mens
international
More than 81,000 fans watched from the stands at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham as the Wallabies and England played a 42-37 thriller over two years, decided by some brilliance from Len Ikitau and lightning pace from Max Jorgensen.
Maro Itoje crashed over in the final five minutes to put England ahead, but the Wallabies dared to dream as the clock ticked down after 80 minutes. The Australians spread the ball to the left in the 84thth minutes, executing a game-defining play to perfection.
Fraser McReight drew out some defenders with a clever link-up play before Ikitau delivered the famous ‘Jorg’ shot into space. The winger flew down the left touchline at the home of rugby, before swanning over the try line for the points.
England exacted some revenge with a clinical result against the Wallabies at the same venue 12 months ago, and now a new chapter in this legendary sporting rivalry will be written in November Nations Championship window.
The Wallabies left Australian shores last weekend, making the long haul to the United Kingdom ahead of the final four Tests of the season. Jorgensen described the Allianz Stadium as a “frightening place”, but he takes confidence from that famous night in 2024.
“Two years ago, in 2024, it was a pretty special night for the whole team,” Jorgensen told reporters this week.
“It’s pretty cool to win at Twickenham, the home of rugby. It’s hard to win. To do it that way was pretty cool.”
“Obviously a disappointing last year, it didn’t really go our way, not the way we hoped. We want to take that learning into this week and hopefully put in a really good performance.”
Jorgensen added: “Just having that feeling and knowing that you can win at Twickenham, that you’ve done it before. It can be a scary place, 85,000 people singing, singing. It’s a different type of atmosphere than in Australia.”
“Having that confidence that we know we’ve done it before and we can do it is definitely good.”
The Wallabies are looking to bounce back from two defeats in the Bledisloe Cup, with All black people wipes out the series 2-0. Shortly before that, the Australians were on a six-match unbeaten run, with new coach Les Kiss overseeing five of them.
Joe Schmidt’s final game was a 57-10 demolition Italy in Perth, before Kiss led the side to famous results against Japan and Argentina. It was the first time the Wallabies had secured a series win away to Los Pumas, having drawn the second Test.
“Today I had a good day in training, there are good things and the guys feel very good,” Jorgensen explained.
“A couple of disappointing losses to the All Blacks. We’ve had six games in a row where we’ve played some really good football, so we’re building on that, taking some sharp lessons from the All Blacks and then taking that into this week.”