Wilkinson's return fails to inspire stodgy England

By Mitch Phillips

LONDON (Reuters) - When Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal after three minutes on Saturday the Twickenham crowd could have been forgiven for sitting back and thinking that, finally, all was well again with England.

Playing a home November international for the first time since before his last-gasp drop goal against the Wallabies won the 2003 World Cup, Wilkinson soon added a penalty as England got off to a promising start that was all the more impressive for the make-do nature of the side.

However, as the game wore on, it became clear that the old problems remained. Another Wilkinson penalty had England 9-5 ahead at halftime but as an attacking force they barely existed.

It was even worse in the second half as, on the few occasions they had any possession, progress was ponderous in the extreme as they eventually fell to an 18-9 defeat.

Australia captain Rocky Elsom said afterwards that he always felt his side would keep the hosts at bay and, barring a couple of speculative up and unders, England never looked like fashioning a try.

By contrast, an Australian team who had lost six of their last seven games overcame an early 6-0 penalty count against them to go on to create half a dozen good try-scoring opportunities, taking two of them through scrumhalf Will Genia and fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper, who also scored in the Wallabies' win at Twickenham a year ago.

Only four England starters survived from that match as Martin Johnson was faced with an unprecedented injury list but the manager said that "did not excuse some things."

"We believe these guys are good enough to play in test matches. Australia had been through the Tri-Nations and played a Test last weekend, we haven't," he said.