Australia Eliminates England from Knockout Round

After a stunning 33-13 defeat by Australia, England became the first host nation in the history of the Rugby World Cup to be eliminated before the quarterfinal stage. After losing to Wales, the home side was backed into a corner and needed a win to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

Wallaby flyhalf Bernard Foley put up a huge performance, scoring two tries and kicking 18 points to lead the Australian offense.

“Well done to Australia on the win today. We are absolutely gutted to be going out of the World Cup,” said England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster. “Words can’t express how disappointed we are. We feel we let down our fantastic supporters.”

Foley kicked off the scoring in the 8th minute with a penalty that was quickly followed by an Owen Farrell penalty in the 13th minute. Foley scored his first of two tries in the 20th minute and added the conversion to give the Wallabies a 10-3 lead midway through the first half.

Foley continued to plague England as he scored his second try in the 35th minute and added the conversion to give Australia a commanding 17-3 lead going into halftime.

Foley continued his barrage was another penalty just minutes into the second half to put Australia up 20-3. With the match slipping away, England attempted to mount a comeback. A try by Anthony Watson and conversion from Farrell put England within ten points of the Wallabies at 20-10. England inched closer with a 65th minute penalty by Farrell.

That would be as close as the match would get as Australia punched home their victory with a dominating last 15 minutes of the match. Aided by a 71st minute yellow card to England’s Owen Farrell, the Wallabies scored the last 13 points of the match. Foley struck with two penalties to stretch the Wallaby lead to 26-13 and then a Matt Giteau try at fulltime put the exclamation mark on the Wallaby victory.

The score going into the final ten minutes of the match was more reflective of the match compared to the final score. England will regret a number of mistakes throughout the match.

The win deadlocks Australia with Wales atop the Pool A table. Both sides sit at 3-0 with only each other to play. With both teams having secured their place in the knockout round, their match will carry important seeding rights.

England has one match with Uruguay left to play in the World Cup and will miss the quarterfinals for the first time in their World Cup history.

Scoring Summary

Australia 33

Tries: Foley (20′, 35′), Giteau (80′)

Conv: Foley (21′, 36′, 81′)

Pen: Foley (8′, 50′, 72′, 76′)

England 13

Tries: Watson (56′)

Conv: Farrell (57′)

Pen: Farrell (13′)