Australian trash-talking helped England to Sydney win, says Courtney Lawes

The England captain, Courtney Lawes, has revealed that Australia’s pre-match trash-talking provided the fuel to fire his side to a third Test victory and clinch the series against the Wallabies.

Tries from Freddie Steward and Marcus Smith helped England to a dogged 21-17 win in Sydney, founded on a resolute defensive effort, most notably in the closing stages when the Wallabies were threatening a late comeback. Lawes has spoken of the gruelling nature of the season, having finished the British & Irish Lions series last August, and Eddie Jones paid tribute to his captain’s resilience after the match.

Related: Marcus Smith’s breakaway sparks England to series victory over Australia

Lawes also highlighted how Australia had talked about “shutting the Pommies up” in the buildup while the scrum-half Nic White had pointed out England’s off-the-ball antics and taken issue with an incident involving Ellis Genge in the second Test in Brisbane.

As a result and despite the end-of-season fatigue, Lawes revealed England were provided with the perfect motivation to go back to the well once more. He said: “We saw plenty of stuff in the press from their players and what they were saying – some people targeting Gengey and some people calling us Poms and whatnot.

“It’s all good fuel for our tank and any good team uses that as motivation. We just stayed in it. We have fought for each other … I mean, they give us a good bit of fuel in the press to be fair. They were talking smack about us. That motivated us a bit but the boys stuck together, stuck to our guns.

“It was tough. I’ve spoken through the whole tour about how, as a team, we want to have that feeling of playing for each other. When you are in those kinds of scenarios, that’s the