England lay down a marker against Australia

England got their tour of Australia off to a flying start by beating the Wallabies in Brisbane by a record score of 28-39.

The victory is England’s first ever in Brisbane and is their biggest on Australian soil as it surpasses the 25 points they scored in June 2003 before going on to win the World Cup in November that year.

England were outscored by four tries to three in the match but they have now won 8 matches in a row (Maro Itoje 24 matches) and seven under Eddie Jones.

Prior to this match England had only ever won three Tests on Australian soil (two in 2003 and one in 2010) and Brisbane was the venue for Australia’s historic 76-0 victory over England in 1998.

“I think we showed real grit, we had a specific plan with which we thought we could beat Australia,” said Eddie Jones after the match.

Australia made a powerful start to the match by scoring two tries to lead 10-0 before England hit back with 16 unanswered points to lead 10-16 and from there they didn’t look back.

England flyhalf Owen Farrell scored 24 of his team’s 39 points and the others came from tries score by Jonathan Joseph, Marland Yarde and Jack Nowell.

Farrell kicked six penalties and three conversions in a near-faultless display in front of 48,700 fans at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

England, who led 13-29 midway through the second half, almost let the match slip as Australia came storming back to get within four points at 28-32.

But they held firm and when replacement winger Jack Nowell crossed in the 80th minute, the visitors were able to celebrate taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series for the Cook Cup.

A win looked far from likely after Australia launched a ferocious attack in the opening few minutes, resulting in tries to flanker Michael Hooper and fullback Israel Folau.

England could barely get their hands on the ball and found themselves 10-0 down after only 10 minutes of play.

But the English finally got some possession midway through the half and were able to tighten the play up and string some phases together.

They were rewarded for their effort when the Wallabies were penalised right in front and Farrell kicked a simple penalty.

He got his second minutes later to make it 10-6, but were lucky not to go further behind from the kick-off when Foley sprinted 40 metres to score in the corner.

However, after asking for a replay, referee Romain Poite ruled that Rory Arnold had obstructed Luther Burrell in the lead-up and penalised the home side.

England kicked deep and when the Wallabies infringed again at the breakdown, Farrell added the three points to get to within a point of the Wallabies.

The English were right back in the contest and they hit the lead after Folau threw a poor pass to nobody inside his 22.

Jonathan Joseph toed ahead and when Tevita Kuridrani couldn’t collect, Joseph gathered the ball to cross out wide. Farrell converted to make it 16-10.

Foley closed the gap with a penalty but Farrell kicked his fourth right on halftime to send the visitors into the break six points clear.

They started the second half as they finished the first, full of running against a flustered home side.

They were rewarded when Marland Yarde scored following a superb break up the middle from flanker James Haskell and a long floating pass to the right winger from replacement flyhalf George Ford. Farrell’s conversion made it 26-13 five minutes after the restart.

The English pack were dominating and Australia were rocked when front-rower Scott Sio, who was under enormous pressure from Dan Cole in the scrum, was yellow carded for persistently bringing the scrum down.

A fifth Farrell penalty made it 29-13 but the Wallabies hit back when they finally got some quick ball and some slick backline work saw Hooper cross in the corner for his second to close the gap to 11 points.

Farrell opened the gap with his sixth penalty and a first win seemed certain as the visitors led 18-32.

However, with nine minutes to go the Wallabies were in again when Kuridrani barged over. Foley’s conversion made it 25-32 to England.

A Foley penalty closed the gap to 28-32 but England held firm for a famous victory.

Next week Australia have the chance to make amends as the teams meet for the second test of three this month in Melbourne.

England flanker James Haskell was named man of the match.

Final Score Australia 28 (13) England 39 (19)

Scorers

Australia
Tries – M.Hooper 2, I.Folau, T.Kuridrani
Pen – B.Foley 2
Con – B.Foley
Drop –
Cards – S.Sio (53rd min yellow)

England
Tries – J.Joseph, M.Yarde, J.Nowell
Pen – O.Farrell 6
Con – O.Farrell 3
Drop –
Cards –

Match Officials
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Ref 1:Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Ref 2:Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO : Ben O’Keefe

Teams

Australia

15. Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.

Replacements :16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 James Horwill, 20 Dean Mumm, 21 Sean McMahon, 22 Nick Frisby, 23 Christian Leali’ifano.

England

15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola.

Replacements : 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Jack Nowell.