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Christophe Ena
AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: England v Australia, Rugby World Cup

It was do or die for England in the pool of death, and one of their greatest rivals were in town to stick the knife in.

A very good evening to you, ladies and gentleman. And a special G’Day to you, Sheilas and Blokes.

We’re here to bring you every nerve-jangling minute of the Rugby World Cup Pool A meeting between England and Australia.

The hosts run the risk of being the first nation to crash out of their own tournament if they lose to the men from the land down under.

Let us know your pre-match predictions and your thoughts during the game. Comment below, join us on Facebook or tweet us @Rugby_ie.

No late changes in Twickenham. Here’s a reminder of how these fierce antipodean rivals will line up for tonight’s huge game.

England

15 Mike Brown
14 Anthony Watson
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Brad Barritt
11 Jonny May
10 Owen Farrell
9 Ben Youngs

1 Joe Marler
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Joe Launchbury
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Wood
7 Chris Robshaw
8 Ben Morgan

Replacements:

16 Rob Webber
17 Mako Vunipola
18 Kieran Brookes
19 George Kruis
20 Nick Easter
21 Richard Wigglesworth
22 George Ford
23 Sam Burgess

Australia

15 Israel Folau
14 Adam Ashley-Cooper
13 Tevita Kuridrani
12 Matt Giteau
11 Rob Horne
10 Bernard Foley
9 Will Genia

1 Scott Sio
2 Stephen Moore
3 Sekope Kepu
4 Kane Douglas
5 Rob Simmons
6 Scott Fardy
7 Michael Hooper
8 David Pocock

Replacements:

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
17. James Slipper
18. Greg Holmes
19. Dean Mumm
20. Ben McCalman
21. Nick Phipps
22. Matt Toomua
23. Kurtley Beale

 

Which 23 do you like the look of?

TV3′s pundits are making a big play of the pressure on Chris Robshaw, but Down Under there’s a big weight on Stephen Moore’s shoulders too. The hooker has not been in any form, but now he leads his team out into the cauldron of Twickenham.

Who will prevail? The perceived stronger and heavier set-piece power of England? Or the breakdown prowess and back-line invention of the Wallabies.

Enjoy the anthems, GSTQ and AAF, and move to the edge of your seat to find out.

Kick-off: Farrell gets us under way. Australia attempt to run from their 22, before Giteau clears his lines.

Australia got an early nudge on the scrum there, but almost paid the price. England rocked the gold set-piece, though Genia got the ball away and Foley drilled downfield.

4 mins: Huge chance for Australia after whipping left off a maul, but with a man outside Izzy Folau botches the chanec, delaying the pass and allowing Mike Brown get a hit in to force the knock-one.

Australian scrum functions nicely again and Genia directs traffic off the base. Not mush space there now, but a nice set of phases in the 22 from Aus before Foley chips cross-field for Folau…

Folau knocks on in the air, but we go back for an offside penalty and Foley will knock Oz into the lead.

PENALTY! England 0 Australia 3 (B Foley ’8)

Terrific response to going behind from England, Watson steaming through a gap from a Barritt offload.

Apologies, it was not Barritt’s offload, it was his Saracens team-mate Owen Farrell. Hugely encouraging for England to see him in good running form. His place-kicking is rarely less than excellent, but if he can keep this attacking threat up England can pose plenty of problems.

Romaine Poite goes on a big John Travolta pose to award a penalty against the Australia scrum. Scott Sio collapsed immediately on the replay, but what made him go?

PENALTY! England 3 Australia 3 (Farrell ’12)

The ball just not bouncing Australia’s way so far, Folau knocks on a Youngs box kick. It was a superb leap though.

England attack wide left and it takes a really good read from Kurtley Beale shooting out of the line to slow them down.

Foley attempts a grubber through the back-line and the speculative effort pays off as Mike Brown knock on.

Scrum gold in the England 22.

Australia are having to work hard for their own ball on scrum, bu they’re doing the work and now they can attack in play.

Hooper makes a half break, but all in in all the white wall is strong, and even forcing Australia back…

until

TRY! England 3 Australia 8 (Foley ’19)

They looked like they were going backwards, but offloads from Kuridrani and Kepu stretched the England defence and allowed the out-half to slip through tackles and over the try-line.

The ‘Tahs man got up and converted too.

England 3 Australia 10

The try has, understandably, shook England. They did start well but were more intent on spoiling Australia than looking very threatening themselves.

Great game so far and would not be surprised to see it get tight again.

Liam Toland saying that scrums are ultimately going to decide this fixture. England would certainly be pleased if it came to that, but Australia can hold their own and add breakdown dominance to the mix.

And now, Joe Marler is getting shoved around at scrum-time too. If that set-piece goes, we can cancel the England’s open top bus parade round Trafalgar Square now.

