Wallabies wallop Wilko & Co

England: Defeat in autumn opener

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Nine points from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson on his first appearance for England in 18 months were not enough to deny Australia victory at Twickenham on Saturday.

Wilkinson scored all of England's points in the first 25 minutes before the visitors stepped on the gas in the second half to run out comfortable 18-9 winners.

The victory against Martin Johnson's injury ravaged side marked the end of a miserable string of five defeats in six games for the Wallabies.

England, missing numerous front line players, put up a battling performance for much of the game and went into half time with a 9-5 lead.

But in the end inexperience told as Australia upped the ante after the break to overhaul their hosts going into the last 20 minutes and take the game out of reach in the last 10.

England began brightly with Wilkinson, to the delight of the Twickenham crowd, marking his return to the international fold with a drop-goal in the third minute.

Six minutes later the talismanic fly-half sent the crowd wild again when he kicked his side into a 6-0 lead with a penalty wide on the left after Australia were penalised for not rolling away.

Excellent

And when they fell foul of the referee again on 13 minutes, Wilkinson stepped up to add three more, only to see his long range effort from the half-way line bounce off the post.

The try came against the run of play and left the England defence wanting on the first occasion Australia had truly tested the home side.

Scrum-half Will Genia, lurking at the base of a ruck five yards out, spotted a gaping hole in England's defence and jinked through to score a soft try. Matt Giteau missed the conversion to leave Australia trailing by one.

England hit back hard though, a high kick from Wilkinson and an excellent touchline combination between Matt Banahan and Ugo Monye on the left putting Australia under severe pressure deep inside their own 22

Hipkiss was denied just short of the line and neither Lewis Moody nor Tom Croft could get a hold of Danny Care's cross field kick over the try line as Australia reeled under the onslaught.

The penalty came England's way on 25 minutes after the visitors were caught infringing on the floor. Wilkinson slotted an easy effort in front of the posts to take the score to 9-5.

England held Australia at bay to maintain their lead to half time, thanks largely to some brutal tackling from that man Wilkinson, as the tourists' attack began to look increasingly dangerous in the closing stages of the first half.

Pressure

Giteau narrowed the deficit to a single point with a penalty six minutes after the restart when England were caught offside.

Australia continued to pile on the pressure and in the 58th minute an exquisitely timed pass from Genia put Digby Ioane in for what looked like a certain score.

But the centre somehow managed to lose his grip on the ball and Wycliff Palu knocked on to hand England a desperately needed get out of jail card.

Four minutes later though Giteau booted his side into the lead for the first time, taking the score to 11-9 when England pulled down a scrum within shooting range.

England's defence, however, stood firm under further pressure and the game remained finely poised as it moved into the final quarter.

But 10 minutes from time the defence faltered fatally, Adam Ashley-Cooper bludgeoning his way over in the left corner after the ball was moved quiclkly out wide.

Giteau added the extras to take his side into an 18-9 lead and give England a mountain that proved impossible to climb.