The Australians like to think of themselves as macho men, but yesterday England made them look like schoolkids. All the guff from John O’Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive, backfired in the biggest way possible because it simply inspired not only this England team, but all Englishmen everywhere, to ram the words of hate down his throat.

I’m sure that every player in the Wallaby team now wishes that O’Neill had kept his mouth shut. You could see right from the first scrum how much it meant to the guys to be out there representing their country in a World Cup quarter-final.

This lot were no longer the “Dad’s Army” they were four years ago, instead they had become “Granddad’s Army” but age simply didn’t come into the equation. This is a game of blood and soul and every single player in that side stood up to be counted.

“Ronnie” Regan was one of the oldest out there and one of his pet sayings is: “We had them on toast.” Well, Ronnie had double helpings against the Australians, because, once again, they could not compete at scrum time.

You could see it in the eyes of the Wallaby pack as soon as the first few scrums had gone down: It was a look that said: “We’ve been found out here.”

Andrew Sheridan did such a number on Guy Shepherdson and Al Baxter that he must have seemed like their worst nightmare.

You could see the Australian self-belief slip away – and there is no better feeling than that. It must be hard to take, because they knew what was coming – and they could do nothing about it. They simply did not have the expertise in the squad, despite their coaches, John Connolly and Michael Foley, thinking they are experts.

The truth is, they did not have what it takes in terms of knowledge to shore-up their creaking scrum. England’s only chance was to ram home their superiority up front and then watch the shockwaves reverberate through the Wallaby team. It worked a treat.

Lote Tuqiri talked about Jason Robinson being England’s only world class back, but if Australia had any more in their backline we didn’t see any signs of it at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles yesterday afternoon.

They had also talked about putting the record straight after losing the 2003 World Cup final – but it was no fluke that England beat them then, and it was no fluke in 2007 either.

Quite simply, they were stuffed. There’s nothing better than beating a side which is so full of itself. We should show a bit of humility, but only a little bit when it comes to the Aussies. The Wallabies have always prided themselves on rising to the occasion, and having the matchwinners to deliver the goods when it counts.

There was no sign of any matchwinner this time, because when it was time to cut loose, and they had to go for broke, they simply didn’t have the guts or the confidence.

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock may be able to kick his goals in the Tri-Nations, but the World Cup is a bigger stage all together.

Connolly and Foley are go-through-the-motions coaches, but they are stuck in method rugby and missed the biggest trick of the lot. They had to move the ball away from the set-pieces, especially the scrum, and get their big runners like Mortlock into the game.

The Australian backs are no more talented than England’s, but they are much more powerful. But they could not make it count. The Australians have a reputation for doing their analysis, but here their planning and execution were terrible. George Gregan has got well over 100 caps and, although he was behind a beaten pack, he thought he would come up with some answers. He couldn’t, and there was a knock on effect all the way down their backline as England piled on the pressure.

This is knockout rugby, and the Aussies could not pick themselves off the canvas to deliver the winning punch because the English pack had too much clout for them. Lewis Moody had his best game in an England shirt, and he nullified George Smith. Regan also proved every bit as evil, legitimately, as Connolly had feared by flagging him up to the officials in the build-up to the match as a troublemaker. The English front row caused them trouble, no question, but it was a triumph of technique and power rather than any skullduggery, and Sheridan’s performance puts him up alongside Carl Hay-man of the All Blacks as the most feared prop in the world.

The England pack made sure that the Aussies had to play off the back foot, and the shaven heads of Gregan, Mortlock and Chris Latham reminded you by the end of a group of escaped convicts headed back to jail after a failed break-out.

This England team has surpassed everybody’s expectations but their own, and they should take a bow. They were a team that had been written off, but came back to produce one of the great World Cup upsets.

As for the Aussies, they deserved to go out. Tie me kangaroo down, sport? Yesterday the Aussies couldn’t have tied down a pet hamster.

Jeremy Guscott won 65 caps for England between 1989 and 1999

Things they wish they’d never said

Everyone hates England. It’s a statement of the bleeding obvious...this is all a byproduct of their born-to-rule mentality. It’s been there for a long time and nothing has changed – John O’Neill, Australian Rugby Union chief executive

It would be the worst thing for rugby if the Wallabies don’t beat England. It would be devastating – Aussie motormouth David Campese

The best you can hope for is to do what so many English sporting teams have done so well over the years – lose with dignity – Peter FitzSimons, a former Australian lock turned scribe

England picking Regan at hooker delivers an intent. We’ve spoken to Paddy O’Brien to ensure he behaves himself, just to ensure the game’s fair and clean – John ‘Knuckles’ Connolly, Australia’s coach, starts his whingeing before the game. Safe journey home, John