England overpower Australia in rain-soaked Rugby World Cup quarter-final

It may take several days for them to dry out but England are into the World Cup semi-finals. While monsoonal rain in Auckland initially made this more akin to a game of water polo, there was never any danger of the Red Roses letting victory slip and 29 Tests have now passed since they were beaten.

The conditions were clearly always going to dictate England’s close-quarters approach and quite right, too. Knockout rugby is clearly not decided by aesthetic beauty and it was emphatically not a day for tossing the ball around. With Marlie Packer claiming a short-range hat-trick, England still scored seven tries without doing anything particularly spectacular.

Even allowing for the fact the first half might have been slightly drier for all involved had it taken place in a car wash, it did not make classic viewing for the neutral. Fair play to the organizers for playing Rihanna’s Umbrella over the public address in the second half but there wasn’t a great deal of fun to be had otherwise.

England’s execution was also a mixed bag at times, even taking into account Australia’s stout resistance and the damp ball. While the industry of Packer and Abbie Ward, allied to the consistent dominance of the Red Roses scrum, was typically admirable and the Wallaroos spent much of the afternoon penned in their own half, it still feels as if this talented squad had more in them.

Job done for England, however, and onwards and upwards to Eden Park this Saturday. Defensively they continue to be tough nuts to crack and Packer had another productive day at the breakdown. The first half was also memorable for slightly perverse reasons, with the clocks going back in the UK meaning the first half was all but over before it had technically begun. An abbreviated contest would certainly have suited Australia, with the task of halting England’s giant pack clearly an unenviable one.

As early as the eighth minute they were unable to stop a rumbling drive that concluded with Sarah Hunter, on her record-breaking 138th appearance for her country, touching down from a range of about six inches. Emily Scarratt’s conversion made it 7-0 and the chances of England not scoring again for another 20 minutes felt about as remote as the sun coming out.