England 14 Australia 28

A MIGHTY scrummaging effort, composure under pressure, rigid self-belief and an inspirational kicking effort by five-eighth Matt Giteau led to one of Australia's most important recent victories when they overcame England at Twickenham on Saturday.

In their successful quest to retain the Cook Cup, the Wallabies finally proved they had a scrum of substance, could defend a lead, were convinced of each other's abilities, and most importantly knew how to beat England at their own game.

They beat them in the scrum. They beat them in field position. And they beat them in relentlessly kicking over the penalties. It was like a traditional England Twickenham triumph, except this time it was the team in green and gold who followed the script … word perfect.

After the despair of the World Cup quarter-final defeat in Marseilles a year ago, some of the pain inflicted on the Wallabies by England remains, which is why there was enormous relief in Australia's dressing room that when the pressure was applied on Saturday, they responded and were able to celebrate a convincing 14-point win.

At times it looked edgy - especially when England rebounded from a 12-3 deficit after being repeatedly penalised by South African referee Marius Joubert at the breakdown and took a 14-12 lead with 30 minutes left. Long-time Wallabies fans were naturally nervous by this on-rush of English points, as the All Blacks have shown this year that sides can sweep the Wallabies aside in the second half.

It didn't happen this time, though. The Wallabies convened what proved to be an important midfield meeting, gathering in a circle near the England posts and telling each other, in the words of Giteau, it was "time to stand up". And stand up they did.

After a 20-minute period in the middle of the game when they couldn't get their hands on the ball, but were saved by excellent swarming defence, the Wallabies suddenly began to dominate field position.

Again the penalties came and, with the oft-lampooned Australian scrum on top, the Wallabies were able to play at their own pace. Then, through a carefully constructed attacking move that ended with fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper doing a double pike to cross the tryline in the 68th minute, the Wallabies moved well clear.

It was a well-deserved triumph, because it was built on patience, good rhythm, a belief that they could win, and spectacular collective and individual efforts.

The Wallabies pack was outstanding and many of the forwards had special afternoons, none more so than hooker Stephen Moore and second-rower Nathan Sharpe, who both played close to their best games for Australia. George Smith, as expected, dominated the breakdown, and Stirling Mortlock was definitely on the aggro serum, smashing anyone and everyone in sight, particularly his opposite, Riki Flutey, who on one occasion was almost sent into the by a devastating tackle.

Despite a few handling errors, Mortlock produced a perfect captain's performance, and Giteau did the rest, missing only one of his eight shots at goal, while his midfield kicking was back to its best.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans later put it right up there among the team's best wins of the year.

"It was brutal at times, but our guys stood up to the test," Deans said. "You could see the positivity in the group, where in the past we have had a tendency to recede. They stepped up, which is great. We now have to show it is a lasting change. What I liked was that they aspired for more. They put a stake in the ground, and said, 'No. We want better than that.' And they got better than that."

Defence and positional kicking were also crucial. "England weren't able to consistently pressure our line, and that was a telling factor," Deans said. "We were able to claim field position. A lot of the decision-making with our kicking game was better, and our back three's work was much improved. That created more pressure on them, and they didn't cope with it."

The Wallabies' get-together in the 51st minute was another factor. As Giteau later explained: "We actually said to each other that this was when we had to make our mark. We told each other to dig deep."

Considering its immediate impact, the Wallabies should have more of these mid-match powwows.