England’s first-half increase was enough to tie the series at 1-1, as they beat Australia 25-17 in Brisbane on Saturday.
The Red Rose dominated the first period, advancing 19-0 with the try of Billy Vunipola and 14 points from the boot of Owen Farrell.
Dave Rennie’s men responded through Taniela Tupou shortly before the interval before Farrell put the visitors ahead 22-7 at the start of the second half.
This Wallabies team has a lot of spirit, however, and came back into the clash when Samu Kerevi hit the ground and Noah Lolesio added a triple.
Australia were within a converted turn at the time, but Farrell’s penalty proved to be enough for England to arrange a showdown with the winner in Sydney.
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Preparing for the showdown in Sydney will try to put together battered teams, but Eddie Jones will also have many highlights for next week as England started out as a freight train.
In the first five minutes there were victories all over the field, especially a Vunipola try of a well-worked line-up play.
Ellis Genge had set the tone for him in the opening seconds when he faced Michael Hooper and winger Jordan Petaia left with a concussion to heighten the Wallabies ’problems.
Farrell added two penalties to his conversion to extend England’s 13-0 lead, but there were tense moments when referee Andrew Brace examined Genge’s replays mistreating Nic White on the ground before opting against a card.
Izaia Perese had come on as Petaia’s replacement, but he was sent to the sin-bin by a deliberate nock-on and Farrell was ready again, although Australia were lucky not to concede a penalty try.
England continued to dominate, separating the Wallabies ahead and pouring in the gaps, while their kicking game was much more evident than in the first test.
Australia struggled to see the way back when Farrell completed another period of total control with his fourth penalty, but a powerful mix ignited his attack and a first visit on the 22nd of the match ended in a Tupou try.
Another setback came when Itoje left after a strong collision with Noah Lolesio and Perese was next to increase the number of corpses when he left the field of play with a knee injury.
Australia’s response
Just as Farrell appeared to have settled England with three points, a fall restart from Ollie Chessum allowed Australia to increase the pressure and once Tupou had almost overtaken Kerevi came to finish the job.
Marcus Smith was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent’s quick free kick after 80 minutes.
England launched an attack, but had no obvious conviction before and were soon caught in their own 22 after the bright counter-attack of wing Tom Wright.
Mistakes were costing the Wallabies and when Jack Nowell launched a ticketing run, the tide changed, Farrell was available to finish the job.
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