On Sunday 8 November, UK time, England beat the Wallabies 45-22 at Twickenham with seven tries, and their 45 points were the most England have ever scored against Australia, according to ABC News. Kick-off was at 2:10am AEDT on Monday 9 November.
It was the Wallabies’ third defeat in a row, and it leaves them mathematically out of contention for the Nations Championship final, ABC News reported. That final is at Twickenham on 29 November.
England also retained the Ella-Mobbs Trophy. They have beaten the Wallabies in 12 of the last 14 meetings, according to ABC News.
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How the Match Unfolded
The match fell on Remembrance Sunday in Britain, and a minute’s silence was held before kick-off, ABC News reported.
England had a try taken away early. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossed in the second minute, only for it to be ruled out for a forward pass, according to BBC Sport. He still finished as the match’s leading metre-maker, with 113 metres from eight carries, before going off at half-time.
The home side’s attack ran freely before the break. In the first 40 minutes England made seven clean breaks to Australia’s one, The Guardian reported.
Angus Bell was yellow-carded in the 32nd minute, The Guardian reported, for what BBC Sport described as a hip-drop tackle on Feyi-Waboso. Joe Heyes then scored to make it 19-3, according to BBC Sport.
Australia had been into England’s 22 just once, in the 37th minute, before Max Jorgensen’s intercept try on half-time, The Guardian’s analysis noted. ABC News reported that the try cut the gap to nine.
Any lift from it was brief. Jack van Poortvliet scored two minutes after the restart, and Henry Pollock, a flanker brought on to play on the wing, scored twice, ABC News reported.
At 38-10, Australia were heading for a record losing margin, beyond the 24 points of 2017 and 2019, according to BBC Sport. Tries from Filipo Daugunu and Jeremy Williams in the final 20 minutes averted it.
The Guardian’s match report credits England’s tries to Jamie George, Ollie Chessum, Heyes, van Poortvliet, Pollock (two) and Ben Spencer, with Fin Smith kicking five conversions. Australia’s points came from tries to Jorgensen, Daugunu and Williams, conversions by Ryan Lonergan and Ben Donaldson, and a Lonergan penalty.
Henry Slade was player of the match, according to ABC News. The crowd was 81,334 and the referee was Pierre Brousset of France, The Guardian reported.
England captain Maro Itoje kept his summary short. “I’m over the moon,” he said, as reported by ABC News.
What It Exposes
The Australian camp did not dress it up.
“England put us under the pump,” Harry Wilson said after the match, according to ABC News.
“We weren’t physical enough, we didn’t slow their ball down, we were just playing from behind.”
Wallabies coach Les Kiss pointed to the opening stages. “We probably hurt ourselves a little bit,” he said, as reported by ABC News. “But we’ve got to do better in the early parts [of the game] and be able to give ourselves a chance.”
“We just didn’t get our game going at all,” Kiss said, as quoted in The Guardian’s analysis.
That analysis, by Gerard Meagher, looked past the scoreline. He wrote that Australia lack a fly-half of international quality and that their set piece fell apart, and he noted that the home World Cup is less than 12 months away. He also mentioned a pay dispute between the Wallabies and Rugby Australia.
Australia won 42-37 at Twickenham in 2024, The Guardian’s analysis recalled, while England won 25-7 there in 2025, according to ABC News.
Murrayfield Next
For the Wallabies, the next match is against Scotland at Murrayfield, followed by Wales, ABC News reported.
Wilson set the timeframe himself. “We’ve got seven days to just take some feedback from this game and make sure we’re a lot better,” he said.
England play Japan and New Zealand on the two Saturdays after the Australia match, according to The Guardian. The Nations Championship final follows at Twickenham on 29 November, and Australia will not be in it.
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Sources: ABC News, “England score seven tries to hammer sorry Wallabies 45-22 at Twickenham”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-09/live-updates-england-vs-wallabies-nations-championship/107351328); The Guardian, “Henry Pollock powers seven-try England to crushing victory against Australia”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/nov/08/england-australia-nations-championship-rugby-union-match-report); The Guardian, “Woeful Wallabies sink to new Twickenham low with no set-piece and no swagger”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/nov/08/australia-wallabies-england-twickenham-nations-championship-rugby-union); BBC Sport, “England swat aside Wallabies to back up Borthwick”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c9rkyg1gl7rgo)
Photo: Maxwell Hamilton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Rose and Poppy Gates at Twickenham, the memorial to rugby players killed in war since 1914, photographed in May 2016.
