Rugby World Cup 2015: Wallabies face ‘sudden death’ clash with England after hosts lose to Wales

FORMER coach Clive Woodward says England’s World Cup final will come early against Australia next weekend after the hosts lost to Wales at Twickenham.

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 26: Mike Brown of England and Tom Wood of England walk off dejected following defeat during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A match between England and Wales at Twickenham Stadium on September 26, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

CLIVE Woodward says England’s World Cup final will come early against Australia next weekend after the host nation crashed to Wales at Twickenham.

Wales’ victory opened up the door for an Australian victory to knock them out of the tournament, and fail to make it out of the pool of death and into the finals.

But Wales’ win means next Sunday’s game at Twickenham could have equal importance for the Wallabies, with a loss potentially exposing them to strife due to a failure to collect a bonus point against Fiji.

MATCH REPORT: Wounded Wales beat England in thriller

BIG WEEK: Mumm — ‘It was all a bit of a haze’

BOUNCING BACK: Pietersen hat-trick secures Springboks win

The Wallabies’ immediate attention will be on securing a bonus-point against Uruguay on Sunday night in Birmingham but a shell-shocked England are already looking ahead to the now sudden-death clash with Australia at Twickenham next Sunday morning.

“We have to feel sorry for ourselves for 24 hours, take time to grieve and then on Monday everyone has to get up and say “right, we have got Australia”, that is a must win, almost with a bonus point,” World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward said post-match.

“You have to go out there and I just hope they pick an out-and-out attacking team and go for it. Because unless we go out and win this game well, we’re out so you have to absolutely go for it.

“You have to cop it, and say well done Wales. But we are still in the World Cup, and Australia now is just our World Cup final. That’s it.”

Assuming a bonus-point Wallabies’ win over Uruguay, a win over England could move Australia to at least 13 points and leave England stuck on 6, 7 or 8 points.

Even if Australia went onto to lose to Wales too, and England pocketed two losing bonus and collected five points against Uruguay to also finish on 13, the Wallabies would progress because rules say when teams are tied on the ladder, the side that won their pool clash goes through.

But even though Michael Cheika says he’d not considered them, Wales’ win could open the door for bonus points to come surging into the equation for Australia.

The value of bonus points was always going to kick in if England, Wales and Australia all won one and lost one in their matches.

With no bonus point against Fiji, a loss to England could potentially see — with other points scenarios also unfolding in the pool — the Wallabies having to beat Wales a week later with a bonus point to go through.

Two wins of any sort at Twickenham, of course, would solve everything and they’d top the group.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup 2015: Wallabies face ‘sudden death’ clash with England after hosts lose to Wales