England legend Matt Dawson was left furious after Steve Borthwick’s side fell to a dramatic 37-42 defeat at the hands of Australia. Max Jorgenson’s last-gasp try handed victory to the Wallabies despite England looking like they had won it just moments earlier.
The hosts put themselves within touching distance of an impressive triumph when Marcus Smith converted Maro Itoje’s try in the 78th minute. However, they were unable to cling onto their slender lead with Australia leaving it late to strike the decisive blow.
Dawson was frustrated by England’s negative tactics in the closing stages of the match and branded them ‘rubbish’ in a scathing assessment of their performance.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, he said: “I can’t lose sight of what an incredible try that was under pressure for Australia. England had it!
“How many times have England had the game under their control and they go back to this dreaded box kick? It gets them in trouble every single time. For 65 minutes, England were fantastic. In the last 15 minutes, they were rubbish.”
The result marked England’s fifth defeat in six matches, ramping up the pressure on Steve Borthwick to turn things around. They will get the opportunity to redeem themselves when they host reigning world champions South Africa next weekend.
In his post-match interview, England captain Jamie George explained that it was always going to be a balancing act when trying to see out the win against Australia.
“We took our foot off the gas,” he told TNT Sports. “Credit to Australia, they were very good tonight, but we cannot keep doing that. It will be a tough one to watch back.
“It is a fine balance between closing up shop and trying to see out the win rather than attacking. We talk about being brave and courageous and that [Itoje] try was exactly that. We will look at being better.
“The system and the principle all works. We know it works but we didn’t quite get what we wanted out if it. Tonight, it was the collisions. Leaking 42 points at home is unacceptable. They have some pretty good runners outside and made us look vulnerable.”
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