own line that was charged down, and all England captain Chris Robshaw had to do was fall over the line for his first international try.
Eight minutes later Mowen drifted wide in defence as England’s fly-half Owen Farrell feined to pass and with Stephen Moore impeded inside him, Farrell had a hole in front of him as wide as the Sydney Heads to stroll over.
Farrell converted both tries, but that 14-point gift sunk the Wallabies.
And to compound the loss, Scott Fardy was knocked senseless and carted off, his tour in jeopardy.
The good points for the Wallabies.
Israel Folau must get more ball. How often must we say it, and how often will it be ignored?
He is capable of doing anything in full flight, as he proved again last night.
Twice he was centimetres away from being in the clear, only to be cut down by desperate defence.
But every time he had possession, it looked as though something was going to happen.
More ball, and sooner, will reap rich rewards.
And the same can be said for Tevita Kuridrani. Like Folau, he’s big and bustling, but all too often the ball and the defence arrive together.
The problem is Will Genia. While he was better in delivery speed last night, he’s still a long way shy of what we know he can do.
As for that box kick, leave it in the shed. Genia must concentrate on working his forwards harder and more diligently, and giving Quade Cooper more space.
Cooper didn’t do anything wrong, but he didn’t do too much right either apart from a long cut-out pass that found a flying Folau. Let’s have more of that.
And the wingers Adam Ashley-Cooper and Nick Cummins would relish linking more with Folau as well.
The pack could well be described like Cooper, doing little wrong, but little right as well.
Take out the Mowen defence lapse, he did everything else right in the tight and the loose, bringing off some heavy tackles and winning lineout ball.
But the biggest disappointment was Michael Hooper, who had an unusually quiet game which had the Wallabies on the back foot.
The rest of the pack shared some highlights, but not enough to win.
Depending on how Fardy recovers, Liam Gill must now come into calculations for Italy next weekend.
And Ben Alexander must also come under scrutiny, with Benn Robinson still a benchman. Switching James Slipper is a genuine option.
The stats?
The Wallabies had 55 percent possession, and less turnovers than England (12-9), while England made 104 tackles to 93.
On those stats the Wallabies should have made more impact on the home side, but they didn’t have the second-half passion, and the the Genia-Mowen mistakes proved very very costly.
Referee George Clancy?
He didn’t make any difference to the result, but he sure made a huge difference to the game as a spectacle.
If the IRB wants to kill off two teams prepared to run the ball and provide entertainment, appoint George Clancy – he’s an entertainment killer.
And find some touchies who know what’s going on. The easiest job in rugby is a touch judge, why do so many make it look so hard?
So well done England, by far the better side on the night, especially in the second half with man-of-the-match full-back Mike Brown a dangerman every time he touched the ball.
Damn shame though that England had to stuff up a Grand Slam potential so early on the tour.