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England's raging bull forward pack exposed the soft underbelly of the Wallabies to turn the form book on its head and dump the Australians out of the World Cup with a stunning 12-10 victory in the opening quarterfinal at Stade Velodrome early today.
It was brutal stuff from England as they went for the jugular up front, unsettling the Wallabies early and never allowing the heavily favoured southern hemisphere side to settle into the rhythm with which they prefer to play.
And so the defending champions, against the odds and most people's predictions, live to fight another day at this World Cup, through to next week's first semifinal in Paris where they will await the winner of the All Blacks-France match.
It was a match that England managed to turn into the dogfight they knew they had to if they were to prevail, their big pack giving the out-of-sorts Wallabies a hiding at almost every phase of the game.
The Wallabies were pushed all over the paddock at scrum time, outplayed at the breakdown and only really showed any nous up front at the lineout where their work was as efficient as ever. It was a brave, bullying performance from the English eight, exactly what they knew they had to do to dump these confident Australians out of the tournament.
But for a pack who had talked all week about their aim of becoming "the best in the world" the Australian eight was so far off that mark it was laughable.
The Wallabies could barely keep the scrum upright, so much pressure were they under, and in the end it was a telling aspect of the game. Their work at the breakdown was also lacklustre, time and again England able to turn over possession with their superior technique and commitment.
For all that, there was still not much in it, just a whisker at the end. The 2003 champions relied on four penalties from Jonny Wilkinson to get them home. Australian skipper Stirling Mortlock had a late chance to snatch victory with a 50m penalty from wide out, but he was unable to make the miracle play.
The Australians had actually scrambled extremely well to take a 10-6 lead into the sheds at halftime, Lote Tuqiri's try after 33 minutes the difference in a frantic opening 40.
But the signs were there even then that their lead was on very shaky ground, the Australians struggling to get their offensive game in gear and being pushed from pillar to post at the breakdown.
After referee Alain Rolland initially penalised the English for the first two of many scrums that went to the deck, eventually even he worked out that it was the Australians who were hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
Tuqiri's score late in the half had been pretty much against the run of play and may have shaken a less determined outfit than this England side today.
It was a well-taken try, Chris Latham and Stirling Mortlock putting in the power runs, and good patience and ball-retention eventually seeing Berrick Barnes able to slip a pass to Tuqiri that sent him scrambling over, and through, the ineffective tackle of Josh Lewsey.
Remarkably, that was to be the end of the scoring for the Wallabies, their error-rate and lack of punch up front preventing them from mounting the sustained pressure they had to to find the holes in the English defensive line.
So two Wilkinson penalties in the second half, after 51 and 59 minutes respectively, were all that the 2003 champions needed to progress through to the semifinals. The Wallabies probed for one last response to get them out of jail, but with England's defensive line scrambling well, there was to be no opening.
It was a thoroughly deserved victory, too, for this limited but suddenly lethal England side. With Andy Sheridan leading a splendid front-row effort, and the likes of big Simon Shaw and inspirational flanker Martin Corry full of endeavour up front the arm-wrestle was won conclusively by the English.
Wilkinson ran the game well, and there were even the odd moments of inspiration out wide. But really this was a famous victory foundered on the iron will of the front eight.
It was also a sad end to the test career of George Gregan, the Wallaby halfback's 139th, and final, test destined to go down as one of his less fond. And as he trudged off afterwards, head bowed, it was difficult not to say to yourself: "Four more years, George. Four more years."
England are now just two matches from the most unlikeliest of title defences, and for that alone must be respected. If the All Blacks win through to meet them in next weekend's opening semifinal Graham Henry's men can be assured of one thing: they will receive the sternest of examinations from a pack finally starting to flex its muscles.
"It was our worst performance [of the tournament]," lamented Wallaby coach John Connolly afterwards. "England's scrum got it in stride. England controlled the breakdown strongly.
"We lost a fair bit of composure and made uncharacteristic errors, things we pride ourselves on not doing. A lot of the ball we got on the back foot. When we did get the ball on the front foot we looked dangerous."
England coach Brian Ashton said: "We took Australia on in a way that people would have expected Australia to take us on, by moving the ball around the field."
"Today was a much more balanced and complete performance than anything we've given in the World Cup."
As for his pack's collective effort, Ashton was left almost gobsmacked: "I think to say it was magnificent would probably be an understatement, but I can't think of a better word at the moment."
Tres magnifique, indeed.
England 12: Jonny Wilkinson 4 pens.
Australia 10: Lote Tuqiri try; Stirling Mortlock pen con. Ht: 6-10
