Defence the best form of attack, says England winger Elliot Daly after 'flattering' win over Australia

  • Winger hailed ability to turn a stern defence into clinical counter-attack
  • Daly's try in the 55th minute opened the floodgates in a 30-6 win at Twickenham 
  • England put down a marker with 24-point victory against Australia on Saturday

Elliot Daly credited England’s late try-scoring onslaught against Australia to their ability to turn a stern defence into clinical counter-attack.

An attritional first half yielded just six points, all from the boot of Owen Farrell, before Daly’s try in the 55th minute opened the floodgates.

‘The scoreline flattered a bit,’ said Daly following the 30-6 win. ‘We had to tighten up a little because of the weather but we executed our exits pretty well and put them under pressure.

Elliot Daly’s try in the 55th minute opened the floodgates against Australia on Saturday

Elliot Daly’s try in the 55th minute opened the floodgates against Australia on Saturday

‘We got a lot of tries through our defence today which is great. We were determined to defend well and stop them scoring.’


Daly’s score split opinion. Ben Youngs’s rushed clearance kick — after Tevita Kuridrani spilled the ball following a searing burst from Samu Kerevi — appeared to be trickling towards touch.

But Daly caught Kurtley Beale napping as he came steaming through to poke the ball, which was just a blade of grass away from the touchline, downfield before hacking on and touching down. The TMO adjudged that the ball stayed in play and the England wing believes the crucial decision was the correct one.

England put down a marker with 24-point victory against Australia at Twickenham

England put down a marker with 24-point victory against Australia at Twickenham

‘I don’t think the ball hit the line. To be honest it happened so quickly and I wasn’t going to worry about it at the time. I just got my boot to the ball and ran as hard as I could.’

It was a straight shootout between England and Australia for who would cement their spot as the world’s No2-ranked side and the hosts lay down a marker with this 24-point victory at Twickenham. And Daly went on to repeat the mantra which has become synonymous with this team under Eddie Jones’s stewardship — England have the All Blacks in their sights.

‘It’s important for us to stay second in the world rankings,’ said Daly. ‘We want to be the best team in the world and that [staying second in the rankings] is what we did today.

‘We are growing as a team and you could see that on the pitch. Everyone was calm, even at 6-3 we weren’t panicking. We knew we could cause them problems at any time and that’s what we did.’

 

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