Schmidt's Wallabies sink England in frantic encounter

Former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt made a winning return to Twickenham as Max Jorgensen's last-gasp try gave Australia a dramatic 42-37 victory over England in a frantic encounter.

Marcus Smith appeared to have orchestrated a successful fightback for Steve Borthwick's side by creating two tries for Ollie Sleightholme, only for a rollercoaster climax to leave him thumping the pitch in despair.

It seemed as though England had finally prevailed when Maro Itoje surged over in the 77th minute to cancel out Andrew Kellaway’s breakaway try two minutes earlier, but the swashbuckling Wallabies were not done.

With the match about to enter its 83rd minute, they engineered the opportunity for Jorgensen to score with rugby league superstar Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i involved as part of a classy union debut.

FULL MATCH DETAILS

It was a cruel finish but England paid the price for a poor defensive display and they have lost both of their autumn games so far after falling 24-22 to New Zealand a week earlier.

South Africa are the next visitors to Twickenham in seven days’ time but that grudge match must be tackled without Tom Curry, the all-action openside who was knocked out when tackling Rob Valetini.

Play was held up for several minutes while Curry received treatment and the Sale forward was eventually able to walk from the field but now faces a 12-day stand down period.

Australia’s initial comeback coincided with his departure in the 23rd minute and England were also disrupted by Immanuel Feyi-Waboso being led off with half an hour to go after suffering a head injury while tackling Jeremy Williams.

Helped by England’s shortcomings in defence the Wallabies, ranked ninth in the world, were excellent once they had recovered from a poor start