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Australia vs England: Eddie Jones critical of performance but takes pleasure in historic win over Wallabies

England shipped two early tries before launching a fightback to win the first Test in Brisbane

Jack de Menezes

Saturday 11 June 2016 15:58 BST

England head coach Eddie Jones believes there's plenty of work to be done despite beating Australia 39-28 (Getty)

Eddie Jones heaped praise on his England side after they displayed their “grit” to hold off a spirited Australia fightback and secure a 39-28 victory in the first Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane.

Two early tries from Michael Hooper and Israel Folau left England reeling inside 16 minutes, but the tourists regrouped to take a lead into half-time courtesy of a Jonathan Joseph try and four penalties from Owen Farrell.

Marland Yarde added a second try soon after the restart, and two more penalties from Farrell ensured that Australia could not catch England even though they scores further tries through Hooper and Tevita Kuridrani, with England replacement Jack Nowell sealing the victory on the stroke of full-time.

"I think we showed real grit. We had a specific plan which we thought that could beat Australia," Jones told Sky Sports after witnessing his winning start increase to seven matches since the Australian replaced Stuart Lancaster in December.

"They caught us out with their pace at the start of the game and it took us some time to adjust but we did the simple things well.

"We've come here to win the series, next week is super important and we're focused on that already."

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

Show all 30

1/30Australia vs England first Test player ratings

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

<b>England:</b> 15. Mike Brown – 6 out of 10

Uncharacteristic error led to three points for Foley when Australia were wobbling after he knocked on when unopposed. Has had better days, but still lively with ball in hand.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

14. Anthony Watson – 6 out of 10

Saw extremely little of the ball, and was forced to do the hard yards in chasing kicks for the evening.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

13. Jonathan Joseph – 7 out of 10

Alert enough to seize on Folau’s error and showed his foot skills to dribble the ball, gather and touch down to give England the lead. Defence still needs some work though as Australia found success on his outside shoulder.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

12. Luther Burrell – 5 out of 10

Lucky to get away with a late hit on Hooper, and made sure the obstruction on him from Arnold was spotted to see Foley’s try chalked off. Left the field immediately after though as Jones sacrificed him to sure up the defence.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

11. Marland Yarde – 7 out of 10

Sound defensively as he guarded his channel well, but couldn’t find a way past Haylett-Petty when in space that could have led to a try. Made amends when he finished the second try, and justified his return to the starting XV.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

10. Owen Farrell – 9 out of 10

24 points from the boot continues his incredible season when aiming at goal, but he looked just as assured with the ball in hand regardless of if he was at 10 or 12.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

9. Ben Youngs – 8 out of 10

The scrum-half relieved the pressure for England on a number of occasions as his touch-finding box kicks got his side out of sticky situations. Looks increasingly the starting scrum-half, with Danny Care’s pace able to finish games.

Getty

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

1. Mako Vunipola – 7 out of 10

Managed to get the better of Holmes in the front-row scrum battle and uncharacteristically won the first penalty. Powerful in the loose.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

2. Dylan Hartley – 8 out of 10

Captain fantastic continues his unblemished record as skipper as he led from the front. Accurate with his lineout darts and a unit with the ball in hand.

Getty

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

3. Dan Cole – 7 out of 10

Bore the brunt of Romain Poite’s early frustration but won round the Frenchman to expose Scott Sio. Won the battle when the Australian departed for the sin-bin.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

4. Maro Itoje – 8 out of 10

Announced his arrival in Australia with a crucial turnover on his own line, and a massive presence in the lineout to disrupt the Wallabies on their ball. The question must be asked: will he ever have a bad game?

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

5. George Kruis – 7 out of 10

England lineout general decided to make his presence felt in defence as well as with ball in hand. One charging run bounced off Hooper, and he smashed the flanker soon after to try and slow down the ever-present flanker.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

6. Chris Robshaw – 8 out of 10

Followed in Itoje’s suit early on with an important turnover when Australia had the momentum. Lovely hands to release Yarde shortly before the break, and his work-rate was as high as ever. Continues to justify his place in the back-row

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

7. James Haskell – 9 out of 10

His best outing in an England shirt. Set the tone with a thumping hit on David Pocock in the opening minutes, and his break from a maul led to Yarde’s try.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

8. Billy Vunipola – 7 out of 10

For once it wasn’t the Billy Vunipola show, though that says more about his team-mates stepping up to be counted. Didn’t have to be depended on as much due to England’s dominance up front, and was replaced late on by Joe Launchbury as he ran out of legs.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

<b>Australia:</b> 15. Israel Folau – 8 out of 10

Brilliant first 15 minutes was undone by his poor pass that led to Joseph’s try. Still, that on error didn’t cost Australia the match entirely, and he essentially created a potential 21 points for the Wallabies through his try and the two he created for Hooper – if only Bernard Foley had brought his kicking boots.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

14. Dane Haylett-Petty – 8 out of 10

A debut to remember from the wing and it’s a shame that he ended up on the losing side. Four early carries saw him come in-field to hunt down the ball, and he looked at home on the international stage. Only blemish came in missing a tackle on Haskell.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

13. Tevita Kuridrani – 7 out of 10

Guilty of spurning a chance to score after Folau’s break, though duly made amends a minute later by crashing over. Caused England problems early on, though he did fade towards the final quarter.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

12. Samu Kerevi – 7 out of 10

Laid a try on a plate for Hooper after drawing in Burrell and Watson, though he should have gathered the ball in the seconds before Joseph’s try.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

11. Rob Horne – 5 out of 10

Took a heavy hit to the head in a collision with Hartley that forced him off the field. Replaced by Christian Lealiifano to trigger a reshuffle in the Australian back line.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

10. Bernard Foley – 7 out of 10

Brilliant with the ball in hand but there’s no looking past the fact that had he brought his kicking boots –and had a bit of luck – Australia could have been out of sight by the half hour marked. Missed three kicks at goal that, had Farrell been in the gold No 10 shirt, you’d expect to sail through the posts.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

9. Nick Phipps – 6 out of 10

Quiet game in terms of breaking from the base but he did provide quick ball for the backs to play with.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

1. Scott Sio – 5 out of 10

Comprehensively lost the scrum battle with Cole and spent 10 minutes in the cooler as a result, with the prop failing to return to the match afterwards.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

2. Stephen Moore – 6 out of 10

Fears of an off-day in the lineout after missing his first throw were put to bed, but while he was effective in defence and provided quick support at rucks, he only lasted 57 minutes.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

3. Greg Holmes – 6 out of 10

Held his own against Vunipola initially only to concede ground as Australia’s pack began to struggle. Rather anonymous in the loose.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

4. Rory Arnold – 6 out of 10

Guilty of an intentional block on Burrell to see Foley’s try disallowed, and for all his 6ft 10in frame, he failed to impose himself on England’s powerful pack.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

5. Rob Simmons – 5 out of 10

Landed awkwardly in a lineout and appeared to injure his leg. Hobbled off the field, leading to James Horwill’s early return to the Australian fold.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

6. Scott Fardy – 6 out of 10

Impressive with the ball in hand as he always looked to charge forwards, but conceded a penalty in midfield that led to Yarde’s try and wasn’t at his absolute best defensively

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

7. Michael Hooper – 8 out of 1

Linked well with Folau twice to score the opening try and was a nuisance in the ruck. On hand to expertly finish in the second half and trigger the Wallaby fightback, though he took some punishment as the England defence targeted him.

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

8. David Pocock – 7 out of 1

Didn’t get his timing and entry right in the first half as he conceded points through the form of penalties at the ruck. Wore a huge tackle from Haskell inside the first few minutes, but was outshone by the English back-row on a disappointing day.

The victory represented just the fourth occasion were England have emerged triumphant against Australia in their own backyard, but Jones clearly has plenty to work with after admitting the performance was far from the finished article.

"We didn't play well tonight, we're happy with the result but we didn't play well," he added.

The way we started the game will need looking at. We're well aware that it's the first of three

 <p>Dylan Hartley</p>

"We gave the Wallabies some easy tries and we'll need to work on our defence. We made history today but it's not good enough for us. It's all about next week.

"It took us a while to find the pace of the game but when we did, I thought of our next 60 minutes we played 45 minutes of good rugby.

"We can improve significantly in our ball carrying and our second man work, we can improve significantly in terms of our defence spacing and we can still put more pressure on Australia at the set piece."

Marland Yarde celebrates after scoring for England (Getty)

England captain Dylan Hartley was happy to leave with the result in the bag after England were caught cold from the off. Hartley believes that the poor start –and impressive performance thereafter – from England did not matter as long as they departed for next week’s second Test in Melbourne with victory in the bag.

"Look, first and foremost, the result was key for us, we have to keep our feet on the ground," the Northampton hooker said.

"The way we started the game will need looking at. We're well aware that it's the first of three. We put all of our energy into the first game and it was a good way to start our campaign."

Ben Youngs screams in celebration after England beat Australia in the first Test (Getty)

Jones made a tactical decision after half-an-hour as he took off Luther Burrell to move Farrell to inside centre and bring George Ford on at fly-half.

The move paid off as Ford set-up the tries for both Yarde and Nowell, and he credited the Bath No 10 for changing the game even though he had been dropped following a disappointing season and poor performance against Wales last time out.

"We just needed to change the game, at times you just do things through gut feeling to change the game," Jones said.

"It just gave us a bit more variety to our game ... we just needed to get the control back in the game that we didn't have in the first 29 minutes."

James Haskell was named man of the match after an impressive display (Getty)

Jones’s was also quick to praise flanker James Haskell, who claimed the man-of-the-match award following what was arguably his finest performance in the white of England. With Chris Robshaw also impressing and the likes of Jack Clifford knocking on the door for inclusion, the performance went a long way to justifying Haskell’s selection in the side, having overshadowed Australia’s talented No 8 David Pocock in the process.

"I think he was outstanding, physically good, you know Pocock's a special player but I think Haskell did some special things that gave us momentum," Jones said.

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