This was billed as men against boys, and the point was amply proven. However, led by their thrilling 22-year-old fly-half, Quade Cooper, it was the glorious youth of Australia who eventually won out against the English old guard. If experience was to be the barometer for success, as England had hoped, there were mis-matches all over the field, but most markedly in the front row of the scrum. Ahead of the game, the three players in England's front row had played nearly as many Tests - 80 - as their direct counterparts had played minutes in international rugby.
Saia Faingaa, making his debut at hooker for the hosts, had the biggest gulf to bridge in his duel with Steve Thompson, the veteran England No 2. As a marker of the disparity between the two, Thompson has already retired once. He initially hung up his boots in 2007 because of a back injury, before later making a surprise return to the game. A few months earlier, Faingaa had been the captain of the Australian side who won the Under 19 World Cup in Dubai.
Unsurprisingly, England exerted complete dominance at scrum-time, as evidenced by the two penalty tries they were awarded in the second half. However, the touring side were embarrassingly outplayed whenever the ball made it out into the loose. While England's elder statesmen played much of the game as if they were scrabbling around looking for their pension money, Cooper provided a lesson in back-play.
The young Queensland Reds stand-off was missing Will Genia, his regular half-back partner, but struck up an immediate rapport with Luke Burgess. His side were already 7-0 up through a try by the captain, Rocky Elsom, when Cooper went over for his opening score, profiting from a break by the scrum-half, Burgess. England maintained a foothold in the game thanks to their grip on the scrum, but the Wallabies secured the decisive advantage midway through the second-half.
Cooper was both the architect and the finisher. His delicious pass opened space for Digby Ioane on the left touchline for the Wallabies, then the fly-half was on hand to apply the finishing touch himself. "You find out what you're made of when you have so many phases coming at your line like that," the Wallabies captain, Elsom, said in a post-match interview. "There was some great defence out there and the fact they didn't cross our line, at least that they didn't get it down, was a big plus."
Lewis Moody, the England captain who suffered a blow to the head in the second half, admitted his side have plenty to work on if they are to level the series next weekend. "We had some domination," he said. "We stuck at it and got on top but we have to work on some other aspects of our game before next week." * Compiled by Paul Radley
