Last week’s abiding rugby image was of a smiling Kurtley Beale, clad only in his budgie smugglers, standing next to Prince William. Seven days on, it was a story of canary yellow and pursed lips. Australia and Beale had their moments, but the loss of two key players to the sin-bin and some desperately tight refereeing calls ultimately denied the visitors another victory party.
Had they kept 15 men on the field throughout, who knows? While England looked far more lively, particularly after Maro Itoje’s introduction, they were up against opponents who, on a drier day, would have been even more of a handful. Michael Cheika, now beaten by his old adversary Eddie Jones in five straight shootouts, can only move on to Scotland, lamenting what might have been.
Then again, one of the men sent to the sin-bin, the Wallabies captain, Michael Hooper, could hardly claim to be a total innocent. When he was dispatched for 10 in the 33rd minute, after a desperate spell of rearguard defence, he became the player with the most yellow cards in Tests, with eight. When Beale followed him to the sidelines for what was deemed to be a deliberate knock-on, the case for a quick blast of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ at half-time was overwhelming.
Given the sad death, at 64, of Malcolm Young, the founding member of AC/DC, the DJ was certainly more spoilt for choice than the Wallabies defensive organisers. It was a tribute to the visitors’ resilience and a reflection on England’s average game management that they had conceded no further points by the time they were restored to a full deck.
In the end, though, they could not escape the clutches of Jones, the New Zealand referee, Ben O’Keefe, or the Irish TMO, Simon McDowell.
Twickenham is growing accustomed to Australian coaches swearing on camera and Cheika was turning the November air blue long before half-time. The Wallabies coach felt Hooper’s disallowed first-half try should have stood on the basis that Marika Koroibete was behind the kicker and the supporting Hooper had made a modicum of effort to stop and get back onside, if not fully retreat.
Conclusive proof that this was not to be Australia’s day duly arrived in the 54th minute. Had Tevita Kuridrani held on to Samu Kerevi’s offload, the big outside centre could have been under the posts. Instead, thanks to the most hairline of touchline calls, the same breathless passage of play concluded with Elliot Daly scoring up the other end. By the time Koroibete was crucially adjudged to have been held up over England’s line in the final quarter, Cheika had his head in his hands.
At least it will be a day Blake Enever will never forget. The 26-year-old, from the Sunshine Coast, was picked for the tour on the back of his form for Canberra Vikings in the domestic NRC competition and his selection in the second row, in place of the injured Adam Coleman, qualified him as the latest in a distinguished line of genuine Australian bolters.
He tried his heart out, but Itoje and Joe Launchbury were clearly the most effective back-five forwards on view. At least Australia can welcome back David Pocock and Israel Folau, among others, next year but, for now, their dreams of overhauling England as the world’s No2-ranked side are still on hold.
