England looked to bounce back from last week’s disappointment against the All Blacks, however, a written-off Australia scored a try three minutes after time was up to beat England 40-37.
England started like a house on fire and scored the first try when Chandler Cunningham-South thunders over the tryline after some great work by Marcus Smith to put England in the lead after just five minutes of play.
Not to be outdone, Australia started running from within their half to catch the England defence off-side, resulting in Aussie flyhalf Noah Lolesio converting to cut England's lead to two points.
After twelve minutes of play in the first half, England were on the attack yet again when prop Ellis Genge took a quick tap and offloaded to Chandler Cunningham-South, who bulldozed his way over for his second try and extended England's lead 12-03.
The first twenty minutes belonged to England, however, Australia started to claw their way back into the match. Following a collapsed lineout maul outside centre, Joseph-Aukuso Suallii's quick hands set fullback Tom Wright into space to score a great try in the corner to cut England's lead to 15-10.
Marcus Smith converted his second penalty to extend England's lead to 18-10 before replacement Tate McDermott's magic led to Harry Wilson's try after thirty-three minutes of play in the first half.
With time up on the clock Noah Lolesio converted his second penalty to see Australia edge England 20-18 going into the second half.
After ten minutes of play in the second half, Australia attacked from a short lineout and moved up to the 5m line. They recycled the ball and lock Jeremy Williams crashed over the line in the corner to extend Australia's lead to 25-18.
Following a converted penalty for Australia by Noah Lolesio, England attacked off a lineout maul and then passed to Marcus Smith who kicked a grubber that bounced in Ollie Sleightholme's arms, who scored England's third try.
Ollie Sleightholme scored his second try of the afternoon following great hands by England to put England 30-28 back in the lead with twelve minutes of play left in the second half.
With five minutes to play England dropped a ball on the attack which was gathered by winger Andrew Kellaway who scored after a sixty-meter sprint to put Australia back into the lead by 35-30.
Three minutes later England scored off a five-meter scrum when Ben Earl drove at the line from the base. He was held up, and following a bulldozing run by hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, Maro Itoje crashed over for the winning try for England who led 37-35 with time up on the clock.
However, Australia struck down the touchline and Max Jorgenson scored Australia's fifth try to secure a last-minute 40-37 win against a heartbroken England.
Scorers:
England: Tries: Chandler Cunningham-South (2), Ollie Sleightholme (2), Maro Itoje. Conversions: Marcus Smith (3). Penalties: Marcus Smith (2), George Ford.
Australia: Try: Tom Wright, Jeremy Williams, Harry Wilson, Andrew Kellaway, Max Jorgenson. Conversion: Noah Lolesio (2), Ben Donaldson (2). Penalty: Noah Lolesio (3).
Teams:
England: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (c),1 Ellis Genge. Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt; 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suallii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell. Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermot, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen.