The Wallabies kicked off their Northern Hemisphere Tour with a Test against England. England started well, the forwards doing the hard yards, but the Wallabies gained momentum and eventually ran out winners by 18 / 9.

A dominating second half showing from Rocky Elsom’s Australian side saw them secure a 18 / 9 victory over a spirited England outfit in their Cook Cup clash at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.

Coming into the match under pressure from the media, Robbie Deans’ men struggled during the first half but flicked the switch at the break and scored 13 unanswered points in the second forty to deservedly win the match.

Wasting a couple of second half try-scoring opportunities, the Wallabies should have settled the win earlier than they did in truth. A number of players stood out for both sides. Lewis Moody and Jonny Wilkinson were quite brilliant for England while Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Wycliff Palu were immense for Australia.

A game of two very different halves, England deservedly led at the break while Australia were always in control in the second stanza. 

A positive start to the match from England saw their forward securing a couple good lineout wins through Tom Croft and captain Steve Borthwick, helping them to dominate possession and territory.

Just three minutes into game Wilkinson re-introduced himself to the Twickenham faithful by slotting a drop goal from 35 metres out.

Stung into action, Australia strung a number of phases together but were struggling to find any real gaps in the English line.

Another penalty attempt after nine minutes gave Wilkinson a chance to extend the England lead and the Toulon man duly delivered, putting England into a 6 / 0 lead.

The opening 15 minutes belonged almost entirely to the home side. Their forward work, particularly at the lineouts, was very impressive.

Give them enough possession though and Australia will test you. Enjoying their best set of phases, the Wallabies, through Cooper and Palu, were really starting to take the attack to the English line.

Eventually the pressure told. With the Australian forwards working well around the breakdown the England defence eventually slipped up and allowed Will Genia to sneak over for the games first try. Giteau’s missed conversion meant England retained the lead but the match had become a very even contest.

Another Wilkinson penalty followed five minutes later following some more good work from the England pack. Trying to bring Matt Banahan into the match using some clever kicks, England, Wilkinson and Shane Geraghty were mixing the tactics well.

For Australia Genia was continuing to impress while Peter Hynes and Adam Ashley-Cooper were enjoying counter-attacking whenever given the opportunity from an England kick.

Despite both teams coming into the game under pressure they both seemed committed to running the ball when they could and, as the game went past the half hour mark, it really started to open up.

The visitors finished the half strongly but the hosts defence held strong. Going into the interval with the score at 9 / 5 in favour of England, the first forty minutes had certainly lived up to it’s big match billing.

England’s kicking early in the second half was pretty poor and again Genia was prominent in putting them to the sword. Camping in the England 22 for the opening five minutes the Wallabies looked certain to score with captain Elsom being pulled up just inches short. The pressure eventually told though with Giteau comfortably slotting over his first penalty of the afternoon to make it a one point game.

It was all Australia in the opening exchanges with only a Moody steal preventing a seemingly certain Wallaby score. Cooper and Giteau, given plenty of ball, were starting to string together some of their trademark passes and finding more and more gaps in the England defence.

But it was a Geraghty error which nearly created the next Wallaby scoring opportunity. As England were just starting to come back into the game the Northampton Saints centre fluffed a kick with the left foot and, were it not for a poor kick from Mitchell, Australia could have been in again.

Almost immediately then Digby Ioane did everything except put the ball down. Fed into space by Genia the Reds centre powered his way over the line but lost the ball forward.From the resulting scrum though, with Duncan Bell now on in place of David Wilson, the visitors won a penalty and, courtesy of the boot of their talented ten, went ahead for the first time.

With the crowd spurring them on England looked to strike back and again it was Wilkinson who was pulling the strings. A clever chip and recover from the former Newcastle man nearly sparked something but Australia were able to keep them at bay.

A moment of sheer strength from Ashley-Cooper then finally provided the killer blow. Stringing phases together and dominating territory, Ashley-Cooper held off the challenge of both Ugo Monye and Mark Cueto to score in the corner.

England mounted a strong finish to the game but simply didn’t seem to have the firepower to score the try which would have set up the game for a big finish.

In truth the Wallaby defence was fantastic all day. While Wilkinson offered plenty the backline outside him, including Lion Monye and Bath star Banahan, just didn’t fire.

An exciting test, the result went the right way after a spirited second half showing from Australia. 

Man of the Match: Will Genia certainly deserves the award. Wilkinson proved to everyone what a world-class performer he still is but it was the composure and skill of Genia which stole the show.

Moment of the Match: It ultimately decided the match so it really has to be Adam Ashley-Cooper’s fantastic finish in the score for Australia’s second try.

Points:

England: 1 Drop Goal & 2 Penalties Johnny Wilkinson

Australia: 1 Try Will Genia, 2 Penalties & 1 Conversion Matt Giteau, 1 Try Adam Ashley-Cooper

The Teams:

England: 15 Ugo Monye, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Louis Deacon, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 David Wilson, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Ayoola Erinle.

Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Digby Ioane, 12 Quade Cooper, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota Nau, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 James O’Connor.

Date: Saturday, November 7
Venue: Twickenham, London
Time: 16.30 SA Time (14.30 GMT)
Expected Weather Conditions: Chilly conditions with sunny intervals, maximum temperature of 10°C and an expected minimum of 6°C.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)