England cap unbeaten year by beating Wallabies 37-21

And yet, when the interval came, the close scoreline meant England was chastened but emboldened, no longer nervous but out for retribution. Having survived a blistering start by the Wallabies, who lost three TMO try decisions in the first 15 minutes, England gathered under the stands to snap out of its funk.

“We recuperated, got our heads in a better space,” England coach Eddie Jones said.

Retribution came quickly. A refocused defense stopped the Wallabies at the gainline and forced errors. And the attack, centered around a masterful effort by scrumhalf Ben Youngs, was smart.

Two converted tries within 10 minutes of the new half propelled England to a 37-21 win and a perfect 13-out-of-13 winning record in a calendar year. The English hadn’t done that since 1992, when they played only six tests.

England dominated the second half to the extent that the Wallabies touched enemy territory only twice.

Jones said: “To win the second half 24-5 is a pretty fair effort.”

The result also was England’s 14th straight win dating to last year, four of them against Australia, to equal the national record streak by the great 2002-03 team.

“The 2003 side is a much better side than we are at the moment,” Jones said. “They could win any number of ways, and they had a very, very consistent scrum and lineout. We don’t have that yet.”

Neither did England have any world-class players, he added: “We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re only the No. 2 team in the world. But to beat the third-ranked country in the world 4-0 is fantastic.”

As good as England was in the second half, it was as poor in the first.

Australia’s opening try started from a scrum, which was ironic because the scrum was a hostile subject between the coaches in the buildup. England had the put-in on a defensive five-meter scrum, and the ball bounced off hooker Dylan Hartley’s thigh into Australia’s feet. Out it flashed, and Dane Haylett-Petty came off his right wing to give left wing Sefa Naivalu an easy overlap and score.

The Wallabies should have set England a difficult chase, but they couldn’t touch down again. Center Tevita Kuridrani twice missed scoring a try in a fifth straight test: One was ruled out by an earlier knock-on, and the other because he was held up over the line. Another try by prop Sekope Kepu was also ruled out because he was held up.

England clawed back with penalties and an opportunist try, coming from a Kepu pass along the ground hacked upfield by Owen Farrell and scooped up and scored by center Jonathan Joseph.

They trailed 16-13 at halftime, then all of a sudden, it seemed, they were 27-16 ahead and out of reach.

A Joseph grubber kick to the in-goal was pounced on by right wing Marland Yarde within five minutes. Another five minutes later, No. 8 Nathan Hughes make big blindside meters off a scrum to earn a penalty. Australia relaxed, and Youngs quick-tapped and ran to the line virtually untouched.

“Turned our backs, that’s unforgivable,” Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said.

Farrell nailed all six of his goalkicks for a 15-point haul (and an 81-point tally against Australia this year), and England was ahead by 11 with half an hour left.

That was time enough for a Kepu try, Haylett-Petty to receive the Wallabies’ 10th yellow card of the year, and flanker David Pocock, playing his last test until 2018 to take a sabbatical, to give an intercept try to Joseph.

As England took a lap of honor, the Wallabies took their lumps in the same dressing room in which they finished 2015, after losing the Rugby World Cup final. This was their ninth loss in 15 tests this year but Cheika was encouraged.

“Two disappointing finishes to `15 and `16, but we definitely improved a lot, got a lot of young lads with test experience,” he said. “I’m very positive about the team.”