Saturday 29 November 2014 19:20, UK
Australia captain Michael Hooper admitted the Wallabies had no answer for England’s dominant pack as they slipped to a 26-17 defeat at Twickenham.
It was a match billed as a 2015 Rugby World Cup warm-up with the nations set to lock horns at Rugby HQ once again on October 3 for a Pool A showdown.
Although Australia enjoyed more possession and often looked more dangerous with the ball in hand, England’s potent pack nullified their threat, with two tries from No 8 Ben Morgan and 16 points from the boot of George Ford cancelling out scores from Bernard Foley and Will Skelton.
However, it was England’s forwards who laid the foundations of the success, winning 10 scrums and 12 line-outs and Australia openside flanker Hooper conceded the hosts' set-piece performance proved decisive.
“Their scrum was really good tonight, we couldn’t get any ascendancy there and we have to give credit to them for that,” he told Sky Sports.
“We couldn’t handle the pressure there and their set-piece had us, it was also a shame we couldn’t finish a few of those tries late on too.”
Morgan’s first try and two Ford penalties saw England go to the break 13-3 up, though Foley’s try shortly after the restart put Australia back in contention and Hooper was left to lament costly errors after a second try and two more penalties saw the hosts home.
“We had a disappointing first half but we were better in the second half and we scored a try that put us well back in it, but we just couldn’t convert and turn that scrum around,” he added.
“We had some good times down in their half but we just couldn’t put it away today. I think we’re really close, we just couldn’t finish those passes and get over the line here.”
Australia do not meet up again as a national squad for eight months and Hooper was unimpressed with the manner in which the Wallabies ended their year.
“It’s a huge amount of time before we come back together as a team and it’s disappointing to end the year like this,” he admitted.
“We’ll come back together in eight months’ time knowing we have to play on this pitch a few times which will be difficult.”
Despite completing his first tour as Australia head coach with one win from four Tests - losing to France and Ireland in previous weeks - Michael Cheika insists there wukk be no knee-jerk reactions.
"There's not going to be any panic at our end," he said. "There are some clear messages we need to sort out, but if we do that we will be well and truly competitive.
"We need to change our technique, change our strategy. Perhaps we're just a bit too honest in the scrum."
