Reborn Aussies refuse to crow as crisis engulfs the old enemy

"Aw, I definitely think England have got a big performance in them still," said Wallabies' coach John Connolly, who with his team avoided twisting the knife after they'd watched the Friday horror show against the Springboks and realised that, should they beat Wales the following day, they would almost certainly be meeting a sorry shower in white in the last eight.

Wales having been beaten 32-20, the Aussies are now already mentally steeled for a repeat of the 2003 final in Marseille - even if Tonga and Samoa both have good reason to feel this prediction a little premature - and just can't bring themselves to utter anything which would give Brian Ashton's deflated crew the slightest reason to belatedly find some fire through indignation.

When Chris Latham, their splendid veteran full-back, insisted on Saturday that the Aussies didn't care who they played in the quarters, nobody believed him.

Latham doesn't dare write off England even though he recognised a team "in a rut" and reckoned they would miss the injured battler Jason Robinson because he was "the only guy who even looked like doing any damage to the South Africans".

As a fighter himself, Latham, the 32-year-old who's astonished his team-mates by coming back from a major knee reconstruction to again give an impression of being the world's best fullback, is wary of old sparring partners. "Although they haven't got the form at the moment, England have proved in the past they can do it," he said.

He remembers how only two years ago his side were being called the worst-ever Wallabies following seven straight defeats. Against Wales they showed glimpses of why they've already beaten the All Blacks and Springboks this summer. "I spent the whole off-season missing the Super 14 purely telling myself 'you never lose form, you just think you do'," said Latham. "England probably think they can't do it at the moment but it will click for them, and we just have to hope it doesn't click in the quarter-final."

New boy Berrick Barnes, who played with such assurance and verve at fly-half that Stephen Larkham noted admiringly after the 21-year-old's second cap: "He's already world-class".