Australia win Twickenham thriller

Australia retain the Cook Cup

Australia weathered an England fightback to win an epic encounter at Twickenham, retaining the Cook Cup on the strength of a 21-19 win.

In an incredibly hard-fought encounter, Australia wrought their own revenge 12 months on from the day at the Telstra stadium when Martin Johnson and company lifted the Webb Ellis trophy - and it was abundantly obvious how much it meant to them.

In losing, England failed to avenged the humiliation of their 51-15 defeat in Brisbane during the summer, but even the most avid England would have have to concede that Australia deserved their triumph.

In many ways this match was just as intense as the 2003 RWC Final - it was easily just as thrilling. England almost snatched an unlikely victory with three tries from Lewis Moody, Josh Lewsey and Mark Cueto in 17 scintillating second-half minute - but they were ultimately undone by some early errors.

Fly-half Charlie Hodgson missed two easy penalties, scrum-half Andy Gomarsall missed a conversion from in front of the posts and England had to resort to centre Mike Tindall for kicking duties.

This was also the match which could have seen the short England career of Henry Paul come to an ignominious end after he was hauled off after just 24 minutes, unable to cope with the sharp Wallaby defence.

Will Greenwood came on to take his place in an England side with just four starters from the team which lifted the World Cup.

But for England there were too many missed tackles, too much spilled ball, too much indecision, too much indiscipline, too little organisation.

The demolition of Canada and the panache with which South Africa were dispatched last week had given Robinson's reign the perfect start.

But this was the big one, the match which told Robinson exactly where his revamped side reside in world rugby.

As it was Australia took the lead after 15 minutes and the video will make painful watching for England centre Paul.

There were those who said the former Rugby League man might struggle in the tightness of the most intense internationals and his early work was littered with handling errors.

It was his knock-on which led directly to the break which saw Aussie centre Matt Giteau galloping through the England defence before timing his pass perfectly to send hooker Jeremy Paul stepping inside Josh Lewsey for the first touchdown.

Elton Flatley added the conversion and there was a noticeably jauntier spring in the step of the men in gold shirts.

Paul's demise was symptomatic of an England side which was surrendering far too much possession. They needed the solidity of the more reliable Greenwood but it was not immediately forthcoming.

Indeed, the brilliant Giteau was beginning to demonstrate his full range of skills and it was his break again which allowed fullback Chris Latham to power his way to the line, smashing through the tackles of Lewsey and Tindall along the way.

Half an hour gone and Australia led 12-0 and England were being made to look distinctly average.

It got even worse when Hodgson, the 27-points hero the week before against the Springboks, had another of those kicking days he will want to forget.

Two penalties in quick succession would have put England back in contention, but Hodgson made a hash of both kicks from slap-bang in the middle of the "red zone" which kicking coach Dave Alred is so fond of telling us his benchmark for unmissable penalties.

England, in fact, will want to forget that entire first half and the second did not start much better, bad decisions and ill-discipline allowing Giteau to slot over a penalty after 43 minutes to extend the lead.

Never mind the new vision of creativity, this was a match which demanded a rock-solid forward foundation and to that end England finally went back to basics to score their first try.

They spurned a couple of penalties, opting to go for the line-outs to pile pressure on the Aussie pack. It is what England under Sir Clive Woodward always did when in trouble - and it worked, a heaving, squirming maul on the Australian line finally seeing flanker Lewis Moody burrow over for the try.

With Hodgson's confidence shot to bits, the conversion was handed to scrum-half Andy Gomarsall, who promptly missed the easiest of kicks from almost directly in front of the posts.

And the mutter which drifted around Twickenham inevitably appeared to contain the name Wilkinson.

If England were to win they would have to do so with the ball in hand and on the hour they spurned another penalty opportunity to send their forwards foraging.

It worked again, this time Lewsey breaking from the pirouetting maul to charge over. Cue Tindall, England's third goal-kicker, to add the conversion.

England were on a roll and when Cueto finished off a flowing move to add England's third to give England the lead it seemed an unlikely victory was on the cards.

It would have been but for two acts of indiscipline, the second one a needless shoulder barge by Gomarsall, which allowed Giteau to notch two penalties to ease Australia back in front.

A stirring finale ensued and England might have nicked it right at the end. It would not have been deserved.

Man of the match: Jason Robinson and Joe Worsley lead the charge for England, with the skipper making some serious yardage for the hosts. For the winners, George Smith had a stormer (as always), Daniel Vickerman had an imperious day in the line-out, and Chris Latham had a brilliant match in both defence and attack. But our award goes to Matt Giteau whose vision, dexterity and all-round genius was central to his side's victory. 

Moment of the match: Plenty of wonderful moments in 80 minutes of awesome rugby, but Matt Giteau's break that lead to Paul's try was out of this world, and made a big dent in England's confidence.

Villain of the match: Plenty of moments of niggle, but nothing to write home about. We could point at George Gregan for ratting on Graham Rowntree, signaling to the touch-judge that the England prop was pulling down Bill Young at the scrum. But we'll let the Wallaby skipper off this time, he may have had a point...   

The scorers:

For England:
Try: Moody, Lewsey, Cueto
Cons: Tindall 2

For Australia:
Tries: Paul, Latham
Con: Flatley, Giteau 3

The teams:

England: 15 Jason Robinson (captain), 14 Mark Cueto (Ben Cohen, 75), 13 Henry Paul (Will Greenwood, 24), 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Josh Lewsey, 10 Charlie Hodgson (Harry Ellis, 69), 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Martin Corry, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Steve Borthwick, 4 Danny Grewcock, 3 Julian White, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Graham Rowntree.
Unused replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Andrew Sheridan, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Andy Hazell.

Australia: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Wendell Sailor, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Elton Flatley (Mat Rogers, 24), 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 David Lyons (Stephen Hoiles, 75), 7 Phil Waugh, 6 George Smith, 5 Daniel Vickerman, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Jeremy Paul, 1 Bill Young (Matt Dunning, 62).
Unused replacements: 16 Brendan Cannon, 18 Radike Samo, 20 Matt Henjak, 21 Drew Mitchell.