20-year-old Wallabies fullback Max Jorgensen had the decisive say in Saturday’s win over England, as he raced along the touchline for a match winning try, in the final play at the Allianz Stadium. Jorgensen exploded along the left wing after running on to the offload pass from Len Ikitau, and snatched a dramatic 42-37 win for Australia with the clock in the red.
It was a truly mesmeric way for Jorgensen to mark only his fifth Wallabies cap, as the young flyer continues to establish himself amongst Joe Schmidt’s squad this past year. Jorgensen has since relived the try in his memory, and struggles to get over the rush of adrenaline he experienced as he sealed the win for the Wallabies.
“It’s unbelievable. I still can’t really believe it, but as best feeling in the world.” Jorgensen told the media after the match at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham. “The talk was just boys, keep calm. And they did well, doing that, just build phases and got that ball in open space, I had no one in front of me, and I just gunned it to the line. So it all happened pretty quickly, but yeah, it was unreal.”
“Definitely a career highlight. It’s pretty cool. I’ve only just started my career, so hopefully there’s many more like that, but tonight we’ll just have a few quiet beers. We’ll celebrate the win, but obviously, we’ve got three big games coming up, and we’re heading off to Cardiff tomorrow on the bus. So enjoy tonight, but we’ve got to get focused for next week.”
The Wallabies thought they had succumbed to a late defeat just a moment prior, as England lock Maro Itoje battered his way over the try-line for a 79th minute lead. All that Steve Borthwick’s side had to do was claim the re-start and kick the ball out of play, but the Australians regained possession through the impressive athleticism of Suaalii, and after a powerful scrum, the space opened up for Jorgensen to attack out wide.
“There was only a minute and a half to go. Something like that a minute ago, the chat was, ‘just stay calm’. Get the ball back off the kickoff. And once we did that, it was just ‘stay calm’ again. Build those phases, keep those fundamentals right, and something will open up.”
“Oh, he’s (Joseph Suaalii) amazing. You can just see how athletic is he is off those kickoffs, and he was jumping over the pod there pretty much every single time. His offload game and running game, he is built for this game.”
The Waratahs man then went on to express how he is experiencing life in camp under Joe Schmidt, with the former Ireland head coach at the reigns of the Wallabies since the departure of Eddie Jones. Whilst Jorgensen explained that the New Zealander can be a bit intense at times, he is thoroughly enjoying the environment in the camp, and he hopes his Wallabies will roll this winning momentum onward into next week’s Autumn Test against Wales.
“Well, I guess all coaches a bit tough and scary. So no, the boys really like him, and we’re building.”
“At the start of the year, new coach, different type of players coming into the squad. So it’s always tough there. But each game, we’re building, as I said, we’re getting better each game under Joe, and we’re building a connection as players.
“If you look back to the Rugby Championship a month ago, there was some tough losses in there. Then we come here to Twickenham, the home of rugby, and beat England, we’re building week to week. And we’ve got another three games to go, and they’ll be big ones.”
Jorgensen sounded off his reaction to the win, by stating his delight in how the Wallabies proved the doubters wrong this past weekend. There was little to no expectation of an Australian win at the Allianz Stadium, after Schmidt’s side finished bottom of the 2024 Rugby Championship, and Australia had only one win against England in their past eleven meetings.
“Definitely, it’s been huge. There’s a couple people out there who doubted us, obviously, and to go out there and get the win and prove them wrong was unreal. We had no one in particular. Well, lines get around, words get around, but no one in particular. We Just got out there and did our job.”
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