The Wallabies have completed their worst European tour in almost a decade after being overpowered by England 26-17 in their season-ending Test at Twickenham.
Australia fought hard in a classic two-tries-apiece encounter played in front of more than 82,031 fans on Saturday but the dominance of England’s almighty scrum proved too much to handle.
England No.8 Ben Morgan scored tries in either half, with both coming on the back of attacking scrums with the home side’s backs capitalising on their forwards’ dominance with a smart kicking game.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika had played down the significance of England’s set-piece prior to the match but it remains a serious area of concern ahead of the sides meeting in the group stage at next year’s World Cup.
Cheika, who took the job only three days before the tour, now heads into a World Cup year trying to reverse the fortunes of an Australia side which have lost six of their past seven Tests.
As in last week’s three-point defeat to Ireland, there were many positives for Australia, who were willing to run the ball from everywhere on the field with centre Matt Toomua again impressive and skipper Michael Hooper typically giving his all.
The Wallabies’ tries came through five-eighth Bernard Foley and substitute Will Skelton but the defeat means they’ve lost three Tests on a spring tour for the first time since 2005.
Australian players wore black armbands as a mark of respect following the death of Phillip Hughes, while Twickenham stood for a minute’s applause prior to kickoff to honour the late cricketer.
England led 13-3 at after an entertaining first half which featured some high-quality attacking rugby.
The Wallabies looked dangerous with the ball in hand but both sides blew early chances through poor execution.
Five-eighth George Ford, starting his second Test, put England up 6-3 with a long-range penalty after Ben McCalman’s late hit on Mike Brown as Australia came under increasing pressure up front.
The set-piece dominance led to the first try in the 28th minute after Israel Folau, who was otherwise impressive, fumbled a kick return near his own line and Morgan crashed over two phases after a charging scrum.
Australia’s persistence with running rugby paid dividends shortly after the break when Foley scored under the posts after an excellent one-two with winger Rob Horne.
It was to be Foley’s final contribution however, as he was subbed after converting his try and replaced by Quade Cooper.
Halfback Nick Phipps followed Foley off the bench soon after with Brumbies No.9 Nic White getting his first Test appearance on tour at a vital moment.
Just as Australia looked to have the momentum, their scrum woes resurfaced.
Cooper was caught in-goal and the Wallabies were powerless to stop England from five metres with Morgan crashing over for his second five-pointer.
The Wallabies hit back quickly with huge lock Skelton crashing over from close range just minutes after being subbed on.
Cheika tried to add another attacking spark in Kurtley Beale but England’s forwards stayed on top by using both brain and brawn.
JimmyB
Guest
Sorry for the tardy reply mate, but I really don't know. Unfortunately I've only seen highlights of these recent tests. I suspect that England will improve before the RWC as will Australia. I think the 6N should be a cracker this year and will leave one or two teams in good stead for the RWC.
WoobliesFan
Guest
They were ruthless back then kenny.....the speed, power, confidence, skills, smarts......those were the days
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
Struth Grapeseed, the way you started reminded me of my parish priest (I was going to suggest "prayer" but I see you've already got faith covered) to whom I have been known to say "Nah, bugger 'em, let's do (such and such). I know you are obliged to be pious but I'm allowed to stray into pragmatic and seek forgiveness later." You moved on to cover the ground well terminating at "ruthless pragmatism" which attracts me. Now, the last prominent bloke in rugby who said "I've got a plan" did indeed have a grand and profitable scheme in mind. Yours will want to be a beauty to top that one. :)
Warwick Todd
Guest
Hey Sponge if you want to dig into it the scoring rate while Foley was on was 4.5 pts/minute and 5 pts/min for Cooper. So by your standards Cooper must have been better.
steve
Guest
Trenno...what are you smoking. Yes the team will be much different. AAC will be a reserve at best. As will Beale. Toomua was one of only two shinning hopes in the back line. The other being Kuridriani. I agree with Folau and JOC on the wings. Possibly Carmichael Hunt as fullback (let's wait to see how he travels in SR) Palu has been a waste of space in the Wall jersey. Sadly, McCallum is our best. Pocock is our best flanker and should be captain. If injured, our second best is Gill. Probably Higgers on the other side. Horwell and Simmons as locks( Douglas is overseas, otherwise I would agree with Lenno). Skelton doesnt even warm the bench. Moore no 2. Slipper first choice as prop and buy a second. If the coach and his cronies think that he can compete with 60% of his current squad...he's dream'n
White
Roar Rookie
The "I don't know" was sarcasm mate. It is pretty obvious that Folau, Speight and Horne not being about to kick puts a fair amount of extra pressure on the whole team. Plus it give Foley and Toomua extra responsibility. Pretty common knowledge champ.
steve
Guest
Pathetic tour, managed by a pathetic board, coached by a pathetic spin doctor and led by a pathetic captain. Thankfully we played Wales at the start of the tour as they would also have belted us if held later. The only positive is that the Super Rugby Australian competitions will be tough and hard...esp between Tahs and Reds; & Tahs and Brumbies. Both Brumbies and Reds will feel they were hard done by regarding selections. Cheika has been a real disappointment. His selections have been poor. Both he and Hooper epitomized the current Wallaby team at the after match conference. One was unshaven and the other long haired. What happened to the pride in the jersey. For all who are now yelling at me....look at how the other countries promote their team through their leaders.