Genia blocked down by Launcbury and Foley treads the fine line of blocking the runner chasing the loose pill.

TRY! England 3 Australia 15 (Foley ’35)

That is an absolutely gorgeous set-play try from Autralia. Foley pops a pass off to Kurtley Beale, both men storm through the gap and Foley gratefully accepts the completion of the 1-2.

Foley gets up to nail the conversion and really twist the knife in the Chariot.

England 3 Australia 17

A penalty against Australia when they next threaten the English 22, but Michael Hooper extremely lucky to still be on the field.

The openside flew in to clean out the ruck. Not only was he flying in from the side, but also high with no arms.

In they go with a 14-point advantage though and 15 men apiece on the field.

HALF-TIME: England 3 Australia 17

Ah, that explains it.

Glorious still of Foley scoring here.

Britain Rugby WCup England Australia Christophe Ena Christophe Ena

Here we go again. The second half is under way and Stuart Lancaster has sent George Ford out in an attempt to save England’s tournament / his job.

Incredibly, England – a great rugby nation – have never pulled back a big half-time deficit.

Ford, I should stress, is on in place of Jonny May. Farrell will go to centre, the Brad Barritt at 13 experiment is back on and JJ heads for the wing.

Unreal. Joe Launchbury is one man swimming against the ride out there. He blocks down Genia for a second time and  the turnover gives England the chance to attack wide out left.

The back-line looks smooth with Ford and Farrell getting ands on the ball, but once they get out to Barritt it’s a square peg in a round hole.

Big slice of luck for Giteau, he chips over the top and it gets touched before trickling out. Gold ball at the line-out.

Off the restart, they get a free kick and… hold on. They’re going for a scrum. What a statement this is. Michael Cheika’s pack are telling the world to shove their preconceptions about the Aussie pack.

Not only do they have the audacity to take England on, they go and bloody win a penalty.

PENALTY! England 3 Australia 20 (Foley ’49)

At what point do the English optimists stop saying ‘the next score is crucial’?

England are kicking penalties to the corner now. Will it bring them better luck this time?

Ooof! Huge call. Foley looked to have intercepted, but after he knocked the pass in the air, Cole seemed to clothesline him and stop him regathering.

TRY! England 8 Australia 20 (Watson’ 55)

A sensational try from Watson. Launchbury moves the ball on with brilliant soft second row hands to give England the overlap. Watson didn’t need it, he charged through the two remaining defenders and planted his finish.

Game on after Farrell’s conversion.

England 10 Australia 20

Maybe it’s the booze, or maybe the prawn sangitches have gone to their head, but Twickenham is beginning to believe again.

There could be a Wikipedia edit war afoot

The replacements are starting to flow. Nick Phipps is in for Genia. Webber replaces Tom Youngs at hooker for England.

Cometh the hour…

Australia still hold the edge in attacking breakdowns, but their passing is wanting since Phipps replaced Genia.

A hack clear puts the ball in behind the gold line and Barritt hounds Beale to force a penalty well within Farrell’s range.

PENALTY! England 13 Australia 20 (Farrell ’64)

And BIG SAM BURGESS is on the field too.

Hold on tight.

SWING LOOOOOWWWWWW, they sing as Bernard Foley knocks on in the final third.

The clock is ticking, but Australia are begging for the final whistle like England were this time last week.

Joe Launchbury takes his leave from the game. He has been a huge factor in England still being in this game.

Matt Giteau down and England are attacking rucks like a pack of hungry Hyenas.

Wow. On the replay Giteau is smashed by Farrell a long way off the ball by Farrell. Meanwhile, Burgess is tackling a man around the neck and Poite is giving a penalty to England.

Thank goodness for the TMO.

The TMO finally comes to a conclusion and advises Poite to bin Owen Farrell.

Burgess should have gotten a warning too, but the punishment is the same for England, they’re going home early from their own world cup.

PENALTY! England 13 Australia 23 (Foley ’71)

PENALTY! England 13 Australia 26 (Foley ’75)

The final nail.

Large swathes of people have already left Twickenham, and they’ve missed a terrific score from the Wallabies.

TRY! England 13 Australia 31 (Giteau ’79)

Giteau leaps in for the finish, but it came from an expansive move as the Wallabies refused to kill off the game quickly. AA Cooper made the break on the right and he waited the perfect length of time before popping it to the Toulon man.

FULL-TIME: England 13 Australia 33

What a way to exit your own World Cup. Astonishing.

We’ll have much more news and views from Twickenham in the coming hours, but for now we just need to sit back and admire the Wonderful Wallabies.

Japan beat Samoa to stay in the hunt for a World Cup quarter-final berth

Bonus point win and resurgence of a spark for Leinster

The moment Mamuka Gorgodze is named man-of-the-match against New Zealand is brilliant

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