Quins duo shine but it’s another defeat for England
Chandler Cunningham-South bagged two tries in the opening 12 minutes and Marcus Smith turned in another scintillating performance for England at Twickenham.
But just like last week against New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium, the dynamic Harlequins duo finished up on the losing side – this time after a topsy-turvy 10-try spectacular against Australia.
In a match that saw the lead change hands six times, England were undone in the final play when they gifted possession away as the clock ran into the red, having seemingly secured a win moments earlier with a Maro Itoje try.
It was rough on the Quins pair, who both turned in superb performances.
For Cunningham-South, earning only his ninth cap, it must have felt at the outset that a dream day was unfolding for him. He had only scored one Test try before, but here he crossed the whitewash twice with the game still in its infancy.
His first in the right corner was the direct consequence of the always-imaginative Smith sending a perfect grubber kick through for Ollie Lawrence to burst onto and set up the try.
In another attack soon after, Smith threw a dummy to wrong-foot the Wallabies’ defence to create more danger and Cunningham-Smith profited by crashing over from close range – a try more typical of a forward than his first.
The flanker’s try, converted by Smith, was followed by the Quins fly-half landing the first of two penalties to make it 15-3.
The third of his successful conversions should have sealed the deal. He was nerveless off the tee then with the scores tied at 35-35 after Itoje’s try.
Had England managed to retrieve the Aussie restart instead of spilling it, victory would have been theirs. Instead, they allowed the visitors the chance to take the ball up the field and clinch an 84th minute winning try through Max Jorgensen.
England’s failure to close out from winning positions has become a recurring theme and they have now lost four in a row to narrow margins. This one ended 37-42.
But the outcome feels particularly cruel on the Harlequins players. Cunningham-South’s energy and close contact hits impressed throughout. For Smith, it arguably felt even worse. He is the man who makes England tick. A driving force. Inventive. Quick-thinking. He brings variety and danger.
It was his incisive kick through for club mate Alex Dombrandt – the Quins player coming off the bench for an injured Tom Curry – which paved the way for Ollie Sleightholme’s second touchdown of the afternoon during a chaotic second half. He didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
Last week, coach Steve Borthwick made the unforgivable error of withdrawing an on-fire Smith against the All Blacks and his replacement George Ford fluffed two chances to win it. Bothwick again saw fit to bring Ford on after 63 minutes.
This time, he did not bench Smith but did drop him to a full-back role in order to accommodate Ford. Once again, it did not look the correct call. The Sale Sharks player blundered with a pass to gift the Aussies a breakaway try – their fourth of the game – and England surrendered the centre-stage play-making of their star player.
