Jonny Wilkinson returned to haunt Australia and seal England another famous victory at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.
Seven years after landing the drop-goal that won England the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Wilkinson came off the bench to once again kick the decisive points.

England had taken a half-time lead with maiden Test tries from Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton but Australia hit back with Matt Giteau scoring twice in a 20-point haul.

Wilkinson replaced Toby Flood early in the second half – and his first act was to land the penalty that pushed England ahead.

England had not won in the southern hemisphere since that World Cup final and this was only their third Test victory over the Wallabies on Australian soil.

England manager Martin Johnson was captain for the two victories in 2003 – but his regime was under increasing pressure coming into the game following last week’s 27-17 defeat.

England managed to turn rugby’s received wisdom on its head last week by losing despite enjoying unbroken dominance in the scrum.

Johnson gave the dynamic duo of Northampton lock Courtney Lawes and Leicester scrum-half Youngs their first Test starts and they brought pace and variety into England’s attack.

Flood kicked England into a third minute lead after Lewis Moody had hunted down Australia fly-half Quade Cooper and forced him into a mistake under pressure.

The Wallabies showed early signs of an improvement in the scrum and when things got feisty between the two front rows, Tim Payne was penalised for throwing a punch allowing Giteau to level the scores.

England were playing with more pace and Shontayne Hape’s offload sent Ashton away but Mike Tindall tried an ambitious flick and the ball went to ground.

After some more sharp play from Youngs, England drove towards the line but Australia’s powerful winger Digby Ioane ripped the ball clear.

Ben Foden was trying to counter-attack from deep but he lost the ball in the tackle and when Youngs conceded the penalty in an attempt to recover the situation, Giteau nudged Australia ahead.

But England resumed the ascendancy five minutes later when Youngs marked his full debut with a sparkling individual try.

Tom Croft tapped the ball down from the top of the lineout, Youngs burst through a gap and then rounded Drew Mitchell to score his first Test try. Flood made no mistake with the conversion.

The Wallabies responded almost immediately through Giteau, who finished off a blistering move from the back of a rock-solid Australian scrum.

England’s midfield were sucked in by dummy-runners and Cooper fed Ioane who had come off his wing to slice clear before passing inside for Giteau to run under the posts.

Hape and Ashton, the two former rugby league players, were providing good continuity in attack as England built the pressure and then struck again.

Ashton popped up on Tom Palmer’s shoulder and took the inside ball before rounding James O’Connor and holding off Ioane to score his first Test try.

While England were building pressure through phases, the Wallabies looked to strike early and Ioane carved England open before Croft closed down centre Rob Horne and almost stole the ball.

Referee Romain Poite spotted hands in the ruck but Giteau sent the penalty wide and then hit the post with another effort.

The last time Australia came back from a half-time deficit to beat England was in 1975 – but they set about their task immediately after the restart with another devastating attack.

There was a suspicion of a knock-on from Genia at the base of the ruck but the officials saw nothing and Cooper unleashed O’Connor down the right.

The Australia full-back drew Ashton and with Foden stranded Mitchell sent Giteau over for his second try of the game.

Flood reduced the arrears with his second penalty after referee Poite penalised the under-pressure Wallaby front row for going straight to ground.

Wilkinson replaced Flood after 49 minutes and his first action was to drill a 40-metre kick and put England back ahead after the Wallabies front row was penalised again.

Australia drove their way into the 22 but England’s defence was much better organised than in Perth and they not only held firm but rucked over the ball to snatch a key turnover.

Adam Ashley-Cooper was on for the Wallabies and he broke into the England 22 and Thompson was penalised for offside at the ruck when it appeared the ball was out.

Thompson will have felt that justice was done when Giteau made a hash of the kick – but there was worse to come from the Wallaby fly-half when he missed his next effort from straight in front of the posts.

Replacement Wallaby prop James Slipper appeared to indicate that he had been eye-gouged after another scrum went down and ended in a front row scuffle.

Croft burgled a brilliant turnover and then won a penalty after being challenged in the air at the lineout.
Wilkinson pushed the kick wide but there was no time for Australia to come back and England had sealed a famous victory.

Source: Telegraph