May Day as England crush Aussies 40-16 to reach World Cup semis
- Winger scores two tries for Red Rose as they blast Australia 40-16 in Oita
- England will take on New Zealand in a mouth-watering clash next weekend
Wing Jonny May produced a quickfire double and captain Owen Farrell was perfect with the boot as England stormed into the World Cup semi-finals Saturday with a thumping 40-16 win over Australia.
May celebrated his 50th England cap with his 26th and 27th tries in Oita, while Farrell kicked 20 points for England, who equalled their biggest ever margin of victory against their fierce rivals and move on to face either New Zealand or Ireland in the last four.
“We did what’s needed,” said Farrell. “We had the lead and obviously Australia were throwing everything at us. We wanted to play the game at our pace, not theirs, and we did that in the second half.”
Fears England could come into the match undercooked, after their final pool game against France was washed out by last week’s devastating typhoon, ultimately proved unfounded.
May’s early salvo and Farrell’s perfect eight-from-eight kicking meant England exorcised the demons of their traumatic early World Cup exit four years ago -- one of the lowest points in English rugby history.
It also extended England’s winning run over Australia to seven matches dating back to that tournament when they condemned the hosts to a first-round exit with a 33-13 drubbing at Twickenham.
