Doubt creeps in as England.stung at the death again

Another week, another heartbreak for England and now serious questions must be asked about the direction of the Steve Borthwick project.

- LUKE BAKER

A flawed Australia side exposed familiar failings and shone a light on some new ones for good measure in a helter-skelter thriller of an Autumn Nations Series Test match.

Whereas last week ended with George Ford missing a penalty and drop goal as the All Blacks celebrated, this clash ended with Max Jorgensen streaking clear down the left wing, arm aloft to snatch a 42-37 victory for the Wallabies in a game that England won, then lost, then won again before somehow finally losing.

The hosts scored 12 points early on at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, found themselves trailing by 10 early in the second half and the lead then changed hands multiple times in the last 10 minutes. But, ultimately, Borthwick’s men wilted in the final stages of a Test match on a day when they simply couldn’t afford another narrow defeat but fell to one anyway.

Perhaps it was always destined to come down to the wire, given that now just two of England’s last 14 Tests have been decided by more than a single score, but by any objective measure, they really should be beating this version of Australia, especially on home turf.

The same flaw – an inability to see games out at the death – keeps appearing and now there will also be serious questions about a defence that was continually breached by a relentless Australian attack. Defence has been one of the consistent bright spots over the past 12 months but it was found wanting on a day that could prove to be very damaging for English rugby.

In addition to concerns about their ability to finish games off, England have also been criticised for the failure of their attack to score enough points to consistently win Test matches. To their credit, they seemed to try a new approach at Twickenham – eschewing any semblance of kicking game to control things and instead trusting their ball carriers.