Match Report – England 45 – 22 Australia

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Steve Borthwick praises ‘excellent’ Henry Pollock after a standout performance on the wing for England against Australia

Henry Pollock impressed out of position as Steve Borthwick’s England claimed a much-needed, morale-boosting 45-22 victory over Australia in the Nations Championship at Allianz Stadium.

In a week when Borthwick came under intense scrutiny following newspaper reports of a summer rift with his England squad – claims denied by Jamie George to Sky Sports – England responded with a seven-try performance and record point haul against Australia.

Hooker George, back-row Ollie Chessum, tighthead Joe Heyes and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet all crossed, while replacements Henry Pollock (twice) and Ben Spencer also got on the scoresheet.

Pollock, ordinarily a back-row forward, replaced the stricken Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (ankle) at half-time, featuring on the wing for 40 minutes and hardly looking out of place.

Fin Smith added five conversions and ran England’s attack well from fly-half, while Australia scored via wings Max Jorgensen and Filipo Daugunu, and back-row Jeremy Williams, but struggled for parity in terms of the power stakes.

The Wallabies also suffered a costly blow when loosehead prop Angus Bell was sin-binned in the first half, becoming the first player penalised for a hip-drop tackle since World Rugby outlawed it this month.

England looked to have scored less than two minutes in when Feyi-Waboso scorched through, but the TMO soon showed replays of a forward pass from Ben Curry to Chessum earlier in the move to chalk off the score.

The sensational Immanuel Feyi-Waboso thought he’d scored in the second minute, but the try was chalked off for an earlier knock-on

England kept up their early intensity, producing a choke-tackle maul turnover and attacking off the consequent midfield scrum with Feyi-Waboso central again, but that good work was undone by lock Alex Coles when he flew off his feet at a breakdown in the Wallabies’ 22 to give away a penalty.

The hosts were soon back into the 22 when Australia coughed up a soft obstruction penalty under a high ball – Smith producing a fine kick into the corner – and from the subsequent maul, George was on hand to touch down.

Smith hit the post with the conversion, and soon Australia were onto the scoreboard via the boot of Ryan Lonergan, who split the uprights with a penalty after the England backline were caught offside off a lineout.

Ryan Lonergan kicked Australia’s first points of the contest with a penalty

Superb work from Maro Itoje in the Australia 22 to charge down Lonergan then forced a knock-on, earning England a scrum to attack off within the Australia 22, but Heyes was penalised for an early push to see the chance blown.

Errors continued to flow from the hosts as Feyi-Waboso spilled possession on the run in the 22, George was pinged for crooked throw and a scrum penalty was shipped too.

Mistakes then proved contagious when Australia hooker Billy Pollard was pinged for a crooked throw himself in the England half, rendering the contest firmly top-start.

Feyi-Waboso soon displayed his pace and dynamism again at the end of a nice backline move, but England lost the ball again in the 22.

Yet, Australia just couldn’t handle Feyi-Waboso and the pressure finally told as the wing made a burst down the opposite wing, and once England chipped the ball wide, Chessum was too powerful for Jorgensen to score.

Ollie Chessum powered over in the corner for England’s second try after more good work from Feyi-Waboso

Smith converted well for a 12-3 lead, before Itoje executed a strip for another chance – despite a couple of forward passes being missed – but a George Furbank neck-roll in the 22 saw the Wallabies clear.

Australia were then reduced to 14, however, as the TMO showed images of a Bell hip-drop tackle on Feyi-Waboso.

Henry Slade kicked to corner, and the maul did the trick again as Heyes wrestled the ball out and dived over for England’s third of the half.

Joe Heyes scored England’s third try as a rolling maul did damage again

Two minutes before half-time, Tommy Freeman should have scored England’s fourth but knocked on a bouncing ball in-goal after winning the chase.

Instead, the visitors notched a try out of nothing in the final minute before half-time; Jorgenson intercepting a telegraphed Van Poortvliet pass near halfway and showing his pace to sprint over.

Wing Max Jorgensen scored an intercept try before half-time, but the Wallabies were firmly second best

That left the half-time deficit a nine-point one, but just before Bell was due to re-emerge from his sin-bin period, England scored their fourth three minutes into the second half: Pollock carrying brilliantly down the left to start things, and Freeman doing fabulous work down the right before finding Van Poorvliet with a long pass.

