The 2018 season is finally over for the Wallabies after they went down 37-18 to England at Twickenham.
Despite the 19 point margin, it wasn’t all plain sailing for England after the Wallabies rallied to level the scores at 13-13 on half time and could have even been in front after what looked like a shoulder charge from Owen Farrell on Izack Rodda went unpunished by referee Jaco Peyper.
It didn’t matter in the end as four England tries and the kicking display from Farrell were too much as England ran away with it in the second half to make it six wins in a row for Eddie Jones against Michael Cheika.
The Match
It was a dreadful start for the Wallabies with a slight bobble from Will Genia putting Dane Haylett-Petty under pressure and his clearing kick was charged down leading to a five metre scrum. The English scrum put the Wallabies on skates and a simple pass to Jonny May on the right wing opened the scoring after just two minutes.
The Wallabies were able to reply with a penalty goal to Matt Toomua but they still looked rattled with a pass from centurion Will Genia intended for Toomua finding the grass deep in their own end.
Owen Farrell kicked England further ahead with a penalty goal at the second attempt after his first hit the post to make it 10-3 after 15 minutes.
The absence of David Pocock was evident around the breakdown as they struggled to get much front foot ball and resorted to kicking away possession at times when they actually retained it.
The Wallabies thought they had a try just before the 30-minute mark to Haylett-Petty but his pass to Samu Kerevi in the leadup was forward although it took booing from the crowd for referee Jaco Peyper to get the TMO involved after initially awarding the try.
England went out to a ten point lead after Farrell’s second penalty goal but the Wallabies replied with a brilliant try to Israel Folau who ran a great line and left two English defenders in Farrell and Youngs in his wake.
In the shadows of the half time the Wallabies leveled the scores with a penalty goal at 13-13 but could even have been awarded a penalty try after Owen Farrell stopped Izack Rodda right near the line with what could have easily been a shoulder charge. Jaco Peyper told Michael Hooper that he thought ‘your ball carrier also dropped the shoulder’ going into contact after being questioned about it.
England started off the second half well with a nice try to Elliot Daly who ran pretty much untouched from 40 metres out to the line.
England went 14 points clear not long after with winger Joe Cokanasinga getting in on the try scoring action. The Wallabies defence looked all at sea as he bumped off Haylett-Petty on the wing and then managed to stroll through passed defenders to score.
Farrell made the Wallabies task harder as he pushed the margin out to 17 points with his third penalty with 15 minutes remaining.
With the end of the game approaching, Farrell added salt to wounds with a try of his own after playing the full 80 minutes side and shouldering the load for his side.
There was one last roll of the dice for the Wallabies with Folau claiming his second of the game as time expired off a grubber kick from Foley after a line break from Haylett-Petty but it was too little, too late as the curtain came down on a disastrous 2018 for the Wallabies.
The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]WALLABIES 18
Tries: Folau 2
Conversions: Toomua
Penalties: Toomua 2
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]ENGLAND 37
Tries: May, Daly, Cokanasiga, Farrell
Conversions: Farrell 4
Penalties: Farrell 3
[/one_half]
Cards
Nil (Somehow)
