England power into semis

England underlined their status as one of the favourites for this year’s Rugby World Cup with a powerful, clinical 40-16 win over Australia in Oita on Saturday.

It was a powerful England forward performance and strong defensive press that overcame the Wallabies, who had little to answer as the England juggernaut battered them in every way conceivable.

Michael Cheika’s career as Wallaby coach must hang on a thread after this mauling, and it is clear that England, whoever they face in the rest of their tournament, will be a force to deal with.

Eddie Jones’ tenure as coach has been an interesting one, but on the day when they needed to get it right, they did so in spectacular style as they were way too powerful and had too much firepower for the Wallabies.

In essence, this was as many had predicted before the game, with the Wallabies struggling to compete without a kicking game and running themselves into trouble on numerous occasions.

Jerome Garces’ ignorance of ruck laws favoured the England flankers even more, allowing Tom Curry to overshadow David Pocock and win the breakdown contest almost at will for the English.

But when it came down to it, England scored when it mattered while Australia couldn’t break the English defence and suffered the consequences.

Three tries to one tells a story about one side that consistent in their attack and another who couldn’t breach the defence.

And while the game started slowly, two tries in three minutes by try-scoring machine Jonny May tilted the game firmly in England’s favour and they never looked back.

The first came after waves of attack left Australia vulnerable and the ball was shifted to the wing to exploit the overlap while the second was an error by Pocock, who allowed Henry Slade to intercept his pass and then grubber a ball ahead for May to take it and score.

Still, at halftime Australia had kept in the hunt through penalties and were 17-9 down, and then scored to look as if there was a resurgence.

A huge skip pass by Reece Hodge found Jordan Petaia, who slid an inside pass into Marika Koroibete’s hands to score.

With the game evenly poised a beautiful pass by Owen Farrell found pop Kyle Synkler running a perfect line to hit right back and restore England’s lead.

Three penalties by Farrell extended that lead and made Australia desperate and Anthony Watson made sure of the win with a late try to seal it for Eddie Jones’ side.

England will face the winner of New Zealand and Ireland in the semifinal.

Scorers

England – tries: Jonny May (2), Kyle Synckler, Anthony Watson. Conversions: Owen Farrell (4). Penalties: Farrell (4)

Australia – try: Marika Koroibete. Conversion: Christian Lealiifano. Penalties: Lealiifano (3)