England 45-22 Australia: Henry Pollock stars as Red Rose claim record victory against Wallabies

By Duncan Bech

England delivered the backlash promised in support of their under-fire head coach Steve Borthwick as Henry Pollock starred in a record 45-22 rout of Australia at Twickenham.

Reeling from a report published on Thursday claiming that Borthwick presided over a toxic environment during the July tour, seven tries were engineered in a show of unity from his players.

One of the best attacking displays of the Borthwick era was lit up by electric performances from Pollock and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who crossed three times between them.

The blow of seeing the explosive Feyi-Waboso limp off with a leg injury at half-time having repeatedly punched holes in Australia’s defence was softened by his replacement Pollock shining on his debut on the wing.

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Dominated

A back row who Borthwick has identified as wing cover, the headline-grabbing 21-year-old adapted to his new position in style.

Australia looked like a side that had just got off the plane, plagued by unforced errors and a lack of bite in contact, and they were duly crushed in the rivals’ last clash before a projected meeting in the quarter-finals of next year’s World Cup.

England dominated the collisions throughout and benefited from an end to the self-destructive disciplinary problems that had conceded 15 yellow cards in their previous eight Tests in 2026.

Henry Slade was named man of the match after taking charge of the midfield and there were also impressive shifts from Ollie Chessum and Maro Itoje, although Seb Atkinson joining Feyi-Waboso in limping off was a setback.

In a continuation of their last Test against Argentina in July, Feyi-Waboso was launched as frequently as possible and England were rewarded with the same kinds of fireworks.

Match action

He glided over after just 81 seconds but the try was disallowed for a forward pass from Ben Curry to Chessum a phase earlier, but alarm bells were already ringing in the Wallabies camp.

By the fifth minute he had carried three times, but it was the forwards who delivered the first try with Jamie George finishing a maul to become the nation’s record try-scoring forward with 18, eclipsing Lawrence Dallaglio.

Ryan Lonergan kicked a penalty and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was a threat in the air, but otherwise Australia were passive and toothless and were incapable of building any pressure.

A Feyi-Waboso dart off a counter-attack launched by George Furbank led to England’s second try as a series of miss passes sent Chessum over.

The Wallabies took another blow when prop Angus Bell was shown a yellow card for a hip-drop tackle and from the ensuing penalty the maul struck again with Joe Heyes scoring.

Australia were thrown a lifeline when Max Jorgensen ran in an intercept try off a Jack van Poortvliet pass on the brink of half-time.

Second half

However, it was a short-lived fightback as Pollock and Freeman made grounds down the wings for Van Poortvliet to cross.

England appeared to have butchered a try-scoring chance down the right, but Pollock scooped up the loose pass and touched down before switching on the afterburners for his second in the same corner as his team’s attack clicked beautifully.

Filipo Daugunu hit back for Australia and once the hosts had wasted a series of opportunities as their accuracy deserted them at key moments, Jeremy Williams added their third try.

England had the final say, however, when Ben Spencer picked off a late intercept to put the Wallabies out of their misery.

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