Joe Schmidt’s team struggle with 15-Test schedule, lose 25-7 to England
The test was lost in the 51st minute
It looked ominous when England emptied the bench 11 minutes into the second half and turned on the British and Irish Lions representatives. This was proven as England turned up the heat in attack, with young Henry Pollock showing off his natural talents by picking up a loose ball with his left hand before running on to score.
The Wallabies were 12-7 behind when England went to the bench and had failed to capitalize on their pressure and spell of space. If the Test was to be won, they needed to be in a better position before England could use their big guns. England are unlikely to keep their best players behind for the remainder of November; Reserve winger Tom Curry’s superb tackle on Tane Edmed in the closing stages saw him start nine times out of 10 for England.
Fraser McReight was magnificent in defeat
The No.7 was a shining light for the Wallabies, forcing four turnovers in the second half and stopping an emphatic try with a desperate play on England reserve hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie. The scoreline would have been ugly without McReight, and there is evidence that the Wallabies’ two best back-rowers are both open sides: McReight and Carlo Tizzano.
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As blasphemous as it may sound, there is also an argument that either Rob Valetini or captain Harry Wilson should be benched next week to accommodate the return of Tom Hooper.
Will Skelton, James O’Connor and Len Ikitau should also return; There is daylight between the Wallabies’ best number 12 and the next player. Schmidt worked hard to build depth in the squad, but when top players were unavailable there were obvious holes.
Edmed recovered – but bench cover is sorely needed
The Wallabies are advising Tane Edmed of patience and, from a positive perspective, his display at Twickenham confirms that approach. Hilarious goal-line abandonment aside, Edmed was more confident and better under the high ball; This is an area where pressure on hurlers gives the batting side a huge advantage.
At this stage of his Test career, the narrowness and lack of variability of the Wallabies’ attack cannot be attributed to a young man at number 10; Some of it reflects the game plan. But the Wallabies’ absence of a specialist No.10 on the bench will certainly not be repeated for the remainder of the tour.
Hamish Stewart came on for the final seven minutes but was the better No.12 by some margin after specializing in that position over the years.
As if to highlight the Wallabies’ difficulties at the position, Springboks’ new star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu lit up Wembley with some superb individual moments in their 61-7 victory over Japan.
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