London – Australia showed their true colours on Saturday when a week after being humiliated by France in Paris they earned a deserved 20-14 victory over England at Twickenham.
England led 9-6 with three Toby Flood penalties after 35 minutes but Nick Cummings then scored the opening try for Australia, only for Manu Tuilagi to reply to give the hosts a fortunate 14-11 halftime lead.
Australia, hammered 33-6 last Saturday when their scrum was obliterated, came out fired up for the second half and with some clever chipped kicks and strong scrummaging allowed Barnes to land three penalties.
England, looking for a third successive victory over the Wallabies, piled on the pressure in the last 20 minutes but paid a heavy price for trying to run kickable penalties as great Australian defending kept them at bay. – Reuters