Australia coach Joe Schmidt hailed Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii as an “aerial monster” after cross-code catch marked his first senior rugby union match playing in the Wallabies’ thrilling 42-37 win over England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Suaalii, 21, a multi-million dollar convert from rugby league, was named player of the match after causing England problems under the high ball, the outside center’s sublime pass also sending the full-back Tom Wright for the ball. first of five Wallabies tries.
The lead changed hands four times late in the match before, with England 37-35, Australian substitute fullback Max Jorgensen scoring the last of the match’s 10 tries in the 84th minute.
Schmidt, reflecting on Suaalii’s performance, said: “I thought he was strong. I thought he was really well supported by Lenny Ikitau. Lenny was outstanding.
“Joseph obviously got some kickoffs for us. He’s a bit of an aerial monster, but at the same time, it was also a good learning experience for Joseph.”
Concerns have been raised over whether throwing Suaalii into the cauldron of a crowd of more than 81,000 at Twickenham was a wise decision.
But Schmidt, the former Ireland manager, said: “I know there have been doubts about his selection and the risk he poses.
“I think people would now see the opportunity to get a young guy like that involved,” added the New Zealander.
It was only Australia’s second victory in 12 matches against England and the first against their old rivals at Twickenham since they knocked out the Red Rose brigade from the 2015 World Cup.
It also follows a dismal return to this year’s Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship, where Australia lost five of their six matches, and marked an ideal start to their Grand Slam tour, with the country of Wales in difficulty for the Wallabies.
“Three tries in the last five minutes to win it, lose it and win it, it was so up and down, but one thing that remained was our team effort,” Schmidt said .
– “Let off the gas” –
England captain Jamie George, meanwhile, said the hosts produced an “unacceptable” display after missing 35 tackles against the Wallabies.
It was England’s fifth successive defeat to a leading rugby nation and followed last week’s painful 24-22 defeat to New Zealand in their opening match in November.
“A 42-point leak at home is unacceptable and a lot of that is due to collision losses,” George said.
“Australia have the ball in front and they have some very good players who made us look vulnerable.”
The hooker added: “Sometimes in a test match like that you think the job is done. We took our foot off the accelerator. Credit to Australia, they were very good, but we We can’t continue like this.”
England flyhalf Marcus Smith created two tries for replacement winger Ollie Sleightholme before a late try exchange involving Australian Andrew Kellaway and hosts Maro Itoje left the Wallabies facing a 37-35 defeat.
But the final twist came when England coach Steve Borthwick said: “It’s a game we should have won. We were in a position to win several times.
“When you hand over that much of the ball and play an unstructured game against a team with that much pace, you give them opportunities. We gave them way too many opportunities.”
England now have the daunting task of trying to return to winning ways against world champions South Africa at Twickenham next weekend, with flanker Tom Curry already ruled out of facing the Springboks after being eliminated during a tackle on Saturday.
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