England 37- 42 Australia
by David Nicholson
at Twickenham

THE WIZARDS of Oz conjured a stunning victory over a dejected England with the home side slinking to a fifth loss from six games at the weekend.

Questions will be asked about head coach Steve Borthwick’s future after his side failed to close out another close game losing a two-point lead after the Wallabies scored a try with the clock red.

The visitors were much sharper with real attacking menace, better handling skills and constantly looking to run the ball. 

But Australia were not matching the home side at the set piece and won the game from scraps and English mistakes.

Captain Jamie George called his side’s performance “unforgivable” after conceding five tries and 42 points at home.

Borthwick seemed to have watched a different game from everybody else and will have raised further questions about his future as head coach.

“I don’t think we gave our defence the opportunity to be in the right position to go. 

“If you give them the opportunity of turning balls over and the game gets that loose, it is very difficult to get your defence set.

“There were a number of times where tries were scored very quickly off the back of a penalty and we have to be better than that and not put ourselves in that position,” Borthwick said.

But the under-fire coach again brought George Ford into the game in the closing 18 minutes drawing boos from the crowd who thought he was replacing fly-half Marcus Smith.

However it was a reshuffle with Smith, who had been England’s star player and architect of the attacks that led to the men-in-white scoring five tries, and Borthwick’s tactical masterstroke was to move Smith to full-back and Ford as fly-half.

The move backfired when Ford threw a sloppy pass in midfield and Andrew Kellaway was away and over the line to ease the Wallabies back into the lead.

Maro Itoje forced himself over the line to restore England’s two-point lead in the closing seconds.

But instead of safely gathering the kick-off and holding onto the ball Borthwick’s men knocked on twice and pin-sharp Wallaby handling set Max Jorgenson free to run to the line.

This was a 10-try fiesta for the Twickenham crowd to enjoy but England captain Jamie George admitted: “Leaking 42 points at home was unforgivable.”

With World Champions South Africa stepping onto the Twickenham turf next Saturday, the chance of England salvaging some pride and cohesion is remote.

But George optimistically said: “We are going to get ourselves right, we are going to have a great training week and we are going to believe in what we are doing."

Despite Borthwick claiming the players have no psychological issue with winning close games, the fact remains that they have now lost three tight games against New Zealand and now against a much weaker ninth-ranked Wallaby side.

“I think there will be no shortage of motivation in the next game to get back out there.”

The previous England head coach, Eddie Jones, lost his job after a rout by the Springboks and a similar losing display next Saturday will put Borthwick’s position in real jeopardy.