RUGBY
Rugby Union: England 20 Australia 13
OWEN FARRELL believes the sky’s the limit for England.
Farrell claimed his first try in 17 Tests to seal a second-half fightback against the Aussies at Twickenham.
Argentina are next up on Saturday, followed by the mighty All Blacks seven days later.
But fly-half Farrell reckons England will only get better after claiming their eighth win in nine Tests.
He said: “It was a big game for us. Last year we were slow out of the blocks but after that our confidence will be flying.
“Australia have been together for a long time and played a lot of Test matches. We’ve had barely two weeks.
“The way we came out in the second half and took the game to them was outstanding.
“We know we’ve got stuff to work on. The first half wasn’t the most fluid. But we will put that right and we will be confident going into next week. The character the lads showed and the fight was there.”
Farrell bounced back after missing three first-half penalties.
Australia led 13-6 at the break thanks to Matt Toomua’s try and Quade Cooper’s kicking.
“It was something I learned pretty early on,” said Farrell.
“Why would you let it affect you? You’ve got to move on.
“You have got to have a clear head and work out what went wrong but you have got to put it behind you. If you focus on what has just happened you are not going to have a grip on the game and that is what a No.10’s job is.
“Irrespective of how a kick went you still have to back yourself and go again.”
Captain Chris Robshaw started the fightback with his first try for his country although it should not have stood as man-of-the-match Mike Brown was out of play in the build-up.
Robshaw said: “We’ve come a long way in 12 months. This was the time to kick on and start getting some scalps.
“Many of us in this group, myself included, have never beaten Australia before and it’s a great memento for us.
“It was about getting the win and that enables us to focus on the coming week. There was always going to be a bit of rust and this was what we needed.”
England’s 2003 World Cup winners were paraded around the pitch at half-time to remind the current crop of how far they still have to go.
England coach Stuart Lancaster said: “One of the reasons I’m most pleased is because we won in front of them.
“They inspired us – me as a coach and the players – and we wanted to do them proud in the shirt they wore with pride.”
Lancaster is weighing up giving a debut to Northampton’s Luther Burrell against the Pumas after centre Billy Twelvetrees struggled to make an impact.
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