Trio help England to victory

By Mark Stevens
18/11/17

Exeter Chiefs trio Sam Simmonds, Henry Slade and Harry Williams all featured as England made it five wins on the bounce against Australia at Twickenham.

Head coach Eddie Jones paid tribute to his side’s clinical rugby after they powered to a 30-6 success.

England scored late tries through Jonny May and Danny Care, having earlier scored through Elliot Daly and Jonathan Joseph, to win their second match of the Old Mutual Wealth Series.

And Jones believes it was his side’s ruthlessness that was the difference on Saturday.

“It was a tough old game, a great game of Test rugby played by two even teams and in the end we stuck at it,” he said. “It was an arm wrestle, it was going to and fro and we took our opportunities better than they did when they came about.

“Tactically we played smart, we read the conditions, it was difficult conditions for both teams and I thought we played them superbly. We had the confidence that we would finish the game stronger than they would.”

Care came on to inspire England to victory, creating tries for Joseph and May with intelligent kicks before scoring one of his own in the final seconds.

And Jones hailed the contribution of Care and his fellow finishers, including Simmonds, Slade and Williams.

“The finishers all brought energy, vibrancy and a bit of creativity, especially Danny,” added Jones. “Ben Youngs did a great job but Danny came on at the right time, saw space behind and executed brilliantly.

For England the victory was a fifth on the bounce against the Wallabies having won a 2016 Test series in Australia 3-0, while also defeating them in last year’s Old Mutual Wealth Series.

And Jones says the focus must now be on following that up with an improved performance next weekend against Samoa.

“It’s nice to win 5-0 but we are only as good as our last game and we need to keep on improving,” said Jones. “Samoa are a dangerous team, if you give them a little bit at the start of the game they literally grow another leg, so the first 20 minutes are very important,” he said. “We’ll get together on Monday lunchtime and then we’ll focus on how to beat Samoa.”