Australia threatened a try back in response when centre Isaac Henry cut through England and broke to near the 22, but the Wallabies were pinged for sealing off.

Henry then made a big error in skewing a kick out on the full as the Wallabies sought to attack from deep, and England did not let up until they had a fifth try as Pollock finished out wide after Australia had been pushed back in tight carries near the try-line.

Pollock finished out wide for England’s fifth try, taking the Test firmly away from Australia

Within two minutes, Pollock was celebrating again, as another rapid backline attack well-orchestrated by Smith saw the makeshift wing finish with swagger down the right.

Pollock made it two tries in as many minutes with his second and England’s sixth

Past the hour mark, the Wallabies did score again as Daugunu finished a flowing move in the left corner, but it went unconverted when Lonergan couldn’t land the tough kick.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii passed up a certain try when he shipped the ball to Jorgensen instead of finishing, but Australia scored from the resulting England lineout in any case – the hosts sloppy near their own try-line and Williams finishing.

England soon forgot about that mistake, though, as Spencer intercepted a Daugunu offload to race into the corner and round off a big victory.

Replacement scrum-half Ben Spencer rounded off the scoring down the right wing

Pollock: Coaches wouldn’t put me on wing if they didn’t think I could do it

“The biggest thing is the rugby stuff. Pleasure and privilege. For me, the biggest thing is going out there and showcasing myself and the growth of this team throughout the summer and into the autumn.

“I love playing for this team, I love playing back at home. We spoke about being back at home and creating some energy around that.

“The coaches wouldn’t put me on the wing if they knew I couldn’t do anything there, so the big thing for me is going out there and being as confident as I can.

“If I mess up, I’m playing a new position, I’m going to make some new learnings from it. If there’s any young kids out there, playing new positions, just take each step as it comes.

“I made a few mistakes today, but the boys outside me, like Slade in the corner, backed me up. That just made my job so much easier.

“I disagree with that (versatility potentially working agasint him), versatility is a massive thing. Today, my role was coming on in the second half and being a winger. I trust the coaches and the team, whatever they need to do for that.

“It showed in that last 30-40 minutes, the bench came on and did their thing. That shows where we’re at as a squad.”

George ‘proud’ of team-mates after tough week

England’s Jamie George told ITV Sport:

“I wonder where that’s come from? (big try celebration)

“It’s (newspaper reports) been a distraction. I’m so unbelievably proud of how the team looked after each other, stepped up for each other, and we are a tight team regardless.

“As I said, it probably brought us even tighter and being back at Allianz Stadium is just unbelievable.”

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Maro Itoje gives a passionate defence of Steve Borthwick after England’s defeat of Australia at Twickenham

Itoje ‘over the moon’ on England return

England captain Maro Itoje said to ITV Sport:

“I am over the moon. This week has been great, great for me personally to be back in camp.

“I think we’re starting to show what we can do, we’ve got a very talented team, and it’s now time for us to put it all together.

“Sometimes when you have time away from the team, as I did in the summer, it makes you appreciate what playing for England is all about.

“When I stood out there for the National Anthems, it gave me goosebumps. These are the games I want to be a part of.”

Maro Itoje returned for England for the first time since the Six Nations in March

Wilson: We can’t be waiting until last 15 minutes to start playing

Australia captain Harry Wilson told ITV Sport:

“England put us under the pump, we didn’t get too much ball in the first-half. We didn’t get too many A-zone entries and England were the better team today.

“They fronted up physically, put us under the pump. Our defence wasn’t physical enough in slowing the ball down.

“I feel like we were playing from behind there, so, credit to England.

“A lot of our issues might be mindset. We’ve got seven days to take some feedback from this game and make sure we’re a lot better.

Australia captain Harry Wilson cut a downbeat figure at full-time

“I know Scotland are a really good team, and we have to be ready for it, and we have to be ready for these harsh lessons.

“We know when we hold the ball for long phases and play our style of footy, we can cut teams up. But we can’t be waiting for the last 15 minutes to do it.”

What’s next?

For England, they next face Japan in their second Nations Championship Test of the autumn at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday November 14 (4.40pm kick-off).

Australia travel to face Scotland at Murrayfield for their next Test, on Sunday November 15 (3.10pm kick-off).