England dumped out of home Rugby World Cup as superb Australia prove too good

Australia celebrate after their stunning victory at Twickenham today ©AFP/Getty Images

England have become the first-ever Rugby World Cup hosts to fail to make it out of the group stages after being outclassed by a ruthless Australia in their much-anticipated showdown today at Twickenham.

After a ferocious build-up in the week from two of sport's oldest and bitterest rivals, it was ultimately another Saturday of woe for England as the Wallabies proved stronger in virtually every department.

The men in gold were faster and more powerful from the outset despite the vocal home support, and, after an early exchange of penalties, it seemed only a matter time before the opening try, which came after a fine move completed by star fly half Bernard Foley.

As England continued to concede both turnovers and penalties, Australia grew in confidence and soon scored a quite magnificent second.

Foley began and finished the move, recieving the ball from scrum half Will Genia before exchanging passes with Kurtley Beale and crashing over the line to make it 17-3 at the break.

No team has ever recovered from a such a deficit in a World Cup match and, although England seemed more dangerous after the break following the introduction of replacement fly half George Ford, they never got close enough to truly look like getting anything out of the game.

There were stunned scenes around the country as the host nation crashed out ©AFP/Getty Images

Anthony Watson powered through two defenders to score before a penalty by Owen Farrell, now playing at centre, made it 20-13 with 15 minutes left.

But then Farrell was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle, before veteran Matt Giteau scored a third Australian try in a 33-13 victory which will have erased all memories of their defeat to the English on home soil in the 2003 final.

Time will tell how much the hosts exit will harm the tournament, but with just one win from three matches, they are out regardless of the result in their final match against Uruguay, and the inquest into what went wrong has already begun.

Australia, meanwhile, will face Wales in a battle for first place in Group A at Twickenham a week today.

If Group A was the most anticipated ahead of the tournament, Group B has not proved much easier, with three teams now locked together on two wins apiece with one round of matches to go.

South Africa lead the way as they continued their recovery from their opening-game loss to Japan with a comfortable 34-16 win over Scotland at Newcastle's St James' Park.

Schalk Burger and JP Pietersen each scored tries in the first half, before the Scots were handed a lifeline thanks to a Tommy Seymour try after a Duncan Weir interception.

South Africa continued their fight-back with an impressive win over Scotland ©AFP/Getty Images

But the boot of Handre Pollard kept South Africa at arms length and star winger Bryan Habana provided a final flourish for the 2007 World Cup winners with a late try to add some gloss to the scoreline.

The Scots only need to beat Samoa to progress, however, as Japan are two points behind despite another highly impressive 26-5 victory today against the Pacific Islanders at Milton Keynes.

Japan, who followed their South African win with a loss to Scotland, cruised into a 20-0 first-half lead as indiscipline cost their opponents.

A penalty try was followed by a futher five-points from Akihito Yamada and two penalties from Ayumu Goromaru before Paul Perez pulled one back.

Japan, who had lost 11 of their previous 14 meetings with Samoa, were unable to score four tries and earn a bonus point, but could still reach the quarter-finals with a win over United States next week, if either Scotland or South Africa fall short.