The England rugby team recorded only their second Test series win in Australia after defeating the Wallabies in the third and final Test at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground in New South Wales.
England boss Eddie Jones will be pleased with his side’s impressive comeback having narrowly lost the opening Test 30-28 in Perth, before bouncing back to level the series 25-17 in Brisbane. But England rose to the occasion winning 21-17 in Sydney, playing in what commentators speculated as potentially being the last rugby international to be played at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground.
Newcomers and stalwarts
Newcomers and stalwarts
Eddie Jones will be especially pleased with how many of his debutants settled into the Test arena in Australia with ease. Young London Irish full back Henry Arundell scored a sensational debut try with his first touch of the game in the opening Test match. Meanwhile, new scrum half Jack van Poortlviet fresh from winning the Gallagher Premiership with Leicester Tigers, offered fresh impetus in the No.9 jersey which will leave England fans purring.
The Vunipola brothers were impressive across the series after their recent hiatus from the England side, making strong ball carries that the Wallabies often struggled to contain. Meanwhile, Ellis Genge gets better every time he puts on an England shirt. His strong and dynamic carry against Australia centre Samu Kerevi in the third Test will be doing the rounds on social media for many months to come!
Key learnings
England did their homework ahead of this tour and took things back to basics. The England forward pack carried very aggressively helping to give their exciting backline more time and space to work with. England were in the ascendency at the lineout throughout the series, manufacturing a textbook try off a driving maul in the second Test that was straight off the training ground.
However, they weren’t afraid to move the point of attack to keep the Wallaby defence guessing, with the impressive Billy Vunipola distributing a lot more than in recent years.
It was as big summer for the home nations as Ireland won their first ever Test series in New Zealand, Wales secured their first ever win on South African soil and Scotland were a whisker away from winning their own Test series in Argentina. With the gap between the top 10 nations closing in and the South Hemisphere giants stuttering home form, England will be fancying their chances at the Rugby World Cup in France next year.
What next for England?
The players will now be on holiday before joining their clubs for pre-season training later this summer. They’ll come back together in November for four epic Test matches against Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa in the Autumn Nations Series. To find out more about our hospitality packages for these fixtures click here.
