Joe Schmidt pinpoints key ‘difference’ in England’s win over Wallabies

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt believes England’s bench changed the game in Saturday’s 25-7 Autumn Nations Series defeat, as the hosts built on a tight half-time lead with 15 unanswered points during a clinical second term.

After last weekend’s four-point win over Eddie Jones’ Japan in Tokyo, the Wallabies looked to make it two from two in their 2025 Spring Tour – hoping to repeat their heroics from 12 months earlier, having beaten England in an all-time thriller at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

England fly-half George Ford broke the deadlock in the 19^th minute with a successful shot at the uprights, before the home side extended their lead to 10 in a blink. Ben Earl crossed for the first try of the match midway through the half, with Ford adding the extras off the kicking tee.

Wallabies winger Harry Potter made it a one-score game with a length-of-the-field intercept try deep into the half, with pivot Tane Edmed converting the long-range effort to make it 10-7 at the break, but the visitors wouldn’t score any other points.

It was one-way traffic during the second 40, with replacements Henry Pollock and Luke Cowan-Dickie among the try-scorers, along with Alex Mitchell. England had 45 per cent of possession but made the most of their opportunities on a “very tough” night for the Australians.

“A few lessons out there for sure,” Schmidt said post-game.

“I think we’re right in the game at 10-7, at half-time, and even leading into half-time, we had a little bit of momentum, and after half-time had a couple of 22 entries, one where we got really good momentum.

“I felt that we’re right in it but I did think that the bench made a difference from England. They really did step up the level of intensity and the physical combat that they brought. Until that time, I thought the game was really well balanced.

“From a couple of kicks there were a couple of tries but the likes of Harry Potter, Andrew Kellaway, there was some really good work from our players in the air. I think it’s something that everyone has to just keep working on because they were the two entry points for England into the game.

“We had an early one where when Harry Potter tried to throw a ball over to Andrew Kellaway on an overlap and it got intercepted, but then Harry certainly made up for that from his length of the field effort.

“We’ve obviously got to have a bit of a look at some of our maul defence, but we got some really good pressure on their lineout. We stole a few of their lineouts, got good pressure on their lineout, but once they started to get a flow of possession from touch, it did make it very tough.”

With the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup Draw one month away, the Wallabies will be desperate to bounce back, as they look to rise up the world rankings into the top six. If they can move up one position, they’ll be part of the top band of teams for the pool draw.

Australia face Italy up next. These two teams haven’t met in three years, with the Azzurri claiming a famous 28-27 win over Dave Rennie’s Wallabies at Stadio Artemio Franchi during the Autumn Internationals in 2022.

The Wallabies will also take on Ireland and France during their End of Year Tour. Wallabies captain Harry Wilson insists the team must be better when they take on Italy next week, echoing Schmidt’s thoughts on the England defeat

“It was obviously really disappointing from us tonight but I guess the beauty of a five-game tour, we do have next week,” Wilson said.

“I know the group’s going to be really motivated to improve because we’ve got to be a hell of a lot better than what we were tonight.

“It’s a very disappointed change room at the moment but I know once we hit the ground in Italy, we’ll be very motivated for what will be a very tough Test match.”