England’s first test against Australia was not the result they were looking for, but it was not all bad news. One positive that came from the encounter was the emergence of Henry Arundell on the international stage.
This has been a breakout year for the London Irish youngster who won the discovery of the season in the Gallagher Premiership. He also scored one of the best tries of all time in European Challenge Cup action.
Despite his brilliant season, even Arundell would have been surprised to be playing in the first test against Australia, let alone having a moment of pure brilliance.
With the game drifting away from England, Eddie Jones bought on the youngster with ten minutes to go in place of Joe Cokanasiga.
The game had relatively few line breaks and free running rugby, but Arundell changed all that.
Straight after Australia had scored, the ball was regained by England from kick off and then shipped wide to the London Irish winger. It seemed as though he had ran into a dead end when two Australian defenders wrapped him up – but Arundell broke through both tackles as he headed into the 22.
The debutant then had a one on one which he handled expertly well and put in a world class step and then had the pace to finish as well. His try kickstarted a small England come back and the final score was 30-28 to the Wallabies.
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐! ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | "What a start to your international career!" ๐คฉ
With his first touch Henry Arundell proves too powerful in contact to power down the wing and go over! ๐ช #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/CqjiCHgrfg
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 2, 2022
Sure, England won’t be happy with the result, but they definitely have a star of the future.
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