England gird for Cup “final” v Wallabies

Fellow All Black Doug Howlett, by using 13 five-pointers, will be the only other game player above Mitchell upon the all-time World Cup tryscoring leaderboard. Farrell sprang out of the line and gave Wales a sniff and then Barritt couldn’t resist and got left for dead.

Moody played 71 Tests for England between 2001 and 2011 and was on the field when Jonny Wilkinson slotted a drop goal to secure the World Cup against Australia in 2003.

With half an hour remaining England looked on course to put themselves on the cusp of escaping the “pool of death” as they led Wales 22-12.

The Rebels beast could potentially be the Stuart McGill to David Pocock and Michael Hooper’s Shane Warne. The 21-year-old was man of the match with a two-try effort but that won’t assure him of a spot against England.

Now we have to wait to discover if Jonathan Joseph and Ben Morgan are fit. I was talking to an ex-coach in South Africa recently who said he used to make changes just to pacify his players; to keep everyone happy. Mad. The Duke told the Welsh players at their welcome ceremony in London: “Unfortunately, I will be watching you with my brother, so I will need a Wales win more than ever!” He was also potent in defence, making all of his eight tackles in the match.

A disappointing end to Skelton’s solid performance came with a shoulder injury midway through the second half, replaced by Kane Douglas.

While Nick Phipps impressed with his energy and crisp passing, halves partner Quade Cooper endured a mixed afternoon in his audition to hold onto the No.10 jersey deeper into the tournament.

Phil Hall, the head of trading and investment at MediaCom, the UK’s biggest media buying agency, predicted viewing audiences could plummet if England go out and that would mean fees for advert slots during games could fall by up to 40%.

When asked if he was surprised by England’s tactics, he added: “Yes I was surprised. But I am always confident when we play at home – whenever we do, I expect us to win, and I hope we do”.

This was both the electrifying and frustrating moments of Quade. Joe Tomane, Dean Mumm, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani got the others. On the flipside, he was sent to the bin in the 15th minute.

Matson was adamant that had to be addressed against Wales where they face being punished by Dan Biggar who kicked 23 points in the epic win over England.

Mitchell overcame a slow start to make the most of his first starting opportunity in this World Cup.

England have called up Nick Easter to their World Cup squad after Billy Vunipola was ruled out of the tournament by a knee injury. He needs four tries to overtake Jonah Lomu’s record of 15 World Cup tries.

With Australia within reach of a top two finish, the team Cheika decides to run out against the Red and Whites will be the most important decision of their World Cup campaign.

“When it is showtime, the big players do the right thing at the right time consistently”. I’ve listened to Stuart Lancaster say for years that “I don’t have the leaders and therefore we’re having to make all the decisions as coaches”.