The Twickenham Heist: Breaking down the Wallabies’ final try

Sun, Nov 10, 2024, 5:58 AM
Nathan Williamson
by Nathan Williamson
An incredible last minute winner at Twickenham as Ikitau and Jorgensen combine

Max Jorgensen will live on in Wallabies history as the man that broke England's hearts and delivered a famous Australian victory.

The 42-37 win ended a nearly decade-long drought at Twickenham in the most dramatic fashion as the wunderkind swan dived over well after the full-time siren.

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The Wallabies have had penalties to win games after the siren but nothing like the Wallabies' team effort try in a long time.

Rugby.com.au breaks down the key moments that matter in the making of Jorgensen's try

How it all nearly went wrong

The Wallabies' hopes of an upset should've been killed off straight away had try-scorer Maro Itoje collected the restart. However, the presence of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was enough to put him off and force the error.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt post-game thought James Slipper should've won a scrum penalty after decimating Dan Cole but referee Ben O'Keefe thought otherwise.

It set up Australia to work their way at the English, with Cole nearly proving spoiler when he got over Allan Alaalatoa for the steal.

Special credit must go to Fraser McReight for retrieving the ball to keep it alive, with O'Keefe's signal of knock-on meaning if the hosts got it, it was game over.

Hands by the forwards

The Wallabies almost seemed on auto-pilot as they worked England's tiring forwards into the middle of the field, with the commentary team suggesting they were working for a drop goal.

The only thing was there was never anyone in the clear pocket ready to take the shot.

Instead, the Wallabies kept working for their chance to strike as they bunched England up, with Max Jorgensen quickly shooting back to his wing after Suaalii took the line on.

Rob Valetini pounded his way over the advantage line and the Wallabies were ready to strike.

Some brilliant hands from Brandon Paenga-Amosa creates the chance as he sucks in Alex Dombrandt and Ben Earl, both tiring from a mountain of defensive work.

Alaalatoa’s dummy run engages the defence and suddenly Slade has to run up on Ben Donaldson, who quickly gets it out to a standing Fraser McReight.

Give Len Ikitau his flowers

Len Ikitau is one of the best centres in the world, no doubt about it.

The resulting move has created space with Ollie Sleightholme scrambling to defend him, McReight and Gleeson.

This is where Ikitau is at his best. He's not the quickest or fastest centre but his footwork is world class.

It gives Ikitau the half step he needs to get on the outside and expose the space.

With all the hype around Suaalii, it's easy to forget this was Ikitau's first game at inside centre at Test level and he looked like a seasoned pro.

Marcus Smith’s one mistake -

The man of the match award already had Marcus Smith's name on it before the stunning final minutes of the game.

However, it was one lapse in defence that cost him and his team.

With Sleightholme all at sea, Smith made the sudden decision to drift off Max Jorgensen and help on Ikitau.

In reality, the replacement had done wonderfully to cover three attackers and drag down Ikitau.

What it created was the necessary space for Max Jorgensen to deliver the dagger.

Max Jorgensen swandives over for the game-winner against England. Photo: Getty Images
Max Jorgensen's coming of age 

Jorgensen has had past chances in 2024 that he hasn’t been able to close out to make his name in Test footy.

It happened in Argentina and earlier in the game when he had a similar break albeit in less space, juggling it and getting dragged down.

He wasn't letting this one go.

The winger knew Luke Cowan-Dickie didn’t have the pace for him so he pinned the ears back for the try.

With Twickenham silenced, Jorgensen produced his best Matt Giteau impersonation to swan dive over for the winner.

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