A battered and bruised Australia ended an eight-match losing streak against England with a rousing 30-28 victory in the first Test in Perth on Saturday.

The shorthanded Wallabies lost fly-half Quade Cooper to injury before kickoff and played the second half with 14 players, but scored three late tries to draw first blood in the three-match series in front of a rowdy 47,668 crowd at the Optus Stadium. 

It was Australia’s first victory over England since the 2015 World Cup, but the result appeared unlikely after a tumultuous start. 

The Wallabies were dealt a major blow minutes before kick-off when Cooper was ruled out after injuring his left calf during the warm-up. 

They also lost full back Tom Banks and tighthead prop Allan Alaalatoa to injuries within a brutal opening 25 minutes and were reduced to 14 players soon after.

Click here for full match report.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.