MARTIN JOHNSON, there will never be a player like you and you are a little old to come back and play. But for goodness’ sake, at least give us an England team in your image, with your passion and sense of purpose and the clarity with which you played.

Above all, give us England forwards who are at least good enough not to be comprehensively turned over by a pack of forwards so lowly in the world ratings as that of Australia.

Before the rest of the inquest, we should pay tribute. Australia were the weakest of the TriNations teams in the most recent tournament, but here they were massively dominant, they had shining diamonds in Stirling Mortlock and Nathan Sharpe in the midfield and the pack respectively, they had wonderfully competent footballers, and they had a plan. England, by contrast, had a very rough idea.

Cringingly for England, and with grand old England forwards digging their own graves so they could turn in them, they were beaten up, hammered up front. Steve Borthwick is by no means a powerful force around the field, so it was mystifying why England asked him to carry the ball around so often. But he is meant to be a lineout champion. So why so many bizarre calls? Why such a total lack of authority in the lineout?

Furthermore, England’s scrummage dominance was meant to be a given. We knew from early on, when the South African referee Marius Jonker allowed Al Baxter to collapse to the floor, that the officials would have no idea. But let us be perfectly fair to Baxter and his coaches. By the end, Australia were even blissfully comfortable up front, a damaging scrum by them leading to a crucial score.

It was far too late when England brought on men of toughness and dynamism who should have been on from the start – James Haskell, Simon Shaw, Dylan Hartley and Harry Ellis to name just four. It was an enormous black mark against Johnson that when he finally brought on Shaw in the last quarter, he replaced Tom Palmer, who had at least played with some verve, and not the ineffective Borthwick.

Twickenham had been grumpy all day, understanda-bly so because 70 quid-plus is a lot to fork out for a team that has been in camp for ages, and yet plays with so little penetration and organisation. It was only very late on, with Riki Flutey making some space, that England as much as breached the Australian front line. Danny Cipriani did manage a few breaks and to blame him for this shambles would be almost pathetically vindictive. But when England won the occasional loose ball, was it really a good plan to have rather ponderous forwards standing at first receiver?

Australia deserved their celebrations. It was a good thing for England that the promising Luke Burgess was so hesitant at scrum-half – a hesitancy often mirrored by Danny Care opposite. They know they are only just embarking on a real revival too. And they had a real problem in the midfield, where the ponderous Ryan Cross killed a multitude of movements. You have to ask why the Australian Rugby Union, with a choice from a galaxy of superb rugby league players, ended up with Cross. Although you also have to remember that Lote Tuqiri was injured. He really could have put England to the sword in rather horrible fashion.

Australia’s scrummaging escape was signalled early by the expression of pure bewilderment on the face of referee Jonker as the scrum bit the dust. But Matt Giteau, who had a kicking game while England had a hoofing game, had soon calmed any Australian nerves with three early penalties. England did make one decent attack early on when Cipriani made a break after looking up to find that, as usual, his back vision was populated by forwards . Flutey, Nick Easter and Lee Mears took the ball on and it took a splendid tackle by Giteau to stop Mears from scoring. But soon after, as Australia kicked clear, the promising Delon Armitage fielded the ball and put over an impressive drop goal.

England scored their try deep into the second quarter. It had all been going swimmingly for Australia when suddenly Adam Ashley -Cooper lost the ball in a tackle by Armitage – this after England had made another odd lineout turnover. England drove from the resulting lineout and Sheridan was brought down just inches short. But they carried on, by now with Matt Stevens on as a blood replacement for Sheridan, and Stevens made two decent intrusions into a move which saw Easter drive over to score. Cipriani missed the conversion but added a penalty, so that England trailed by 12-11 at half-time.

There was even a brighter spot early in the second half.

Cipriani set up a position with a lovely break, although Australia’s defence held out, forcing Cipriani to miss with a drop goal attempt. But England came back, Cipriani put them ahead by 14-12 with a penalty, and now the stage was set, surely, for an England surge.

We had a surge alright, but it was not from England. The incredible Sharpe set up a glorious attacking position by charging down a kick by Care and Giteau put Australia ahead 15-14 with a penalty. And just on the hour came one of those moments where the significance of the play vastly outweighed the significance of the points. Australia destroyed an England scrum, Tom Croft illegally clawed it back with his hands and Mortlock, overcoming his astonishment at this effort by his own maligned pack, kicked a glorious long goal, as he became ever more influential with his power.

And it was 21-14 to Australia as the final 10 minutes approached – and the Wallabies made their killing score. Again England ignored their normal jumpers and threw to the back and the ball went astray. Peter Hynes burst through, chipped through a kick which was flipped back to him by Hugh McMeniman, and Australia were on their way. They battered up the middle with alacrity, Giteau picked up a bouncing ball and Australia’s outside backs ushered in Ashley-Cooper for a try down the right, Giteau converting.

England showed some courage in the final quarter as their replacements tried to plot a revival. However, revival was not a word on English lips at Twickenham last evening.

Star man:Nathan Sharpe (Australia)

Scorers: England: Try:Easter 35Pens: Cipriani (2).Drop Goal:Armitage Australia: Try:Ashley-Cooper 68 Con:GiteauPens:Giteau (6), Mortlock

Referee:M Jonker (South Africa)

Attendance:80,688

ENGLAND:D Armitage; P Sackey, J Noon, R Flutey, U Monye; D Cipriani (T Flood 71min), D Care (H Ellis 66min); A Sheridan (M Stevens 34-40min; P Vickery 66min), L Mears (D Hartley 68min), P Vickery (M Stevens 54min), S Borthwick (capt), T Palmer (S Shaw 64min), T Croft, N Easter (J Haskell 58min), T Rees (M Lipman 64min)

AUSTRALIA:A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, R Cross, S Mortlock (capt), D Mitchell; M Giteau, L Burgess; B Robinson, S Moore, A Baxter, M Chisholm (D Mumm 65min), N Sharpe, H McMeniman (T Polota-Nau 79min), R Brown (W Palu 44min), G Smith