1
Jamie George points the finger after heartbreaking England loss
By PA
Jamie George rounded on England’s “unacceptable” defending as they collapsed to a dramatic 42-37 defeat by Australia.
ADVERTISEMENT
A week after falling 24-22 to New Zealand, England’s autumn deteriorated further on an afternoon when they appeared to have won the game three times only to see the Wallabies plunder the winning try through Max Jorgensen three minutes into overtime.
Head coach Steve Borthwick confirmed that Tom Curry will miss Saturday’s visit of South Africa after he was knocked out when making a tackle, while Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is also a major doubt because of a heavy blow to the head.
George pinpointed England’s leaky defence – they missed 35 tackles – as the main reason for a loss that has heaped pressure on the team, with fixtures against the Springboks and Japan left to play this month.
“Leaking 42 points at home is unacceptable and a large part of that is down to loss of collisions,” the captain said.
“Australia got front foot ball and they have got pretty good players out wide who made us look vulnerable.
“We are very proud in our defence. We massively believe in the system that we have but there are going to be some clips that will be difficult to watch because we needed to be more physical and make our tackles.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Sometimes in a Test match like that you think the job is done. We took our foot off the gas. Credit to Australia, they were very good, but we cannot keep doing that. It will be a tough one to watch back.”
A Marcus Smith-inspired comeback that produced two touch downs for Ollie Sleightholme placed England on the brink of victory until a late exchange of tries between Andrew Kellaway and Maro Itoje scrambled the brains of everyone at Twickenham.
But there was still one final twist as Australia, who were outstanding in attack, created space down the left for Jorgensen to have the final say.
England knew they only had themselves to blame for a fourth successive defeat.
Smith was outstanding for the hosts and he drove the team on with his appetite for attack, drawing rich praise from Australia boss Joe Schmidt.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Marcus was pretty useful. He pulls the strings really well,” Schmidt said.
“We were keen to suffocate him, but he just kept breathing. He finds little spaces between you. He’s even confident bringing the ball back. He’s not afraid of the physical contact.
“We have a chase line with some big men in the middle of it. He doesn’t mind picking them out and creating a focus point that England can base their next phase off. I thought he was very good.”
In this episode of Walk the Talk, Jim Hamilton chats with double World Cup winner Damian de Allende about all things Springbok rugby, including RWC2023 and the upcoming Ireland series. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV
The Pilsbury Dough Boy missed at least 3 of his own tackles in the first half.
What about the Ford pass behind Lawrence that Aus pounced on to score . That gave them renewed impetus.
Smith would not have been on the wing if idiot Borthwick had not brought Ford on in the first place .
Actually just watched last try. Smith lost it for them. They were matched up in defense, Smith is ball watching fir the glory intercept, he bites in even though tackle is being made and leaves a gaping hole for Jorgensen to run into....then feigned injury to distract from his gaffe.
Even if he hadn't, Eng were stretched and Aus would have recycled and still headed forward. Conversely, if he held his line it is highly likely a fancy offload would still have made it out. Blaming Smith after 35 missed tackles seems a bit mean.