Sweet relief after '10 minutes of madness'
Ten minutes of madness put us in a pretty poor situation and I'm just so relieved. If we had lost it would have taken a lot of getting over because in the first half we were cruising. But the character came through and the atmosphere was brilliant. Credit to Australia, too, it was a fantastic Test match and a magnificent spectacle.
Clive Woodward, England manager
Ten minutes of madness put us in a pretty poor situation and I'm just so relieved. If we had lost it would have taken a lot of getting over because in the first half we were cruising. But the character came through and the atmosphere was brilliant. Credit to Australia, too, it was a fantastic Test match and a magnificent spectacle.
Clive Woodward, England manager
I thought the back row played very well – Lewis Moody had another stormer, and he had no right to win the ball on one occasion on the ground. Martin Johnson had a much better game in terms of carrying the ball, and as a pack, they all contributed to the victory.
Andy Robinson, England coach
England are five-and-a-half years into the reign of one coach and know how to win games. We need to move quickly into a mature stage and put games away.
We were a bit wobbly in the second half and it [victory] looked a long way away but the character of the team shone through. There was no panic. We weren't flinging it around.
Matt Dawson, England scrum-half
We were very quiet in the changing room last week. But we are elated to win this, because it looked as though we had no right to. This is a big scalp for us.
Clive Woodward
The World Cup is going to be neutral for everyone – apart from Australia.
Eddie Jones
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies