England Rugby Team clinch historic series win in Australia

England win historic first series v Australia

After defeating Wales 27-13 in the Old Mutual Wealth Series on Saturday, May 29th, England traveled down under for their first ever series against host Australia. England defeated the Wallabies 28-39 in the first test on Saturday June 11, and again 7-23 in the second test on Saturday, June 18. England's upcoming Test against Australia in Sydney on Saturday is "like a World Cup final", said England manager Eddie Jones. England have beaten Australia in Brisbane and Melbourne and established a 2-0 lead that secured their first series victory down under. As a result, Jones' side have moved up three places to second in the world rankings, behind New Zealand.

"To win a World Cup, you have to win three big games in a row," said the fifty six year old Australian manager. "The quarter-final, semi-final and then the final. It's a great dress rehearsal for us." Jones next has his sights on defeating the New Zealand All Blacks, who won the Rugby Union World Cup last year. "It's good for world rugby that England are strong. New Zealand have been up there all the time and it's about time someone put a real challenge on them and we are going to be the side that do that,” added Jones. "We have massive areas we need to improve - the consistency of our line-up, the breakdown and we need to develop our attack. We can do that over the next three years to take us on the road we want to go. There isn't a schedule."

England captain Dylan Hartley scored England’s first try in their win over the Aussies in Melbourne, after England’s victory in Brisbane the previous week. Hartley said he is proud of his side after they earned a first-ever series victory in Australia, and urged his teammates to complete a 3-0 whitewash. “Let's finish the job properly,” said Hartley about the upcoming third try. “It’s a great achievement by the team and I’m really proud of the guys,” said Hartley. “The real challenge now is to go one more next week and finish the job properly. We’ve got to pat ourselves on the back. It’s an incredible achievement"

The aggressive England side made over 200 tackles in the match. Hartley noted the improvement in England defense after conceding four tries in the opening Test of the Australian series. “The main fix from last week was defense, we let in four tries and that hurt our pride,” said Hartley. “The Australian players are fantastic with ball in hand so the main challenge was to defensively set the ruck a bit better, get our spacing right and obviously get off the line and make some dominant hits and I think we delivered.”

England are seeking an eighth win in eight games under the leadership of Head Coach Eddie Jones. “We’ve got to pat ourselves on the back. It’s an incredible achievement," said Hartley. “The real challenge now is how driven we are as a group and for me that means finishing the series with another win and I know everyone wants that.” Manager Jones said that England's victory against Australia demonstrated the "tactical flexibility" they need to win in world rugby competition.

Jones' side made almost four times the number of tackles as Australia, and had less territory and possession, but secured the series victory with the 23-7 win in Melbourne. "We had to play rope-a-dope," said Jones. "We have to be tactically flexible in Test rugby. That's why I'm so pleased. Other sides will have 60% possession and we have to be able to score points with that possession - then we'll be a really, really good team."

England have an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series going into Saturday’s final Test in Sydney. It is the first time ever that England have won a rugby union series in Australia. England wants a 3-0 record in the series and to become the best rugby team in the world. "The boys started talking about it on the field and we're committed to doing that. We want to be the best team in the world," added Jones. "If the All Blacks were in this situation now, what would they be thinking? They'd be thinking 3-0. If we want to be the best team in the world, we have to think 3-0."

Captain Dylan Hartley was asked what he thinks about the possibility of a 3-0 series win. "Why not? We're a team who want to improve and be number one in the world," said Hartely. Wallabies head-coach Michael Cheika said that England had been able to stifle the running game that earned a 33-13 win for Australia in the Rugby World Cup in October. "They've seen that we're going to play a lot of footy, chosen the opposite way and their way has been victorious, pretty clearly," said Chelka.

England captain Dylan Hartley was named “Man of the Match”. "The key thing we took from last week was defense - Australia are one of the best in the world with the ball in hand. It was important we got some good shots in - we took the onus on ourselves to defend better," said Hartley. England boss Eddie Jones said after the win, "We had to defend and play off scraps. That's how we executed the game. But we're not going to be satisfied unless we win 3-0. I thought we'd get a bit more out of the set-piece, but with the scrum collapsing all the time it was difficult to get an advantage."

Australia v England Squads

Australia

Folau; Haylett-Petty, Kuridrani, Kerevi, Horne; Foley, Phipps; Slipper, Moore, Kepu, Arnold, Carter, Fardy, Hooper, McMahon.

Replacements: Morahan for Haylett-Petty (70), Lealiifano for Kerevi (61), Frisby for Phipps (70), Smith for Slipper (47), Polota-Nau for Moore (55), Holmes for Kepu (47).

England

Brown; Watson, Joseph, Farrell, Nowell; Ford, Youngs; M Vunipola, Hartley, Cole, Itoje, Kruis, Robshaw, Haskell, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Daly for Watson (77), Care for Youngs (66), Mullan for M. Vunipola (66), George for Hartley (72), Hill for Cole (66), Lawes for Kruis (56), Launchbury for Robshaw (72), Clifford for Haskell (72).

Buy Rugby Union Tickets for England National Team

Autumn Internationals tickets for England
England v South Africa Tickets 12 Nov 2016 Twickenham Stadium
England v Fiji Tickets 19 Nov 2016 Twickenham Stadium
England v Argentina Tickets 26 Nov 2016 Twickenham Stadium
England v Australia Tickets 3 Dec 2016 Twickenham Stadium