Returning World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson couldn’t stop
England slipping to a 9-18 home defeat by Australia at
Twickenham on Saturday.
The
30-year-old Toulon fly-half landed a trademark drop-goal
within minutes of his international return, and two further
penalties put the hosts 9-8 up at half-time. But Australia,
who had scored the opening half’s only try through Will
Genia, soon took a grip on the match after the interval and
were eventually deserved winners as Adam Ashley-Cooper’s
late score sealed the win.
It was a
simple case of the better team winning, something that
England manager Martin Johnson tacitly admitted afterwards.
“Overall
they deserved to win, but there were chances for us to do a
bit more,” he reflected. “We started very well but lost a
bit of control near half-time. The team’s only playing its
first game and at times we needed to be a little bit
slicker, but we’ll be better for it physically and mentally
next week.”
Johnson
had praise for both Wilkinson and fellow World Cup winner
Lewis Moody on the their England recalls, and Brive hooker
Steve Thompson also looked at home as he won his 49th
cap.
Biarritz
centre Ayoola Erinle and Stade Francais flanker James
Haskell both came on as second-half replacements – the
former for his first England cap – but Brive fly-half Andy
Goode was left sitting on the bench as Wilkinson played the
entire 80 minutes.
“In the
second half Australia dominated to such an extent they’re
going to score points – eventually penalties or tries are
going to get you,” admitted Johnson. “We kicked away too
much ball, which gave it back to them a little bit too
easily. I’ve said to the guys we were playing a pretty
battle-hardened team coming straight out of the All Blacks
game and a Tri-Nations series, and that probably showed. The
southern hemisphere teams have proved pretty difficult to
beat throughout the history of the game. It’s not a modern
thing, to beat them is always pretty tricky,” said the
England manager.
Wilkinson, who was winning his 71st cap, echoed
Johnson’s observations. “Australia have played a lot of Test
matches and they’ve been through a lot together,” he said.
“This is
our first one – we needed a marker to find out where we need
to go next. We’re disappointed about some things, but some
things went well.
In
Saturday’s other international New Zealand did enough
to edge a tight encounter with Wales, eventually
winning 19-12 as the All Blacks extended their 56-year
unbeaten run against the Welsh.
