England head coach Steve Borthwick has criticised the volume of mistakes made by his team after letting another victory slip through their grasp with a 42-37 defeat against Australia at the Allianz Stadium.
Borthwick’s side saw a 12-point advantage midway through the first-half turn into a 10-point deficit with little over 20 minutes remaining, then moved back ahead before squandering the lead twice over the closing minutes.
England were closing in on a narrow victory until Max Jorgensen’s last-gasp try ended Australia’s three-match losing streak and gave the hosts another heart-breaking defeat, a week on from losing 24-22 to New Zealand.
“It’s tremendously disappointing and gutting,” Borthwick told TNT. “When you make that number of errors, seven handling errors and I think there were 20 turnovers [sic: 19] in total, you give the opportunity to the opposition to run in space and score tries and they did.
“I don’t think we gave our defence the opportunity to be in the right position to go. If you give them the opportunity of turning balls over and the game gets that loose, it is very difficult to get your defence set.
“There were a number of times where tries were scored too quickly off the back of a turnover ball or a loose ball and we have to be better than that and not put ourselves in that position.”
Chandler Cunningham-South’s (left) early double helped England make a dream start against Australia
It was the fourth match in a row and fifth time in six that England have failed to convert a lead late in the game, with Borthwick’s side now taking on world champions South Africa next week off the back of six defeats in ten Tests in 2024.
“I think in terms of the mindset we are trying to develop, it is that the players go out and attack the opposition and I think you are seeing the team do that and seeing the team want to move the ball,” Borthwick added.
“England recently haven’t always had that mindset. On the flip side, you see the consequences of it, and they turn over the ball. These guys were good, they had the pace, and they had the power and they took their chances very well.”
George: England cannot keep losing like this
England scored two tries in the first 12 minutes through Chandler Cunningham-South and rallied in the second half from going 28-18 down, with replacement back Ollie Sleightholme adding two tries and Maro Itoje scoring late, leaving captain Jamie George disappointed not to close out victory.
England’s Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries in less than 10 minutes during the second half
“I think the blueprint of how we wanted to play was in the first 20 minutes,” George told TNT Sports. “We put Australia under a lot of pressure. Sometimes in a Test match like that you think the job is done.
“We took our foot off the gas. You have to give credit to Australia, they were very good tonight, but we cannot keep doing that and it will be a tough one to watch back.
“It is a fine balance between closing up shop and trying to see out the win rather than attacking. We talk about being brave and courageous and that [Maro Itoje] try at the end was exactly that we wanted to do.
“We will work very hard at looking at where we went wrong and how we can get better. The system and the principle all works. We know it works but we didn’t quite get what we wanted out if it. Tonight, it was the collisions. Leaking 42 points at home is unacceptable.”
England have never scored so many points and lost at Twickenham, while it’s just their second defeat in 12 matches against the Wallabies. It’s Australia’s first victory over England on UK soil since the 2015 World Cup.
What’s next?
England will look to return to winning ways and claim their first win of the autumn on November 16 when they face world champions South Africa at the Allianz Stadium (5.40pm), while Australia face Wales at the Principality Stadium on November 17 (4.10pm).