TWICKENHAM -- Michael Cheika bemoaned Australia's error count as they fell to a 37-21 defeat to England at Twickenham but said the end-of-year Tests have provided the Wallabies with an opportunity to develop an improved squad depth.
Cheika did not agree with a few of Jaco Peyper's calls but said it was his team's inability to break England's second-half momentum which cost them the match.
Australia were 10-0 to the good after 18 minutes and had England on the ropes but were unable to preserve that lead as Eddie Jones' side consigned them to their ninth defeat of 2016.
"First half all told, all they got was the drop ball and toe through for the [Jonathan Joseph] try," Cheika said. "We had a lot of good continuity.
"In the second, they are always going to get a run of momentum, and in the moments we had to try and break that, we made errors. We might have had a penalty against us and then back that up, and when we saved that situation we would knock-on and make back to back errors."
Cheika said the way the players turned their back on Ben Youngs who quick-tapped a penalty to score England's third try was "unforgiveable" and also said they should never have attempted the play which led to Joseph's intercept try in the 74th minute.
It was their fourth meeting with England this year with Jones' side winning on each occasion and Cheika was impressed by them. "They play a good game," Cheika said of England.
"They believe very much in the style of game they play, a pressure, conservative style and in Australia they scored a lot of tries off errors when we loaded up their attack.
"They play a really good solid game, are very well coached, and you don't win 14 in a row out of luck. They're playing good rugby, their own style, and that's why they're winning games."
Saturday's match against England was Australia's 15th Test of 2016 and their fifth in the end-of-year international schedule and Cheika said the programme has been gruelling but that was not the reason behind their defeat at Twickenham.
"We started getting fit towards the end on the tour, I didn't think we started the season in great fitness," Cheika said. "Five Tests are difficult but I don't think that had anything to do with the performance tonight.
"That's more about recovery and the bigger picture. The boys will be training first week of January so it's more about break time. It is what it is.
"We knew there were 15 Tests this year against the top eight nations. We had a massive turnover in our squad and as much as tonight was disappointing, we finished last year in the same dressing room after a loss so we've had two disappointing finishes to '15 and '16.
"We've improved a lot as a team and have given some young lads good experience. We'll continue to grow our group so we have a good selection to choose from by 2018 and can narrow that down."