Leaking 42 points at home is 'unforgivable'

DEFLATED Jamie George declared his side were not up to scratch after they slumped to another dismal defeat at England headquarters.

- ADAM HATHAWAY

The national skipper saw his side go down 42-37 to unfancied Australia after they blew yet another tight game.

After losing close games on the spin to New Zealand, George’s side made it a forlorn four in a row as they crashed to defeat to the ninth-ranked side in the world.

Maro Itoje had given England the lead with two minutes to go but the hosts could not seal the deal with a breakaway score from replacement Max Jorgensen giving the Wallabies the match.

England, who led 15-3 in the first quarter, face South Africa on Saturday, who arrive on the back of two World Cup wins and last year’s semi-final win over Steve Borthwick’s side and George knows his side have to step up.

The hooker said: “Leaking 42 points at home is unforgivable and a large part of that is down to loss of collisions. They got front foot ball, they have got pretty good players out wide who made us look vulnerable.

“The blueprint of how we wanted to play was in the first 20 minutes of the game, I think we put Australia under a lot of pressure.