For decades England have flown back from summer tours to the southern hemisphere cursing the entirely predictable outcome. Not this time, not this team. For the first time in rugby union history a group of English players have won a major series down under and a permanent place in red-rose folklore now awaits every single member of Eddie Jones’s squad.
Considering the mood within English rugby last October it is a staggering reversal of fortunes, if that is a legitimate phrase for the expertly orchestrated job carried out by Jones since he took over as head coach. Even in his moment of triumph, typically, the Australian was already looking for extra gratification in the shape of a 3-0 series whitewash. If that were to happen, his home nation’s worst nightmare really will have materialised.
In this instance the Wallabies were scuppered by an heroic English defensive effort, with the post-match counts crediting the visitors with making over 200 tackles, three times as many as their opponents. Chris Robshaw, James Haskell, the Vunipola brothers, Dan Cole and the captain, Dylan Hartley, were almost insanely committed, with Maro Itoje once again underlining his status as a world-class talent in the making.
Behind the scrum Owen Farrell and George Ford were also central to the plot once more, with the rock-solid Farrell also adding a 74th-minute try to his growing stack of successful kicks. No previous June tour by England has ever yielded a series victory over Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, while Jones’s side will also now rise to second place in the World Rugby rankings with only the world champions New Zealand ahead of them.
For someone like Robshaw, who was winning his 50th cap, the final whistle must have felt particularly surreal. Before this series his last glimpse of Wallaby gold was at Twickenham last October when the Wallabies trounced England to knock the hosts out of their own World Cup. As he and his team-mates performed a weary lap of honour around the stadium, an eighth straight victory under Jones safely in the bag along with a Six Nations grand slam, it was hard to imagine a more fitting choice as man of the match.
It also says much for Hartley, his successor as captain, that his bristling England are almost unrecognisable from the squad who underperformed so publicly last autumn. While the Wallabies enjoyed an overwhelming advantage in terms of territory and possession, they encountered a far steelier defensive screen than had been the case in the first Test in Brisbane. In the buildup to the game England’s assistant coach Paul Gustard had used stirring poetry to inspire his charges to another level and challenge them to achieve something special. Whenever they recall a line from The Guy in the Glass by Dale Wimbrow in years to come they will think of Melbourne and perhaps the most stirring collective defensive effort since England upset the All Blacks in Wellington in 2003.
That was a similarly rugged game on a greasy surface, although the pitch in this case was in significantly worse shape. It cut up badly from an early stage, with a small battalion of groundsmen having to replace large sandy divots following the majority of scrums. The shifting surface was patently unfit for a top-quality game of international rugby union, let alone an occasion of this magnitude.
England, though, were not going to allow anything to distract them from their overriding objective. A 12th-minute bust-up involving several players from both sides reflected the intensity of the contest and the physicality levels on both sides were colossal throughout. Prior to the match England had made no secret of their desire to strike hard in the first 20 minutes and they duly took the lead with a rolling maul try finished by Hartley and converted by Farrell. A Farrell penalty extended that advantage to 10-0 before the Wallabies hit back with a close-range driven try of their own from their captain Stephen Moore.
While England still went in ahead at half-time they made life significantly more difficult for themselves when Billy Vunipola kicked the ball out before the hooter had sounded, allowing Australia the chance to relaunch a further wave of attacks. Twenty-one phases later the visiting line remained intact but, with emotions still running high, there was pushing and shoving in the tunnel as the players left the field.
At one stage it also looked as if the Australian flanker Michael Hooper had thrown a handful of sand at a couple of English players, although a subsequent side-angle television replay confirmed there was no malice in it. The home supporters were growing restive, however, booing loudly as Farrell lined up a penalty attempt to extend the visitors’ lead.The fly-half slotted it anyway to set the scene for a positively brutal last half hour.
England spent large chunks of it on the defensive, showing enormous levels of courage to keep the fired-up Wallabies at bay. If they were helped by the hosts’ decision to spurn at least two kickable penalties, a couple of marginal refereeing calls and some suspect Australian handling, there was no disputing Farrell’s late try, following a kick ahead from the replacement hooker Jamie George.
The stark contrast in moods between the rival coaches, Jones and his old Randwick mate Michael Cheika, after the final whistle pretty much said it all. The last time Australia lost the opening two Tests of a three-match series at home was against South Africa in 1971. Just eight months ago, furthermore, they were contesting the World Cup final. Such is England’s rising self-belief, though, that a third straight reverse in Sydney next Saturday would not be a massive shock.
Australia Folau; Haylett-Petty (Morahan 70), Kuridrani, Kerevi (Leali’ifano 60), Horne; Foley, Phipps (Frisby 70); Slipper (Smith 46), Moore (capt; Polota-Nau 55), Kepu (Holmes 46) Carter (Mumm 50), Arnold, Fardy, Hooper, McMahon (McCalman 50).
Try Moore Con Foley.
England Brown; Watson (Daly 77), Joseph, Farrell, Nowell; Ford, Youngs (Care 65); M Vunipola (Mullan 65) Hartley (capt; George 72), Cole (Hill 65), Kruis (Lawes 56), Itoje , Robshaw (Launchbury 72), Haskell (Clifford 72), B Vunipola.
Tries Hartley, Farrell Cons Farrell 2 Pens Farrell 3.
Referee Craig Joubert (SA) Attendance 29,871 Match rating 8/10
