On a grey old day in south-west London few anticipated great splashes of gold and green being daubed on a distinctly monochrome canvas. Australia will forever remember this gloriously seesawing game of rugby, finally settled by a try with the clock in the red from the young replacement wing Max Jorgensen after England thought they had spectacularly overhauled a 10 point second half deficit.
It was a mad finish to an extraordinary game which seemed to have been clinched by a 79th minute converted try by Maro Itoje. While England were also indebted to two tries apiece for Chandler Cunningham-South and Ollie Sleightholme, this was Australia’s first win on the old cabbage patch since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
On this evidence next year’s British & Irish Lions tour may also be a closer contest than some anticipate. The new Wallaby bolter from rugby league, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, looks a rare prospect already and will be even better once he has had more time to adjust to his surroundings. The skipper Harry Wilson led by energetic example and the fly-half Noah Lolesio kicked almost everything.
What a triumph it was, too, for Joe Schmidt who had loaded his bench and duly saw his strategy pay dividends. It was certainly a far cry from the Wallaby implosion at last year’s World Cup under a certain other high-profile coach. Maybe appointing a wily Kiwi coach to revitalise Australia was not such a bad decision after all.
Steve Borthwick’s England, though, are now in a heap of trouble. The world champions, South Africa, are bearing down on them like a menacing juggernaut and the optimism of the summer tour has drained entirely away. It was a particularly tough result for Marcus Smith who had a hand or foot in the first four of England’s tries but his side proved unable to sidestep a sixth defeat in their last eight games.
This was quite some contest, either way. Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel is out this week but for no-holds-barred action there is still nowhere quite like an international rugby stadium on a big match day. Though, at some point, the Rugby Football Union will hopefully see fit to give visiting anthems more respect rather than playing a muted version over the public address before asking a professional singer to belt out God Save the King.
There was nothing wrong with England’s opening salvo, however, once the formalities were done. With barely four minutes gone Cunningham-South was diving over for his first try in the right corner, Smith’s initial little chip over the top having scattered the Wallaby defensive line.
The sense that Australia might be in for a testing afternoon only increased when Cunningham-South barged over for his second score inside 13 minutes, with Smith’s knifing break the catalyst on this occasion. England really do have some talented players as and when they free them up to do what they do best.
A further Smith penalty extended the margin to 15-3 at the end of the first quarter but the momentum of the game screeched to a grinding halt when Tom Curry was knocked out in the act of tackling big Rob Valetini and was forced to leave the field prematurely. It was another heavy blow for the Sale flanker who will now also be unable to feature against South Africa next Saturday.
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Australia, on the other hand, were re-energised and struck back almost immediately, a lovely onward flick from Suaalii giving Tom Wright oodles of time and space to finish. Lolesio slid over a super touchline conversion and, against the odds, the visitors were briefly back within five points.
Suaalii, though, is still learning aspects of his union trade and a spot of unnecessary misadventure in his own 22 led to a knock-on and a scrum penalty for England which Smith duly punished. Australia, though, were still buzzing around as persistently as outback flies in attack and a darting Tate McDermott, on for a bloodied Jake Gordon, put his captain, Wilson, over for a well-taken score.
The crowd went even quieter when Australia came storming back upfield and forced a panicked English defence to concede an offside penalty which Lolesio, once again, never looked like missing. With the scoreboard now reading 20-18 in the visitors’ favour, it was suddenly a completely different ball game.
Twenty points, in fact, turned out to be the most the Wallabies have ever scored in a first half against their old rivals in London. And they were not finished, an acrobatic finish in the left corner from lock Jeremy Williams giving them further encouragement. The hosts trailed by 10 points before Smith, the try-sniffing Sleightholme and Itoje dragged them back from the brink, only for Jorgensen to break their hearts at the death. What a game.