Freddie Steward scored his first international try as England beat Australia for the eighth game in a row to make it two wins from two in the Autumn Nations Series.
Steward combined beautifully with fellow young back Marcus Smith in the seventh minute to light up a raucous Twickenham, while Owen Farrell contributed 17 points with the boot in the 32-15 win.
Australia were on the back foot for much of the match but they showed plenty of courage to stay close, with James O’Connor landing all five attempts from the kicking tee
But England saw it out, with the impressive Smith kicking a late penalty and replacement Jamie Blamire sprinting in for a last-gasp try to seal a win that nicely builds on last weekend’s 69-3 success against Tonga.
England finish their Autumn Nations Series campaign against world champions South Africa next weekend, while Australia head to Wales hoping to avoid a third straight defeat this month.
ENGLAND START FAST
England arrived with a 7-0 record against the Wallabies under Eddie Jones but the visitors made a bright start as fly-half O’Connor booted through an early penalty.
England, backed by a noisy Twickenham, responded in kind with two of their young stars combining superbly for the first try of the match.
Smith started at fly-half but he was often the second receiver behind Owen Farrell, in a tactic that set up the first try. When he received the ball from his captain inside Australia’s half, Smith half-stepped the defender in front and popped a delicate pass to Steward and the full-back broke the Australia line, side-stepped the last man and slid over for his first Test try.
Four penalties followed in the next ten minutes – two each for Farrell and O’Connor – in a frantic game full of handling errors, as England emerged half-way through the opening 40 with a 13-9 lead.
They then wasted a fine chance to extend that slender advantage five minutes later, from a five-metre lineout. Once again Farrell took the ball first and fed Smith, who in turn released Henry Slade on the outside. With a two versus two on the left wing, Slade straightened and passed to Jonny May outside him but a brilliant cover tackle by Tom Wright prevented the score.
Wright was soon in the sin-bin, however, after his shoulder made contact with Jamie George’s head near his own try line just as the hooker looked to barge through, as England continued to threaten. Farrell kicked over the resulting penalty.
Australia were trying to survive to half-time and only an outstanding piece of defence from scrum-half Nic White stopped England from scoring, as he knocked the ball out of George’s hands just as the hooker went to dot down. It paid dividends minutes later, as Australia went up the other end, England were caught offside and O’Connor hit his fourth penalty to reduce the gap to 16-12 at the break.
HOSTS BATTLE HARD
On the balance of play, England perhaps felt like they should have carried a bigger lead into the second half but a series of penalties cost them – and they started the second 40 by conceding another, with Maro Itoje caught off his feet, and O’Connor was again on target to cut the gap to one.
Farrell extended it back to four points six minutes later after the referee spotted a dangerous tackle by Angus Bell on Courtney Lawes, resulting in Australia’s second yellow card of the day.
Australia suffered a major blow in the 54th minute when captain Michael Hooper, who part of the side that last won at Twickenham in 2015, hobbled off with an injury.
Farrell missed a kick for the first time mid-way through the half but made with his fifth penalty to put England 22-15 ahead with 15 minutes go.
The pace of the game slowed in the final quarter but England continued to keep Australia at arm’s length as Smith landed his first shot at goal to stretch the lead to 25-10.
And the hosts then sealed it as replacement flanker Sam Simmonds pounced on a loose ball and fed Blamire, who surged to the line to dot down for the fourth Test in a row.
