England claimed an historic 21-20 victory over Australia in their clash at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.

In arguably their finest display since they lifted the Rugby World Cup at the same ground, tries from scrum-half Ben Youngs and winger Chris Ashton inspired England to their first win in the southern hemisphere since that famous night in 2003 with fly-half Toby Flood and his replacement Jonny Wilkinson keeping the Wallabies at bay. Two tries from returning centre Matt Giteau, who contributed all of his side's points, ensured the contest went down to the wire but he was wide with a crucial late penalty that could have won his side the game. In the end, the hosts were undone by a much-improved performance from England packed with energy and vigour.

From the word go the difference form last week couldn’t be more noticeable. Whilst in the first Test England seemed to be doing their best to slow the passages of play down to a crawl at every attempt, this week, they played with pace, accuracy and looked dangerous throughout as a result. Predictable and lethargic in attack last week, offering easy targets for the Australian defenders to hit, England managed to switch the point of attack and offload the ball in contact well. They managed to ask questions of the Aussie defence all game, with plenty of front foot ball to play with.

How the match unfolded

England got the first try of the match, a magnificent effort by 20-year-old full debutant Youngs, who combined his blistering pace with sharp vision when he blasted through a gap at the back of the lineout and jinked his way to the line for his first Test try.

Flood struck the conversion to put England into a 10-6 lead, but it would not last for long and on 23 minutes the brilliance of the Aussie backs reaped rewards. Ironically it was thanks to an unusually solid Wallaby scrum, which provided platform for Digby Ioane to dart through the hole as England's defence targeted Cooper.

Within four minutes England had the Wallabies rocking again with a wonderfully worked first Test try for wing Chris Ashton. Hooker Steve Thompson's pick up and drive saw the ball quickly out to Tom Palmer, who delivered a neat inside pass to Ashton for the wing to accelerate to the line. Flood missed the conversion to leave the scores at 15-13 to the visitors.

Giteau missed a penalty on the 30 minute mark when England were penalised at the breakdown and two minutes later the Wallaby centre saw another long range effort bounce off the upright.

On 38 minutes Australia were let off when Thompson broke into open space only for his pass to be called forward, leaving England with a thoroughly deserved two point lead at half time. Australia took just three minutes after the restart to regain the advantage, although England felt aggrieved at a missed knock-on by scrum half Will Genia at the start of the move.

A sweeping move to the right saw the Aussie scrum half spread the ball wide to full back James O'Connor, who used his pace down the touchline to open up a hole in England's defence before feeding wing Drew Mitchell inside. The supporting Giteau collected the offload and romped in for his second. Again the centre was on target with the conversion to take the score to 20-15.

Flood closed the gap to two points on 46 minutes as England continued to take the game to the Aussies.

Wilkinson entered the fray to replace Flood as the clock hit 50 minutes, much to the delight of the 48,000 strong Sydney crowd and he was soon landing a penalty shot at goal to make the score 21-20, putting his side back in front.

Giteau missed a touchline effort on 68 minutes, sending the ball well wide of the posts to leave the scores on 21-20, with the hosts still trailing by a single point.

And as the game entered its final ten minutes the usually metronomic kicker missed again, this time an absolute howler from almost in front. But he was not alone with his poor targeting and, with just three minutes to go, Wilkinson also missed an easily kickable penalty that would have left the hosts requiring a try.

England maintained their composure as the game clock ticked down to give the visitors an impressive victory on Australian soil.

Closing thoughts

The scrum was never going to be as dominant as last week, the England pack got the nudge on a fair few times, with Dan Cole in particular impressing both in the tight and in the loose with his carrying and tackling.

The back row were remarkably improved, showing far more aggression and dynamism around the fringes, and forcing crucial turnovers at the breakdown. Croft was atheletic and won plenty of good lineout ball, Lewis Moody led from the front and Nick Easter, who’s played every minute of England’s matches this season covered so much ground and was everywhere.

The defensive effort was immense from beginning to end, a marked improvement from the first Test. Whilst Australia did breach the England try-line twice, defence coach Mike Ford will have been pleased by his side’s resilience when having to deal with wave after wave of Aussie pressure.

The back three of Foden, Ashton and Cueto looked dangerous whenever they had the ball, and seemed to revel in the freedom to run it when there was space and opportunity. Likewise, the team played smart rugby, knowing when to put boot to ball and when to chance their arm. The tactics and execution in the last ten minutes in particular were outstanding.

Martin Johnson and his side silenced their critics and sounded a warning to their rivals with a narrow victory over Australia that restored faith in a team that was seemingly going nowhere just seven days ago. After the promise shown in Paris, combined with only England’s third ever win on Australian soil this weekend, England fans will be forgiven for thinking things are on the up and that they’ll provide a stern challenge in 2011.

Player ratings:

Ben Foden - Immense performance. Dependable under the high ball, his counter-acting was deadly and had Australia under constant alert. Kicking was hit and miss but had some great inter-linking with Saints team-mate Ashton. 8

Chris Ashton - Looked confident and invariably beat at least the first defender. Always a threat when running with the ball and ran some great support lines. His sidestep and elusive running gave England their second try. 8

Mike Tindall - Nowhere near as influential as last week, and one silly offload apart, did the basics well with some strong carries, whilst holding the defence well. 6

Shontayne Hape - Much improved performance with some strong carries, combined with neat offloading and a big defensive effort. 6

Mark Cueto - Solid and dependable once again, setting up good field position in attack and a decent kicking game. 7

Toby Flood - Stood much flatter and threatened the gainline far more this week. Although he rarely found too much space himself in attack, he ran his backline well, offering good distribution, with help from quicker ball. 7

Ben Youngs - A couple of wayward passes aside, got to each ruck quickly and injected so much pace on the ball, choosing the right options time and time again. Showed great awareness to score his try. 9

Tim Payne - Got the shove on at scrum time most of the time, but unlike last week, didn’t contribute much with ball in hand and conceded a couple of penalties. 6

Steve Thompson - Clearly fired up, and whilst he was penalised a couple of times, part of a big pack effort. 6

Dan Cole - Again dominated at scrum time, carried the ball strongly and got around the field to make plenty of important tackles. 8

Courtney Lawes - Power, aggression and pace in ample supply, a brilliant performance in his first start. Part of a much more dynamic pack overall and gave England plenty of go-forward ball. 8

Tom Palmer - A rock in defence and his subtle offload to Ashton gave England their second try. 7

Tom Croft - Fantastic performance and clearly missed for England in the Six Nations. Won plenty of lineout ball cleanly as well as a crucial turnover at the end of the match that relieved pressure. 8

Lewis Moody - Leads from the front and was a constant nuisance at the breakdown all game. Top tackler on the pitch without missing any and rallied the troops well 7

Nick Easter - Improved as the match went on after a shaky start, and whilst he doesn’t offer much pace he does get around the pitch, tidies up loose ball, does the hard graft, claims restarts superbly and part of a back row that was far more aggressive at the breakdown. 7

Australia (13) 20
Tries: Giteau 2 Cons: Giteau 2 Pens: Giteau 2

England (15) 21
Tries: Youngs, Ashton Cons: Flood Pens: Flood 2, Wilkinson