Rugby Union betting: Back Australia to draw level with England in 2nd Test

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Following England’s 39-28 victory in the 1st Test in Brisbane, the pressure is now on Australia to win the 2nd Test at AAMI Park in Melbourne to keep the three-match series alive.

This was only the fourth victory England has ever secured on Australian soil and they have never won a three-Test series down under.  They will certainly believe they are capable of ending that record, having shown real quality and confirmed that they have a very fine team in the making under Jones in extending their unbeaten record under him to seven games.  

Australia raced into a 10-0 lead in the opening 15-minutes in Brisbane courtesy of two unconverted tries from Michael Hooper and Israel Folau only for England, very much against the run of play, to go into the interval with a 19-13 lead.  Having weathered the early storm, it was the boot of Owen Farrell that kept England in touch, with the Saracens man going on to kick 24-points.

England showed great character after their early set-back and owed much to Eddie Jones’s ruthless tactical switch in replacing Leroy Burrell after just 29-minutes, with Farrell being switched to inside-centre and George Ford taking over at 10.  The England forwards, James Haskell and Maro Itoje in particular, also went on to have outstanding games.

From being 10-0 down, England went on to score 29-points with the Wallabies registering just a single penalty in response until they launched a fight-back of their own.  It proved to be a case of too little, too late though and England secured their finest result in the southern hemisphere since winning the World Cup in 2003, scoring their highest points total in any Test in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa in the process.

The Wallabies did outscore England by four tries to three, but indiscipline proved costly for Michael Cheika’s men with England winning the penalty count 15-8.

In a further blow to the Wallabies, David Pocock has been ruled out for the remainder of the series after suffering a fractured eye socket.  Sam McMahon could be a possible replacement.

If Australia can cut out the indiscipline and avoid conceding cheap penalties, they are capable of levelling up the series in Melbourne.