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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Andy Bull at the Allianz Stadium

England’s excess of errors are costing them dear – and South Africa are up next

England players look dejected after a narrow, enthralling defeat by Australia.
England players look dejected after a narrow, enthralling defeat by Australia that they had chances to win. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer

The English winter is closing in and at Twickenham the temperature is dropping fast. This week, they didn’t miss the last-minute kick and it didn’t make any difference. This week, Marcus Smith stayed on the pitch and that didn’t fix it either.

England lost, again. The three before it were all to the All Blacks, but this one was to an Australian team who are ninth in the world rankings and had lost five of their past six games coming into this fixture. It happened even though England had a 12-point lead at the end of the first quarter and a two-point lead at the end of the fourth one.

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