Yes, this was the toughest World Cup pool there has been but after throwing away a winning position against Wales, England were outclassed by the Wallabies. They simply had no answer to David Pocock and Michael Hooper at the breakdown.
Steve James in the London Daily Telegraph:
It will be no consolation to England at all that Australia were quite brilliant in the first half. No side in the world, not even New Zealand, could have lived with them in the that period. Their play was just so slick and precise, helped by the quick ball provided by the outstanding back-rowers David Pocock and Michael Hooper. They were just magnificent.
And at fly half Bernard Foley had a magisterial evening, silencing a few doubters, including myself, who felt he might be a weak link in the Australian side.
But Australia also demonstrated that they have a scrum.
Hugh Godwin in The Independent:
England sank sadly and definitively out of their own World Cup an embarrassing 15 days into the tournament, with four weeks still to play. It was close for a period during the second half but mostly this was white jerseys chasing a wild Aussie goose.
Some or all of the England players may come to regard this as the great missed opportunity of their careers. They strained every muscle but were beaten by a more talented all-round Australian squad.
Oliver Holt in the London Daily Mail:
A sense of horror spread around Twickenham as England's doomsday scenario unfolded in front of a capacity crowd who had bought tickets hoping for triumph and glory not the ignominy of swift dispatch.
After so much preparation, so much expectation, so much talking, so much excitement, England are out almost before the World Cup has started. Only the worst hosts leave their own party this early.
Let's be honest: England's tournament has been an ungodly mess from start to finish. On Saturday night, they were pathetic. They went out with a whimper. If the defeat to Wales last week had been desperately close, this capitulation to Australia was men against boys. Against a top southern hemisphere side, England were exposed as naïve and callow.
Dan Elsom in the Sydney Daily Telegraph:
Australia were too strong for the home side, with brilliant individual performances from Bernard Foley and the backrow combination in Michael Hooper and David Pocock.
As England are now forced to accept the reality that they will play no further role in a World Cup on home soil, the Wallabies will battle it out with Wales next week to see who qualifies top of the notorious pool of death.
Chris Dutton in the Sydney Morning Herald:
The 82,000 strong crowd started filing out of the stadium as Bernard Foley's two tries, two conversions and four penalties silenced an entire country. England will be a nation in mourning as they come to grips with their World Cup disaster. Amazingly, it was the Australian scrum that won plenty of penalties and momentum in a stunning forward-pack effort.
Twickenham has been a graveyard for Wallabies packs in the past, but they erased any lingering nightmares to blow their hosts off the park at their own set-piece game. The resounding win - Australia led from start to finish - will send a warning shot to the rest of the world as the Wallabies announced themselves as genuine title contenders.
The double act of Michael Hooper and David Pocock was also superb, justifying the decision to pick two openside flankers in the starting side with some superb breakdown work.
ESPNscrum.com
England could only dream of the Wallabies' patience and ingenuity as on three occasions they launched a promising attack, only to lose direction before turning over the ball around the 22-metre line. While each England advance into enemy territory produced nothing, Australia were operating at their ruthless best as Genia and Foley conjured a special try when nothing seemed on.
Foley was regarded as one of the most ordinary fly-halves produced by Australia, but that view dissolved in the first half as he helped himself to two tries.
