Sun 12 Jun 2016 | 03:33
England start series on a high with first ever win over Wallabies in Brisbane

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England avenged their Rugby World Cup 2015 loss with an impressive 39-28 first Test win at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday. The Wallabies led early but England came back strongly and with the boot of Owen Farrell claiming 24 points, they claimed the ascendancy in the series.

Late in the game the Wallabies had an outside chance to sneak a win after having opted to take the points rather than attempt to score a converted try, which would have drawn things level.

Bernard Foley slotted the kick, but after a few phases of attack, the hosts were turned over and England showed great character to keep the ball in play, resulting in a special try of their own.

"They played well, put us under a bit of pressure at the breakdown I thought and that’s important at this level," said Australian skipper Stephen Moore. 

"We need to tidy that up a bit but we’ve got two more games left in the series and we’ll get back to work and look forward to Melbourne. It’s disappointing from our perspective tonight, but England played well and deserved the win."

To compound things for the Wallabies, star flanker David Pocock has been ruled out of the rest of the series following a knock he took to the face. He initially went off for treatment due to blood, but it has since revealed that he has a fractured eye socket.

England's star flanker James Haskell, who was named Man of the Match, has said that coach Eddie Jones has made a massive difference to the way they operate, particularly how he deals with the players.

"Eddie treats the boys very fairly and understands that in professional sport you have to talk to people in different ways. He knows how to get the best out of people and knows that some people need the carrot and others the stick. I’m more of a carrot man."

England can seal a historic series win if they come out on top in Melbourne this coming Saturday.

NOTE: If these highlights don't play for you, you can view them here

10 Comments

  • stroudos
    10:33 AM 15/06/2016

    I was going to do it anyway for a laugh, but will never get round to it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIGZXHIwQ4w

  • drg
    2:26 PM 14/06/2016

    Don't worry haha, I was taking the piss... I doubt I'd get round to watching the game anyway...

    I'll just continue to talk as if I saw it all from the expert analysis box...

  • stroudos
    7:52 AM 14/06/2016

    You mean like on pornhub? ;)
    At least, I've heard they do something like that, apparently. A friend of a friend told me.

    Anyway, I'll have a go at time-stamping this game for you when I get the chance, will be a pleasure.

    Having said that, there weren't many "lowlights" to this game, it is well worth watching in its entirety if you get time.

  • danknapp
    6:52 AM 14/06/2016

    Phenomenal game, really good. The Aussies will be better next week, they looked rusty in this match. Looking forward to see how England respond next week.

  • hoot
    8:12 PM 13/06/2016

    Epic result for England, pretty sure my neighbours heard me yelling at the radio throughout. (Radio 5 commentary was decent, thought Stirling Mortlock did a good job). Loved the scrum dominance too, though it does seem like scrum decisions can be on a knife edge sometimes and that getting a bit of momentum with the referee helps. Best way to shut up the disrespectful Aussie media would be a 3-0 whitewash - come on England!

  • drg
    8:02 PM 13/06/2016

    Ah cool, can you do me a favour and sort of time stamp each of the interesting events so I can kind of skim watch it?

    I never like watching movies when I know what happens at the end... :D

  • stroudos
    7:04 PM 13/06/2016

    You can watch the full game on youtube - at the moment anyway.

  • drg
    2:07 PM 13/06/2016

    Farrell is definitely a safe 10, his kicking was very good. Ford is more creative and spicy, but there are a few things that people expect 10's to be 100% on (kicking being one of them), and Ford is not quite 100% on them, but I think the 10/12 combo with Farrell and Ford is the best option.

    Farrells defence was pretty poor for that second Aus try. As for the rest, I missed it - along with the match itself.

  • stroudos
    11:38 AM 13/06/2016

    Bloody brilliant wasn't it.

    Haskell was indeed immense, he's really performing well under Eddie Jones.

    Itoje just seems more awesome every time I see him play. And what a motivator too. I love those scenes where England have won a turnover and Big Maro's in there, slapping backs, clapping and screaming like a man possessed.

    Farrell was also excellent throughout. I think he is probably England's best 10, although Ford does offer a level of creativity that he perhaps doesn't. More the point though, in my opinion Farrell is England's best inside centre! I know nothing about Ben Te'o, but I don't think we need any more experimenting here. Farrell is tough enough but offers so much more on top of that, not least balls of steel with the kicking tee.

    Burrell did some good stuff in his half hour and maybe this exact format will continue to work. Use a Burrell for 30 minutes to smash it up and bust a few holes, then switch to Ford-Farrell. As an aside, I thought Burrell got a bit lucky with that obstruction call - more importantly I didn't like him stopping playing and waving his arms about when he could have been sprinting back to help Browny, who was badly caught out on that play.

    And speaking of Brown, I thought he was quite right to shove that Nathan Grey, Oz defence coach trying to get in his way fielding a touchfinder. That prick should be banned from the touchline.

  • jimmy23
    6:32 PM 12/06/2016

    What a game that was! Judging from the first 15 minutes I thought we were going to get smoked, but we finally showed some mental fortitude that has been missing for a long time to work our way back into it.

    I feel bad for Burrell being taken off, but you can't argue against it's effect on England's game. I'm starting to think that this 10-12 axis of Ford and Farrell is actually paying off quite nicely, would be interesting to see how Ben Te'o does though. Haskell was an absolute beast and if he can keep playing like that, I don't see why he can't keep his place in the team.

    Australia will only improve so hopefully we can as well, our defence out wide was a bit suspect and they looked dangerous just about every time they swung it out there. Or gave it to that freak Folau.

    Roll on Test 2, is it weird that I'm actually feeling confident in England? It feels weird.