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No.8 Ben Earl makes concession to England fans after latest loss
By PA
England No.8 Ben Earl admits to experiencing the "same overwhelming feeling" after his side's latest heartbreaking 42-37 near miss against Australia at Allianz Stadium.
England are determined, however, to make amends after their autumn blues continued with a dramatic defeat by Australia at
World champions South Africa are the daunting assignment facing Steve Borthwick’s men next Saturday as they look to regroup following defeats by New Zealand and the Wallabies, with Japan visiting Twickenham a week later to close the schedule.
A run of five defeats in six matches has been characterised by the squandering of winning positions with the Saturday’s overtime loss to Australia the most dramatic example yet.
“We’re testing fans’ patience, testing our patience. It feels like we won the game twice against Australia and then managed to lose it. Frustrating," No.8 Ben Earl said.
“Not same old problems, different problems, but the same overwhelming feeling of another game that we’ve let slip. So food for thought.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s a lack of effort, it really doesn’t. It just feels like every game is just throwing up a different scenario that we might not have experienced before as a team.
“We’ll have to go through some more hurt to find our way through it and maybe, hopefully, look back over the next couple of weeks and months and years, and say that was a really important lesson.
“This team’s always been brilliant at responding when questions have been asked of us and our character. And we need to respond.
“We want to win for our fans. We want to win for ourselves because it’s bit of a tedious feeling coming into the sheds for a second time in consecutive weeks and feeling like it’s another game that was there to win.”
Feyi-Waboso suffered a head injury while trying to prevent Australia from scoring a try in the 50th minute of the 42-37 defeat and has been withdrawn from the 36-man squad that will prepare for the Springboks’ visit to south west London.
The second loss of England’s Autumn Nations campaign has taken a heavy toll, with Tom Curry already confirmed as unavailable after he was knocked out in the act of making a tackle against the Wallabies.
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Mzil, I only recently learned Hodgman was only 31 myself, so you’re certainly not alone there!
Canham is a good shout, and he’s coming along nicely in new colours - as is Darcy Swain for that matter.
Whether Gleeson and Hooper feature this year, without a return date confirmed (despite best intentions) remains to be seen. Different to Ikitau, in that we know he’ll return after the Exeter stint and for how long.
And Tizzano will certainly be there. I didn’t need to include him here, but he’s just no longer a fringe player!
Go to commentsYep. The general game is without any rock star 10’s at the moment. Albornoz and N’tamack are about the only test 10s now that have something. Albornoz is probably the only one who even carries to the line these days.
I think D’Mac is a gifted player but a natural 15. It doesn’t really mater now. They just need to stick with him as any player will improve in their position with a run of games in that coaching environment. A steady 7/10 can be enough.
I know he’s divisive amongst Kiwis but he returned from an ACL at 23/24 yrs which takes a lot. He’s got my full respect for that.
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