5 things we learned from England’s defeat to Australia in Twickenham thriller

Fly-half debate is over

A positive emerging from this month’s two losses is that there is no longer any question whether Marcus Smith is England’s first choice fly-half. Smith’s creativity, vision and determination acted as a beacon amid the chaos on Saturday, driving the team on when they were in danger of being consumed by the Wallabies. “We were keen to suffocate him, but he just kept breathing,” said an impressed Australia coach Joe Schmidt. The only question is whether Smith’s vision for England’s best route forward is shared by the management.

Plug the leaks

Australia, ranked ninth in the world, were 5/1 underdogs but they made a mockery of those odds to present Steve Borthwick’s men with the task of toppling world champions South Africa to avoid a third successive home defeat. Of pressing concern to Borthwick is a leaky defence that was breached five times and was put under pressure by a staggering 18 turnovers, but that does not explain the 36 missed tackles that waved the Wallabies through. Joe El Abd has taken over as defence coach following the shock resignation of Felix Jones and the progress visible during the summer tour to New Zealand has stalled to the point that Saturday saw England concede their second highest number of points ever at Twickenham.

Grenades in the jeep

Eddie Jones’ famous remark in 2019 that England’s jitters at clutch points in games were “like we have some hand grenades in the back of a jeep and sometimes they go off when there’s a lot of pressure” rang as true in a dramatic finish five years later. They had done enough to win the game three times over, yet still conspired to lose. When placed in the context of narrow defeats over the last 12 months to South Africa, thrice to New Zealand and France, the frailty described by Jones remains an Achilles heel.

Wallabies on the rise

Rugby administrators view an ageing demographic as an existential threat to the sport, but in Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies they have a team to lead the way in the fight for eyeballs. After the dourness of New Zealand’s victory over Ireland the previous evening, Australia were a joy to watch in a five-try romp that made attack look easy. The most impressive win of Schmidt’s 10 matches in charge has come in the nick of time due to previous concerns over the Wallabies’ competitiveness for next year’s visit of the British and Irish Lions. On this evidence, Andy Farrell’s tourists could be up against it.

Suaalii shines

A performance that harked back to Australia’s past as rugby’s great innovators had its poster boy in Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, the cross-code superstar who was making his union debut. If Suaalii’s £2.7million price tag for switching from NRL is a burden, the 21-year-old centre did not show it in a man of the match display. A 6ft 5in, 15st 6lbs frame points to a powerful physical presence, but it was the subtlety of his touches in attack, ability to stay upright and off-load out of the tackle and athleticism in the air – used effectively at restarts – that stood out.