Battered Wallabies left to rue second-half errors against England at Twickenham Australia's wing Adam Ashley-Cooper suffers a cut during the International rugby union test match between England and Australia at Twickenham Stadium. A BRUISED and battered Wallabies side has departed England fuming over the basic mistakes that cost them victory in a game they should have "won well" last weekend. Winger Adam Ashley-Cooper, sporting numerous stitches and a thumper of a black eye, said the tour remains important for the Wallabies despite no longer being able to claim a Grand Slam. But he added that the 20-13 loss at Twickenham was especially disappointing because of their capitulation in the final 40 minutes. "We were in a position to win the game at 13-6 at half-time, and something we've prided ourselves on in the last couple of games is really performing well in the second half," Ashley-Cooper said. Against Argentina and New Zealand in the last two games we actually won the second half, and South Africa prior to that. We felt we were in a good position to win the game, and probably win the game well, taking into account the scoreline and the momentum we had coming off the first half. Individual handling errors, basic errors let us down. A couple of kicks not finding touch, just really simple skill errors that didn't allow us to build on the momentum we had. Despite his left eye being nearly closed - the result of a wayward accidental boot in the face by rival Marland Yarde - Ashley-Cooper said he would be fine to play against Italy, where the Wallabies have now landed in preparation for Saturday's Test. Scott Fardy of Australia is stretchered off the pitch during the QBE International match between England and Australia at Twickenham Stadium. But backrower Scott Fardy is highly unlikely to be considered after being stretchered off the Twickenham pitch with heavy concussion. Ashley-Cooper and his teammates are ruing the missed opportunity against England. "We knew that they'd have line speed in defence, we knew that they'd be strong at set-piece time, lineouts, driving maul, we knew their strengths," he said. For us it was about executing the game plan we'd prepared all week, and we didn't do that in the second half. Michael Hooper #7 and Adam Ashley-Cooper #14 of Australia attempt to claim a high ball during the QBE International match between England and Australia at Twickenham. In the first half we didn't have too much ball, and they had most of the possession, and were probably playing the better football, but we were on top on the scoreboard. We took a lot of confidence out of that, because the first time we entered their 22 and gained the pill we scored a try. Basically all we needed to do in the second half was get down the right end of the field, hold onto the ball, win some set-piece and build that pressure. There is a lot of disappointment, because we've had a lot of success at Twickenham in the past four or five years. Winning at Twickenham is special, it's something you never forget. To lose against these guys is extremely disappointing, we have a large following [in England], a lot of people behind us, to let them down and ourselves down is a shame.