England made history but it’s not good enough, says Jones
Australia pilled on the pressure, winning a penalty but opted to go for the posts rather than the corner and the score which would have claimed a first test draw.
Australia flanker David Pocock has been ruled out of the rest of the England series after fracturing his eye socket.
England recorded just its fourth away victory over Australia as Eddie Jones’ men held off a fierce late comeback to prevail 39-28 over the Wallabies in the opening Test in Brisbane.
The performance wasn’t as convincing as the scoreline.
A fumble by the Wallabies gave England’s Jack Nowell a try on the bell, giving the Lions a 39-28 win.
Michael Hooper and Israel Folau each went over in an ominous start for the hosts at Suncorp but three penalties from Owen Farrell thrust England back into the contest.
“We’re lucky, we’ve got a very good referee on the weekend (in Craig Joubert) and he’s one of the most respected referees in the world …” “It’s all about next week. I thought that we allowed them to steal our ball or turnover our ball a bit too much so I’m sure that’s going to be an area for us to work on at training”.
Jones is no stranger to media spats in his native country but the notion of an Australian coaching England to a series victory over the Wallabies is clearly a source of potential local friction.
“I can see next week something is going to happen”, added the 56-year-old, who took over as England coach after impressing with Japan at the 2015 World Cup.
“Obviously (we’ll miss) the skills he brings to the game and that dynamic we have in the back row with Michael and Scott but we’ll probably create a different type of complementary nature now”. “Pocock is a special player but Haskell did some things defensively that gave us momentum in the game”, stressed Jones, who said Marland Yarde sustained a blow to the shoulder and that Anthony Watson had played despite suffering from a virus. To get the result was a good way to start our campaign. Foley’s conversion made it 32-25 to England. The momentum shifted quickly to England. Cheika also disagreed with the decision to disallow the first-half try by Foley.
“It’s not obstruction mate”, he said. “He clearly went to the wrong attacker by his choice”.
George Ford, an influential replacement on Saturday, will be among those pushing hard for a starting place. Australia is going to be absolutely rampant.
England almost threw a 32-13 lead away when Australia clawed their way back to within four points courtesy of a second try from Hooper and one from Tevita Kuridrani, only for England to weather the storm and seal victory with a last-minute try from Jack Nowell.