England 22 Australia 19

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Twickenham
Attendance:  74000
Referee:  Watson a.

In a match that went all the way to the wire, England effected an unlikely last second 22-19 victory over Australia to lift the Cook Cup for the first time.

Surely no match could have ended in such dramatic fashion.  Deep into injury time the match seemed to be following a familiar script of brave England running out of steam and succumbing to the hyper-efficient Wallaby machine.  But after a full five minutes of injury, a few seconds of brilliance by replacement wing Iain Balshaw and Dan Luger enabled England to snatch an unlikely victory and win the Cook Cup for the first time in their history.

With seconds of the match left, Balshaw chipped ahead into the left hand corner behind the Wallaby line and Luger outpaced Wallaby scrum-half Sam Cordingley to make the touchdown as Twickenham erupted in celebration.  But there followed an agonising wait as referee Andre Watson called for video ref Brian Stirling to make a decision.  Stirling duly rubber-stamped the score and, after Wilkinson's brilliant touchline conversion, the celebrations could begin in earnest.

It was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but England coach Clive Woodward will not mind one iota, as England's development takes another giant step following the drawn series in South Africa over the weekend.

Australia, under pressure from England for most of the first half as the men in white dominated both territory and possession, knuckled down to their game-plan and patiently soaked up a battering from the opposition.  The Australian defence was once again awesome, England continually forced to kick away posssession as the Wallaby midfield trio kept a tight rein on them.

At times Australia had looked ragged in the first half, but in the second it was a completely different story.  The introduction of Nathan Grey and Damian Smith galvanised the Wallaby effort with the World Champions clicked into gear.  Roff, making his 61st appearance in the green and gold jersey, was the best player on the pitch by quite some margin, his lines of running and general all-round athletic ability making him every Englishman's nightmare all afternoon.

It was the veteran who broke the defensive stalemate for the first time, racing away down the left, throwing off the tackle of Austin Healey before deftly slipping the ball to Matt Burke for the first try of the match.  That made it 16-12.  A penalty moments later put Australia up to 19-12 and the alarm bells were ringing for England as the vistors looked like getting away.

England responded well with Wilkinson making a break in the Australian 22, only for a knock on to stunt a promising move.  Bracken scragged Cordingley from the ensuing scrum before Wilkinson launched a kick.  It was a great passage for England as they battered the Wallaby line through the likes of Hill, Johnson and Dalaglio.

A penalty eventually came their way and Wilkinson made it 19-15 after 55 minutes.  With fresh legs on the wing in the shape of Bath's Balshaw, it was England's turn to attack.  But time and time again the Australians were able to scrabble away the ball to nullify the English threat.

Part of the problem was the absence of quick ruck ball, Bracken having to wait what seemed like an age at the base of rucks before he could swing it out.  Some of England's passing also left much to be desired, too many times players having to slow down in order to take the pass.  In contrast the Australia strike runners were able to explode onto the ball thanks to pinpoint passing from the likes of Cordingley and Kafer.

Dawson entered the fray for England in the final quarter and his presence gave England more impetus around the base, keeping the Australian back row constantly on their toes with his sniping runs and laying off intelligent short pops to his forwards that made inroads into the Wallaby defence.

In the dying moments of the match, tension reached fever pitch with Wallaby fullback Chris Latham sin-binnned for repeated "professional fouls".  A lineout just yards from the Australian line ended in another penalty for England and Twickenham suddenly came alive as the English supporters got behind their men.  But Greening -- as he had done on too many occasions during the afternoon -- lofted the throw straight into a Wallaby hand.  It could have proved a crucial miss and while he had a fine game in open play, Greening must rectify his deficiencies in throwing or risk heading out into the international wilderness.

Many England supporters must have felt their chance had slipped away as Australia seemingly cleared their lines but those who left early to beat the rush missed the thrilling, if a little controversial ending.

England manager Clive Woodward believes the win could be a defining moment for English rugby:  "It's very significant.  It would have been a masive setback if we had lost here today.  But there's a lot to work on as we didn't play well -- perhaps that makes it all the better, that we didn't play that well but can still get a win."

Skipper Martin Johnson was pleased with his side's last ditch victory but also had some reservations over England's total performance.

"I've got mixed feelings at the moment as we didn't play well in the second half and thought we'd blown it.  We failed to make the most of some opportunities."

"We've had some bad video calls in the past so I was quite pessimistic even though Dan was certain he had scored it.  But great respect for Australia as they've had a long 12 months of rugby and came here with four of five players missing," he added.

England 22 Australia 19 (12-9)

England Try:  Luger
Conversion:  Wilkinson
Penalties:  Wilkinson (4)
Drop Goals:  Wilinson (1)

Australia Try:  Burke
Conversion:  Burke
Penalties:  Burke (4)