Luck was not a commodity England enjoyed in the Stuart Lancaster era when key decisions tended to go against them and 50-50 calls in the final minutes of a close game invariably backfired, but that has changed under Eddie Jones. That is not to put their run of 21 victories in 22 matches under the Australian down to a change in fortune alone, but every successful team has it loaded in their arsenal.
There were 11 minutes to go here when Australia, who were 13-6 down despite controlling the match for long periods through their greater carrying power – without showing the composure or control needed in wet conditions – thought they had scored a try close to the posts through their wing Marika Koroibete, a hulk with gas.
They had had a try ruled out on review in the first half for offside and were behind after Elliot Daly’s try following his kick ahead on 55 minutes was allowed after the officials spent four minutes looking at the ball rolling parallel with the touchline as the Australia full-back Kurtley Beale tried to usher it out of play, before ruling that while part of it had at one point been over the line, it had never touched it – while the yellow card shown to Beale at the end of the first half for a deliberate knock-on was contentious.
All the big calls went England’s way in their record victory over Australia. The call on Daly’s try was fair but Beale’s yellow card was harsh because as he put his right hand out to intercept a pass from Jonny May, he was not so much denying England an opportunity as looking to score with the line ahead of him. The referee, Ben O’Keeffe, judged that he was not attempting to catch the ball by going for it with one hand and, while on a day when two hands were not enough for many players with a number of passes dropped in the wet, the previous week the England No8 Nathan Hughes had scored a try after reaching out for a pass with his right hand and, after a juggle, taking hold of it.
On the decision to deny Michael Hooper a try after Tevita Kuridrani’s kick to the line had been hacked on by Koroibete, who should have scored himself, Hooper was offside initially, but was behind Koroibete when he picked up and slithered over. The referee reviewed the move, but only up to the point Kuridrani kicked when Hooper was clearly offside. The law says that an offside player must not move towards opponents playing the ball or the opposition line, which he did, although cutting his speed, thinking he had played himself onside only to find the law was asinine.
O’Keeffe, a 28-year-old New Zealander who overcame a period in the first half when appearing to be losing control, initially asked the TV match official “try or no try” after Koroibete, supporting Bernard Foley’s break, had been turned on his back over the line by Chris Robshaw.
Owen Farrell complained that the replacement hooker Stephen Moore had ushered the wing over the line from an offside position, a demand that was eventually upheld, but such is the might of Koroibete that he would have got there without assistance.
It was a final taste of adversity that Australia, who were far more impressive than they were here a year ago even if they had come equipped for a dry day, could not swallow. They were still shaking their heads a couple of minutes later when Danny Care, who had just come on for Ben Youngs, chipped behind the defence for Jonathan Joseph to slide in and score.
Jones classifies his bench as finishers rather than replacements and Care showed why. He had spent 69 minutes watching England, and Australia, hang kicks into the air from their own half and keep the ball in hand in the opposition’s. The rain was not the only hazard to a running game but the referee wanted a contest at the breakdown which meant the attacking team was not allowed carte blanche.
Care kicked for Joseph in Australia’s half, taking advantage of a defence that had rushed up. Hooper’s non-try in the first half had resulted from a chip in virtually the same position and watching from the bench Care appreciated that turning on a slippery surface was tricky enough to give a chaser a head start.
The scrum-half finished off Australia with one minute to go when he put a grubber-kick into the visitors’ 22 for May to pick up and score and added the final flourish with the final move of the game after the Wallabies, as had been their habit all afternoon, lost control of the ball in the midfield.
So on a day when, for the first hour, England had been stressed enough up front for Australia to opt for a scrum when awarded a free-kick, and pinned back by the Wallabies’ four Ks – Kuridrani, Kerevi, Koroibete and Kepu – they scored four tries to none through three kicks and a turnover, mastering the conditions through guerrilla warfare while their opponents largely stuck to a gameplan that should have been watered down by the conditions.
England did to Australia what Argentina had done to them, running up quickly in defence to narrow the attack and force mistakes. A difference was that Sam Underhill had the ball in his hands twice in the opening four minutes, the number of occasions he did so in 80 against the Pumas, but he suffered a head injury on 16 minutes and, for all his virtues, it was the Wallabies who suffered because on came Maro Itoje, who went into the second row with Courtney Lawes moving to the back row.
Itoje’s troubleshooting frustrated Australia: he thwarted attacks, disrupted lineouts and provided continuity, dominating by his very presence. For all their possession, Australia did not score a point in the first half while England were fortified by two Farrell penalties. Jones afterwards bristled when the word luck was mentioned, but Foley missed a kick in front of the posts two years after landing them from everywhere here in the 2015 World Cup to mark the end of Lancaster.
England won nothing under Lancaster, but in 2012 they were denied a draw against Wales after David Strettle was denied a last-minute try after a review. It is not the case they have become a lucky side – they were smarter than Australia, more adaptable and far more clinical – but the path to the top is paved by key decisions going your way.
England: Watson; May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford (Slade 69), Youngs (Care 69); M Vunipola (Marler 63), Hartley (capt; George 57), Cole (Williams 66), Launchbury, Lawes, Robshaw, Underhill (Itoje 16), Hughes (Simmonds 62).
Tries: Daly, Joseph, May, Care. Cons: Farrell 2. Pens: Farrell 2.
Australia: Beale; Koroibete, Kuridrani, Kerevi (Hunt 66), Hodge; Foley, Genia (Phipps 70); Sio (Robertson 69), Polota-Nau (Moore 63), Kepu (Alaalatoa 66), Simmons, Enever (Philip 61), Hanigan (McCalman ht), Hooper (capt), McMahon (Timani 78).
Pens: Hodge, Foley
Sin-bin: Hooper 31, Beale 39
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Attendance: 81,909
Match rating (from 10): 7
