Potter dazzled, but Wallabies’ fizz went flat in final act

15 hours ago 5

November 2, 2025 — 5.30am

Well might England sing God Save the King with such fervour, because nothing, nothing would save Prince Andrew. But I digress.

Before a sold-out Twickenham crowd - 82,000 strong - our blokes were taking on the same England side they had famously beat here this time last year 42-37, to begin the renaissance of these latter-day saints.

Australia’s Harry Potter smiles as he races in to score a try.

This time, it was tense from the beginning, with one exception. For even while coming out of the tunnel, 29 players had their game-day death masks on, one player, and one player alone, was seen to be smiling. It was the Wallaby winger, Harry Potter, who seemed to know something that the others did not. What was it?

We’d have to wait for a bit to find out.

In the early encounters, it was a Test rugby arm-wrestle with neither side able to get ahead as each flash of brilliant play from one side was doused by equally wondrous defence, in extremis.

With ground attack neutralised England went to the air, and after a successful penalty from their maestro five-eighth George Ford to go ahead 3-0, the hosts struck hard again from the Wallabies kick-off.

For within an instant of England gathering it in, they’d go to the air once more, with a box-kick ahead that was again won by England which saw their no.8 Ben Earl charge forty metres untouched to make it 10-0.

And now it happened. With ten minutes to go to the half and the Wallabies on the rack, Ben Earl – him again – burst forward and took the ball over the line.

A try was all but in the Bank of England to take them to a 17-0 lead, only for Potter, against all odds, to somehow get his body under the ball. A minute later, Potter defused a high-ball just off the Australian line and still he hadn’t unveiled the reason for his big smile.

For just a couple of minutes later again Potter intercepted a pass from England centre Fraser Dingwall that would have seen another English try in the corner.

Our man, Harry Potter – in a display of pure magic, (oh come on, I had to say it) – gathered in the intercept and ran 95 metres for a brilliant Wallabies try up the other end, to close it to 10-7.

And still Potter wasn’t done. With just seconds to go in the half, our five-eighth Tane Edmed took a bizarre grubber kick for the line from our goal-line, to finish it – only for the ball to be gathered in by the entire English forward pack who charged forth, and hit Potter a metre out.

Extraordinarily, Potter must have stripped it, for the ball came out the Wallabies way.

The question now was, just which Wallabies side would come out in the second half, and would they be dangerous? Would we see the same venomous side that had put 38 points on the Springboks in the final forty minutes at Ellis Park, perchance? Alas, no.

Our blokes gave it everything, but continued to be beaten in the aerial game.

On one such occasion, when the ball bobbled about it was England’s rock star off the bench, the brash blond backrower Henry Pollock, who gathered in a bobbled ball to go over.

With England surging to a 15-7 lead, still Australia was in it though, and we saw some enterprising play with Wallabies backrower Fraser McReight making four steals of England balls.

Our own Andrew Kellaway and Joseph Suaalii meanwhile, constantly threatened out wide . . . only for the ball to always go awry with minor mistakes under pressure - always thwarting the goodies. Yes, every time, just when it seemed the Promised Land was at hand . . . it receded.

Strong defence but it wasn’t enough for Australia.

England took advantage, and it became obvious that this time there would be no Miracle at Twickenham as happened last year.

Two more English tries under the weight of a forward pack that had been immeasurably improved by emptying the very strong bench into it, saw the final score rest at 27-7.

All up, it was a frustrating outing for the Wallabies. Our scrum was mostly solid, our lineout very good, bolstered by the return of the imperial Nick Frost. There were a lot of very strong individual performances, led by Potter and McReight, while Max Jorgensen had moments of brilliance.

Overall though, we were let down by a certain lack of urgency to properly defend against their box-kicks by getting gold jerseys around the receiver and by not putting enough pressure on their receivers in turn. That, and too many tiny errors occurring just when we were at our most threatening, blew the game out.

It has been a long year. The Wallabies have achieved much. But this was not one to put in the champagne rugby bottle and say this — this was the best of the 2025 vintage. While fizzy in parts, with a sometimes promising bouquet, it was just a bit flat overall.

The Wallabies have achieved much. But this was not one to put in the champagne rugby bottle and say, this

Onwards to Italy.