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Pocock out of series

Pocock was injured during a collision that occurred as he entered a breakdown and a scan has revealed the extent of the damage with a four to six week recovery time estimated for the number eight.

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Jones, who coached Australia to the 2003 World Cup final where they lost to England, said beating the Wallabies in their own backyard would make the rugby world sit up and take notice.

It leaves Australia head coach Michael Cheika with a hard decision to make.

“It was just important to get the victory and continue the good work we did in the Six Nations”.

Sean McMahon has put his hand up to fill the vacancy left by injured Wallabies star David Pocock for the second Test against England. Cheika said it was inevitable the Wallabies would get some parts of their game wrong in their first Test in seven months. He said: “We have options with experience, so we’re fortunate but it’s disappointing to lose a player of David’s quality”.

It all hinges on if coach Michael Cheika opts to play a traditional No.8 or persists with two opensides in his back row set-up. ‘You’ve got guys like Dylan Hartley, James Haskell and Chris Robshaw – they’ve been through the mill.

Haskell was praised by head coach Eddie Jones after the match, and the 31-year-old credited the Australian for laying down the challenge in order to spur him on and improve his game.

“Eddie treats the boys very fairly and understands that in professional sport you have to talk to people in different ways”, said Haskell, who has made 68 worldwide appearances.

“I am talking about the team”. Our execution at times was really good.

“I have to know my role in the team and stick to what I’m good at, not doing anything out of character”.

“If we think we should keep it, we’ll go like-for-like, if we want to change we might do something different”.

Hooper scored his second try as the hour-mark approached and, after Farrell kicked another penalty, Wallabies center Tevita Kuridrani scored beside the posts in the 71st to reduce the margin to 32-25.

Jones, who gave Hoiles his worldwide debut when he was the Wallabies coach in 2004, reacted angrily to the “ridiculous” question and claimed it was testament to the treatment his squad have received during the tour, including a mocking promotional video for the series by Fox Sports.

“We were being heckled from the moment we got here which is always quite fun. You’ve got to go with the punches”. We’ll just see how we pan out.

Kicking penalty goals won’t cut it against Southern Hemisphere sides, with England also tipped to struggle in Australia.

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The second Test takes centre stage in Melbourne on Saturday June 18.

Eddie Jones