Steve Borthwick’s England have put on a strong performance to kick off the European leg of the Nations Championship, prevailing 45-22 over the Wallabies at Twickenham.
A territory dominated game saw the hosts reap the rewards in the second half, with the Wallabies, while having moments of promise, ultimately unable to deal with the English pressure on defence and attack.
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The hosts looked to have the perfect start just 90 seconds in, with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso piercing the Wallabies' line ominously to score under the posts, only for the TMO to come to the visitors’ aid, seeing a forward pass early in the play.
However, the hosts had the lions share of the momentum early and the first score of the game just shy of the eighth minute, the maul seeing Jamie George get over the line to open the hosts account.
After being caught offside, Ryan Lonergan got the first points of the afternoon for the hosts, with the visitors wisely opting to take the three when on offer as England continued to hold momentum.
The hosts squandered three chances to score inside the first half hour but kept the momentum, forcing three turnovers early and dominating field position.
In the 27th minute, the dominance finally paid off, with England finding space out wide across multiple plays before Ollie Chessum scored in the corner, with Fin Smith converting to give the hosts a 12-3 lead on the half-hour mark.
Despite the scoreline, the Wallabies had done well to stay within touching distance, until Angus Bell was sent to the bin for a hip drop tackle, and England capitalised immediately with their third try off the maul to Joe Heyes.
The Wallabies finally got into the England 22 for the first time in the 37th minute, but continued to struggle as the English looked to put the game beyond doubt, pushing deep late into the half with their ninth entry into the Wallaby 22.
However, with the clock about to go red, Max Jorgensen rushed the England defence, plucking an intercept and running the length of the field to score under the sticks, the Wallabies rewarded for hanging in there defensively across the half to find themselves back in the game, trailing 19-10 at the break.
With Henry Pollock injected into the game on the wing, the English had a perfect start to the second half, attacking from deep with Jack van Poortvliet grabbing a try under the posts to have the hosts in the box seat.
The Australians started to threaten on several occasions, making three entries into the English 22, but it came to naught as the hosts looked to put the match beyond doubt with a fifth try.
In the 53rd minute, the injection of Pollock on the wing proved the moment the game was put beyond doubt, then scoring another from deep to see the hosts ahead 38-10 at the hour mark.
Filipo Daugunu’s spark from the bench proved instant, as the Wallabies finally got on the board after a persistent passage in the 62nd minute, but the men in gold had work to do to try and claw something out of the game, especially as the English emptied their bench.
As the final ten minutes began, a blemish from Maro Itoje at lineout saw Jeremy Williams pounce to score the Wallabies third, but an intercept to Ben Spencer in the 76th minute iced the result for the hosts.
England 45 (Tries: George, Chessum, Heyes, van Poortvliet, Pollock 2, Spencer. Cons: F. Smith 5/7.) def Australia 22 (Tries: Jorgensen, Daugunu, Williams. Cons: Lonergan 2/3 . Pens: Lonergan 1/1)
