The Wallabies have been sunk 37-21 by England at Twickenham to end their 2016 season in hugely disappointing fashion.
The home side ran in four tries to Australia’s two to secure a fourth successive victory over Michael Cheika’s side, who have now lost a record ninth match in a calendar year.
In contrast, it was England’s 14th successive victory and the first time they have gone unbeaten in a calendar year, with wins in 13 straight matches in 2016, under former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.
Depsite the lopsided look to the scoreline, it was the tourists who came racing out of the blocks to dominate the first 20 minutes of a breathless opening stanza.
Despite the early setback of a missed Bernard Foley penalty, the Wallabies laid siege to the English line and looked to have taken the lead through Tevita Kuridrani after just seven minutes.
However, David Pocock was adjudged to have knocked-on after hunting down Owen Farrell as he tried to dive onto a Reece Hodge forward kick to knock the ball loose.
But the Wallabies didn’t have to wait too long for their opening try after winning the scrum against the head thanks to Pocock raking out the ball out, and it was spread wide by Dane Haylett-Petty for Sefa Naivalu to score.
A Foley penalty extended the lead to 10-0 after Kuridrani had been held up by a desperate England defence, with Owen Farrell adding a pair of three-pointers with the boot to reduce the deficit to four points.
In an ominous sign for Cheika’s side England scored following an Australia error when Nick Phipps’ errant pass to Sekope Kepu fell behind the prop and his desperate attempt to knock the ball back to a gold jersey only fell into the path of Farrell.
The classy centre’s kick along the ground saw Jonathan Joseph win the foot race against Mike Hooper to touch down under the posts.
Farrell’s conversion gave England a three-point lead before Foley bisected the uprights twice to give the Wallabies a 16-13 halftime advantage.
England started much the stronger after the restart and scored a questionable try in the 46th minute through Marland Yarde.
Yarde was adjudged by the TMO to have got the final touch ahead of a diving Israel Folau in the right corner, following a George Ford kick, to give Jones’ side a lead they never relinquished.
Matters worsened for the Wallabies four minutes later when a Ben Youngs quick-tap kick, following a blatant forward pass missed by referee Jaco Peyper, caught Phipps flat-footed and the England halfback scampered over for a try.
Farrell’s conversion and a third penalty effectively ended the game at 30-16 before Kefu, showing outstanding footwork, gave the Wallabies a flicker of hope, only for Foley to miss the conversion attempt.
But any chance of a dramatic fightback ended 10 minutes from time when Haylett-Petty was sin-binned for using his shoulder in a tackle on Mike Brown and late-on Joseph added his second after hauling in Pocock’s loose pass to sprint unchallenged over the line.
