Australia head coach Michael Cheika has hinted that he feels the scoreline in the 33-13 victory over England flattered his side at Twickenham.
The Wallabies condemned the host nation to an early exit from the competition with a 20-point victory this evening, although the match itself was closer than the score suggests for long spells.
Cheika acknowledged that England were in the game until the closing stages, but believes that Australia's desire and game management ultimately proved to be the difference.
"Most Test matches are [close]. I'm learning that sometimes the score doesn't reflect both the physical nature of the game and how it rolls out tactically," he told Sports Mole.
"We really wanted it. We really wanted to play well, we were hungry to get into it and to play as hard as we could. We knew there would be a lot of pain because we're in England's back yard. The atmosphere was outrageously loud, and that's not an easy thing to deal with when you're in the minority like that.
"We just wanted to get stuck into it and I think that's what we did from the start. We had a dark period in the second half for about 10-15 minutes, and I think we managed that a lot better than we have in the past. We were able to come through that and get back into the game before the end."
Australia will next face Wales to determine who will finish top of Pool A.
Barney Corkhill
