England are out of the Rugby World Cup after losing 33-13 to Australia. Stuart Lancaster’s men become the first hosts to fail to make it out of the pool stages in Rugby World Cup history. They will go into next week’s match against Uruguay knowing they are unable to catch either Wales or Australia, who will play next Saturday at Twickenham with the winners topping the pool.
England out of World Cup after Defeat to Australia
Australia started brightly and were the first to open the scoring with a Bernard Foley penalty giving the Wallabies the lead. Owen Farrell answered back with a penalty for England but Australia were looking that bit sharper in attack. This lead to a break through as Foley broke through to score the opening try of the match and converted to make it 10-3 to Australia.
England started to pressure the line with Jonathan Joseph and Johnny May both making breaks, however England were unable to turn field position into points. Australia extended their lead as Foley put Kurtley Beale through with a beautiful inside ball, before Beale passed back to Foley to score his second try of the match. Foley added the extras to give Australia a 17-3 lead at the break.
England were improved in the second half, but fell further behind after another Foley penalty. England reduced the deficit after Anthony Watson broke Australian tackles to score a try in the corner, which Farrell converted. A further three points from a Farrell penalty reduced the gap to seven points, but this would be as close as England would get to Australia.
As both sides made use of their bench England pushed forward but were met with stern defence from the Australian line. England were then reduced to 14 men as Farrell was sent to the sin bin for tackling the man without the ball, with Foley converting the resultant penalty, making the score 23-13. Australia put pressure on the English scrum and were awarded a penalty which Foley converted. England push forward in the closing minutes as the life slipped away from their World Cup campaign, and Australia finally laid it to rest after a turnover in midfield led to a beak which Matt Giteau finished in the corner before Foley added the conversion with time expired for a final score of England 13-33 Australia.
Australia were better than the English and were far more clinical. When England made breaks they petered out, when Australia pressured England they came away with points. The cold hard truth is England were just not good enough. A lack of discipline both today and against Wales contributed to their downfall, but a lack of quality and that killer ball too really open up top defences has let England down at this World Cup.
England will have lots of questions they need to answer after this World Cup, the futures of Stuart Lancaster and Chris Robshaw and Coach and Captain will no doubt come under much scruitiny over the coming weeks. However despite being unable to advance the World Cup is not yet over for England and Stuart Lancaster must get his team focused on Uruguay, to give the England fans a performance their support deserves.
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