England reign supreme in stormy 41-5 quarter-final defeat of Australia at Rugby World Cup

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.

To say they made heavy weather of this one, though, would be the literal truth. Even allowing for the fact the first half might have been slightly drier for all involved had it taken place in a car wash, this was no classic. Fair play to the organisers for playing Rihanna’s Umbrella over the public address in the second half but there wasn’t much fun to be had otherwise.

The conditions were clearly always going to dictate England’s close-quarters approach and quite right, too. They will be slightly disappointed, nevertheless, by the number of chances that went begging and and by some moderate decision making behind the scrum. Despite scoring seven tries, with Marlie Packer claiming a short-range hat-trick, they were seldom at their imperious best.

Does that matter at this stage of proceedings? Knock-out rugby is clearly not decided by aesthetic beauty and it was never going to be a day for tossing the ball around. Even taking into account Australia’s stout resistance and the damp ball, though, England’s execution was a mixed bag. While the industry of Packer and Abbie Ward, allied to the consistent dominance of the Red Roses scrum, was typically admirable, this talented squad can do better.

Job done, however, and onwards and upwards to Eden Park this Saturday. 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