Defending World Champions England stunned Australia 12-10 in the first of World Cup quarter finals in Marseille.

Overwhelming favourites to win the clash, the Wallabies were overpowered by the England pack and looked increasingly rattled as they failed to score a single point the second half.

Australia started brightly immediately winning possession as captain Stirling Mortlock beat Lewis Moody to the high ball from the kick off.

Rookie Berrick Barnes looked nervous from the start but his over-hit kick deep into the England half resolutely refused to cross the dead ball line leaving the Wallabies with a golden chance to get an early score on the board.

Pushing for the try with just a couple of minutes on the clock talismanic scrumhalf George Gregan was illegally brought down in possession, gifting Mortlock with a penalty kick on goal.

Uncharacteristically Mortlock let England off the hook when he skewed the ball wide, but he made no mistake just two minutes later giving Australia a three-point lead when an over-eager Nick Easter was penalised for handling on the ground.

England, however, seemed determined not to be shut out of the action so early on and struck back with a prolonged period of possession during which they signalled their intent.

Jonny Wilkinson, still the heart of the England team four year's after their last World Cup battle with Australia, spotted Paul Sackey racing up the right wing and put up the chip providing the perfect set-up for an early try. But the Wasps' winger was undone by the bounce, managing to get a hand to the ball but unable to collect just inches from the line.

Another survivor from four years ago, Jason Robinson, also showed England what they will be missing when he retires at the end of the tournament, splitting the Australian defence with a well-timed run before being dragged down by fellow veteran Gregan.

While England had numerous opportunities to score the early try they were seeking, the Australia defence stood typically firm with hooker Stephen Moore kicking a last ditch clearance, before they were penalised for offside offering England a golden chance to level up at 3-3.

Wilkinson reliably put the ball between the posts before adding a second penalty just four minutes later when Australia, who had been lucky to have a number of decisions go their way in the scrum, were penalised for dragging the scrum down.

The Newcastle Falcons' man did have another chance to extend the lead for England but missed wide before Australia managed to pull themselves together enjoying sustained possession of their own.

Former rugby league man, Lote Tuqiri, the only Australian try scorer in the final four years ago, used his speed and power to start and end the Wallabies' most promising move of the match splitting the England defence on both wings.

Gregan spread the ball out to Barnes, who injected some much needed pace to the attack and found Mortlock. The Wallabies skipper drew the England defence inside before offloading to Tuqiri, whose awesome power saw him over the line for the try despite the best efforts of Josh Lewsey.

Mortlock then added the conversion to leave the match delicately poised at 10-6 going into the interval.

The start of the second half was a scrappy affair as both sides attempted, unsuccessfully, to stamp their authority on the match. England had the better of the early exchanges only narrowly failing to score a try when Simon Shaw knocked on in a defensive Australian lineout.

After 10 minutes of last gasp defending from Australia, during which the England forwards unequivocally dominated the scrum and only a knock on denied Mike Catt a try, Wilkinson added another penalty reducing the deficit to just the one point.

The increasingly confident England had another gilt-edged chance to score that elusive try when Matthew Tait booted a loose ball down field before providing chase, along with Wilkinson. Tuqiri covered just in time but lost the ball and Wilkinson, spotting the opportunity, chipped the ball across field for his substitute captain Martin Corry to chase down.

Australia wing Adam Ashley-Cooper failed to deal with the sun and lost the ball before Corry knocked it back to him. Still Australia did not collect, however, and England were awarded the five metre scrum as the Wallabies knocked on.

Although England misjudged their early push for the line, Australia looked befuddled and conceded a penalty for offside just seconds later as they desperately tried to clear their line.

Wilkinson, who with his two earlier penalties overtook Gavin Hastings as the top points scorer in World Cup history, added another three points to the board to re-gain the lead for England before they started to close down and looked to defend for the remaining 20 minutes.

It was a risky strategy that looked like it could backfire when Chris Latham skipped round his man and charged for the line with three in support outside him and only Sackey to beat.

Sackey, seizing his opportunity to shine, spotted the danger from the Wallaby fullback and quickly abandoned his post to make arguably the tackle of his career, single-handedly winning the ball and stopping an almost certain Australian score.

Wilkinson missed a drop goal opportunity and a penalty from the half way line which would have put Australia out of drop goal/penalty range and made the final 10 minutes a little more bearable for the England supporters.

But as it was England conceded a penalty with just four minutes to go when Joe Worsley played the ball while off his feet and the stadium went deathly quiet as Mortlock stepped up to kick for the posts.

It was not to be Australia's day, however, as Mortlock missed wide on the left from an admittedly difficult kick before England, despite the best, and often scrappy, efforts from a desperate Australia, ran down the clock for their best win since their World Cup triumph in Sydney four years ago.

England will now face either pre-tournament favourites New Zealand or hosts France at the Stade de France in the first of the semi finals next Saturday.

FOLLOW ALL THE ACTION FROM THE SECOND QUARTER FINAL BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND AND FRANCE VIA LIVE TEXT COMMENTARY AND SCORING ON EUROSPORT.YAHOO.COM FROM 20:00 BST!

Pippa Davis / Eurosport