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Australia vs England player ratings: James Haskell and Owen Farrell shine as Wallabies suffer rare home defeat

Man-for-man marking from the first Test at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane

Jack de Menezes

Saturday 11 June 2016 14:47 BST

Australia vs England first Test player ratings

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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.

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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.

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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.

England secured a thrilling 38-29 victory over Australia in the first of three Tests to secure just their fourth victory Down Under, despite being outscored four tries to three.

Australia shot out the blocks and scored two tries in 15 minutes, with Michael Hooper and Israel Folau gong over to build an early 10-0 lead. Fly-half Bernard Foley missed both conversions though to let four points go begging, and after Owen Farrell got England on the board with three penalties, the visitors took the lead when Jonathan Joseph took advantage of errors from Folau and Samu Kerevi to score their opening try.

The same followed after the break as a fantastic break from man-of-the-match James Haskell set-up the platform for replacement George Ford to find Marland Yarde, with the wing going over unopposed.

Farrell would add another two more penalties to his four successful first-half efforts, but Australia mounted a ferocious fightback to reignite the contest. Hooper scored his second before Tevita Kuridrani barged his way over from close range, and when Foley added a penalty the lead was just four points with two minutes to play.

England held on though, and having withered the Australian storm, they pounced on loose ball to score a third and final try, with Ford chipping over the defence to allow Jack Nowell to rush onto the ball and score in the corner.

So who were the star men in Brisbane? Click on the gallery above to see our first Test player ratings.

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