Jibba Jabba
Guest
Would that be the same Bruce Robertson from Counties ?
Schuey
Guest
Who are the 'big time ' players you speak of?. name names
Justin3
Guest
Yep, as I thought, there was one time it mattered and he cleared beyond half way. It wasnt pretty though...
ethan
Guest
The Rebels are building a lot of depth in the back 3 now. Placid and Veianu both looked excellent in NRC. Shipperly and Harris have come down from the Reds. Crawford from the Waratahs. Not to mention English and Kingston who they have already. I'd go with English, Crawford and Veianu with Placid on the bench. That would be dangerous. I'd love to see a couple of genuine FLB challengers emerge to put pressure on Izzy for the WB spot.
KENNY
Guest
Peripheral and reserve Wallabies from 97 to 2003 like Mark Connors, Matt Cockbain, Glenn Panaho, Patricio Noriega, Jim Williams, Phil Waugh , Googie Harrison, Tom Bowman, Brett Robinson, Peter Ryan, David Lyons etc etc .These blokes would stroll into this current wallaby pack and play over 100 tests easy, Career ending injuries to two very promising props Fletcher Dyson and Ben Darwin put our front row stocks back 5 years IMO .. Jeez i wish we had some hard mongrels playing now for us now... I miss those days :( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_lnd2RqcTE
formeropenside
Guest
Well, obviously Shreka did have the option of taking additional players on tour, provided they have a last name of Beale.
Train Without A Station
Guest
Horwill is injured
Rabbits
Guest
That was funny. Got me chuckling.
nipper
Guest
I was just thinking, how valuable would Longbottom be? He was probably in the stands, watching...
Danoz
Guest
II was very happy with what I say from Quade when he came on. He didnt try to much razzle dazzle and kept his head, even under immense pressure (e.g. pushed back in goal for the 5 meter scrum). I am looking forward to him in the S15 next year, in the hope he gets back to his peak performance, but with the more sensible approach that he sees to be developing in the last couple of years. Phipps and Foley have played well. Foley's range is limited, so it would be nice to find an accurate longer range kicker in the team, but its the captain that ultimately makes the decision to kick to the corners, not Foley, so I think he is copping a bit of grief from the public that he shouldnt own. Phipps though, has to fix up his erratic passing. He has seriously come a long way in a couple of years. It was only a few years ago, people didnt want him anywhere near team. He is definitely the best we have at the moment by a long way. So if he has been able to improve as much as he has, there is hope he can work on the passing. I believe part of his inaccuracy is due tot e speed he is trying to get the ball out and away. I am sure if he slowed that down a bit it would be more accurate, but then that this also what everyone is praising him on is his speed. I am not sure I have ever seen Falou do an up and under? Our only kicking approach seems to be long and never to find touch. Yet most teams are getting fairly consistent benefit from the up and under and competing for it in the air. Why do we not try this same approach. But Falous kicking in general (especially if he doesnt have time) is not very good and does need a lot more practice. A fe have commented about players (such as Falou) not putting the effort in to get back and ofer support. THis is worrying, I felt a number of players did that in this game. Slow to get back from the previous ruck, slow in chasing the kick and slow in chasing any break. Support play needs to improve. Was it this bad in all our games, or did the England game highlight this more? maybe everyone was tired? Sholdnt be an excuse though.
Danoz
Guest
Handles, see my reply to Harry above. I am not saying our scrum was great.
Danoz
Guest
Harry, I am not applauding our scrum, I am simply stating I dont think it was as bad as everyone wants to say it was. England have one the strongest scrums in the world, how many times in the last 10 years have we been dominant or held our own consistently against their scrum? Its not very often. I was merely pointing out that it appears there are improvements being made in the scrum. Unfortunately many of those improvements were not easy to recognize because of the pressure and ultimate dominance applied by the English pack. In the past, our scrum has often been dismantled in quicker time that it did in this game, as a result my comment on I thought our boys made them work hard to achieve their dominance. Frequently in the past we would have been yellow carded in the front row for collapsing etc.. I didn't hear the referee issuing warnings that another penalty would be a yellow etc.... there were no penalty tries... these have all been common themes with our scrum historically... so that is what would have happened if our scrum went bad based on past experiences.
OJP
Guest
I think you are right about the team looking different come RWC time Trenno; but I cant agree re Toomua. Honest question (ie not shit stirring) what areas do you think he is not quite up to it ? Attack, defence, kicking, tactical awareness, passing etc. Another genuine question re Hunt; I know he played Rugby (not league) as a younger man and obviously he is a great athlete; are you at all worried about his positional play at FB having been away from the game for some time and only having one SR season to get up to speed ? Time will tell on the Hunt question I guess, but interested in your thoughts if you care to share