Sublime Aussies are Rugby World Cup's danger team

Bernard Foley, left, led the way for Australia with 28 points, while Rob Simmons locked a dominant scrum. Photo / Getty Images

Australia 33 - England 13

Australia sent an emphatic message to their Rugby World Cup rivals yesterday by destroying England's tournament with their best performance under coach Michael Cheika.

After a low-key start to pool play with wins over Fiji and Uruguay, their belting of the hosts has put the Wallabies front and centre as the second favourites, behind New Zealand, to win their third World Cup.

The victory - by their biggest margin at Twickenham - lifts Australia to the top of Pool A ahead of Wales on points difference, and consigns England to the ignominy of being the first World Cup hosts to fail to reach the knockout stages.

It was a win built on a career-best outing by No10 Bernard Foley, who racked up 28 points, a powerful scrum and complete domination of the ruck thanks to an all-star backrow.

The win is Australia's first over England at a World Cup since the 1991 final at Twickenham, and goes some way towards avenging quarter-final losses in 1995 and 2007 - not to mention the 2003 final.

It also keeps alive their unbeaten Cup record in the United Kingdom - where they lifted the trophy in 1991 and 1999.

Foley said he hoped the impressive slaying of their fierce rivals would kick-start the Wallabies' campaign.

"It is a week-to-week tournament. We can enjoy it tonight but we have to get busy prepping for Wales [next weekend]," he said.

"We have always spoken about winning all the pool games and that is still the objective.

You want to take momentum into the finals. It is really important for us to have a good performance against Wales next week and finish off the pool stages strong."

A brief English comeback, which cut Australia's lead to seven points with 15 minutes left, was snuffed out with the 71st minute sin-binning of England first five-eighths Owen Farrell for shoulder-charging Matt Giteau without the ball.

Foley kicked two more penalties before Giteau ran in an 80th-minute try. Australia's defensive strength during England's brief comeback impressed Giteau.

"There was a period there from about the 50th to 70th minute where they came at us and we had to hold pretty strong, hold our nerve," Giteau said.

"They came home with a bit of a wet sail so I think that showed some great character from us and there's still a lot we can improve on."

It highlighted that this is a Wallabies team made of sterner stuff than some recent incarnations, and gave added belief to the team that they have the potential to go deep into the tournament.

"We have always had the belief that we have got the game and I suppose tonight we unlocked a bit of that," said Foley, who finished with two tries and a seven-from-seven record with the boot.

"A big part of our identity is to come out and perform well every time we play, not just here and there.

"We aim to always put out a performance we can be proud of. Next week, we will get another chance."

Transplanted No8 David Pocock was again outstanding at the breakdown as England had no answer to the brilliant ball thief.

Much of the pre-match talk centred around the scrum, and whether the Wallabies would turn to mush as they had in the past.

Instead England cracked, conceding six scrum penalties.

Loosehead prop Joe Marler was the main culprit, with French referee Romain Poite singling him out for boring in at an angle. After conceding his fourth scrum penalty, Marler was hooked by coach Stuart Lancaster, whose job is on the line after the embarrassing early exit on home soil.

The Wallabies will monitor injuries to backs Rob Horne (shoulder) and Israel Folau (ankle) in the coming week.

Road to the Cup final

Australia's potential path
If they beat Wales on Sunday: Quarter-final v Scotland or Japan. Semifinal v France or Ireland

If they lose to Wales:
Quarter-final v South Africa. Semifinal v New Zealand.

Wallabies shake off curse of their scrum

For so long, the Wallabies' scrum has been derided as their Achilles heel.

Much of the pre-match talk heading into yesterday's showdown between Australia and England had centred on the scrum, and whether the Wallabies would be dominated as they had in the past.

England refused to believe Australia had improved - and vowed to revive the demons of scrums past.

As recently as 11 months ago at Twickenham, Australia's scrum was humiliated by their fierce rivals. And in 2005 they were forced into uncontested scrums when Matt Dunning was taken from the field on a stretcher.

Yesterday at Twickenham, with 81,010 watching, the tables were turned - and the outcome was a 33-13 thrashing.

England fell to pieces, conceding three first-half scrum penalties - and six by fulltime - as respected French referee Romain Poite came down hard on loosehead prop Joe Marler for boring in at an angle.

Marler was hooked after 50 minutes following a terse exchange with Poite about coming in at an angle after he'd conceded a fourth penalty.

It was sweet justice for the Wallabies camp, who had privately begun to voice concerns about Marler's nefarious tactics.

World Cup-winning Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer shone the spotlight on Marler's tendency to come in at an angle - and his warnings were heeded.

Michael Cheika refused to get carried away with his scrum's demolition job, instead choosing to remind them the task doesn't get any easier against Wales next Sunday.

The scrum is a very humbling part of the game because you can dominate one, Cheika says. Photo / Getty Images

"Like I've said before, the scrum is a very humbling part of the game because you can dominate one and then get your pants pulled down in the next one if you're not on top of your game," he said.

"Yeah, okay, that went well for us tonight but we've got to be consistent with it again next week and again and again.

"Everyone's a threat. We'll have to be ready for the challenge that we're going to see in that part of the game from Wales."

That advice was heeded by star back-rower David Pocock, who again impressed in his role as the new No8.

Pocock said it would take more than one dominant outing to change the reputation of the Australian scrum - but the work was being done with scrum doctor Argentine Mario Ledesma to ensure it happened.

He said it was one good performance but "you've got to back it up week in, week out".