The Wallabies beat England 27-17 in Perth yesterday as the tourists went in the first of their two Tests against Australia. Quade Cooper scored twice for the hosts, while England picked up two penalty tries.
Australia got to a 14-0 halftime lead after tries from Rocky Elsom and Quade Copper set them on their way. Cooper, looking solid at number 10 once again, scored a second later on as he linked with Digby Ioane.
The most inexperienced front row in almost 30 years turned out for the Wallabies, which eventually resulted in referee Nigel Owens frustrating with him yellow carding Solesi Maafu and awarding England two penalty tries.
The host managed to soak up the resultant pressure and extended their lead with late penalties from Cooper and James OConnor.
England skipper Lewis Moody said: “We stuck at it and got on top but we have to work on our game before the second Test next week.”
Coach Martin Johnson admitted that he gave his side a severe dressing down after a game in which they dominated the Australian scrum, but couldnt produce much else.
“I think this is as harsh as I have ever been with them. I said to the players that we should be pretty angry with ourselves.
“If you give it a decent shot and get beaten that is one thing, but we aided them too much and it is pretty disappointing. We made it too easy for the opposition,” he said.
“It was a big effort in the second half to grind our way back into the game… but we have to get better and we can’t expect to get two penalty tries every week.”
The two sides meet again next weekend in Sydney.
Time:
04:28
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