Australia have brushed off a series of setbacks - including a first-half red card for lock Darcy Swain - to beat England 30-28 at Perth Stadium and snap an eight-match losing streak against their old rivals.
Replacements Jordan Petaia, Folau Fainga'a and Pete Samu scored tries in the last quarter, as the Wallabies recorded their first win over the English since knocking the co-hosts out of the 2015 World Cup.
The result marked quite a turnaround for the Aussies, who must have thought they were cursed, after the first 34 minutes of the contest. They lost first-five Quade Cooper to a calf injury in the warm-up, fullback Tom Banks with a broken forearm 21 minutes in and Swain to a red card for a headbutt just after the half hour mark.
"You can't script sport," said Wallabies captain Michael Hooper. "You can do all these plans and then they go out the window.
"We had to dig deep and go to the well a bit. It's a start, but there's a long way to go."
Swain was dismissed for retaliating to a hair pull from England second row Jonny Hill, who was shown a yellow card for his part in the melee.
That incident aside, the first half was notable only for Maro Itoje's attempts to distract Australia at the lineout with a loud yell, a tactic the referee quickly cautioned him against repeating.
The teams turned around level at 6-6, after two penalties apiece from England kicker Owen Farrell and Australian counterpart Noah Lolesio.
The Wallabies edged ahead from Lolesio's third penalty four minutes after the break, but England prop Ellis Genge rolled over the line on the back of a maul five minutes later to inch England back in front at 11-9.
Australia hit back after 64 minutes, putting together their first sustained attack of the match, then spreading the ball wide for winger Petaia, on for Banks, to finish well in the corner.
England No.8 Billy Vunipola was sent to the sin bin in the 67th minute for a high tackle on Hooper and Australia scored two more tries before his return.
Hooker Fainga'a danced away from a rolling maul to touch down in the 69th minute and loose forward Samu crashed through a series of tacklers to take Australia's lead out to an unassailable 16 points.
England coach Eddie Jones emptied his bench and teenager Henry Arundell - on tour only as an 'apprentice player' - immediately showed why fans back home are so excited by his talent. He danced past three tacklers to score his first test try and made another break that resulted in scrumhalf Jack van Poortvliet also touching down to make the scoreline more respectable.
"It's a pretty tough loss," said England skipper Courtney Lawes. "We're pretty disappointed, but we didn't give up.
"Our discipline probably let us down and that was probably the story of the game for us."
The series continues over the next two weeks, with tests at Brisbane's Lang Park and the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Reuters
