England suffered a heartbreaking defeat by the narrowest of margins after Jerry Guscott's brilliant try looked to have set them on the way to a shock Twickenham victory.

Ian Robertson reports (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Australia, rated the second best team in the world, clinched the Cook Cup four minutes from time thanks to a pressure penalty from captain John Eales, who kicked all his side's points.

England's defence was in excellent form as it kept Australia's rampaging ranks at bay in what was largely a scrappy, error-strewn affair.

Jerry Guscott in jubilant mood after his superb try

Despite defeat it can take great heart from a hard-working performance in which it created the one thrilling moment of attacking play.

With 11 minutes left and England trailing 9-6, fullback Matt Perry set out on a superb run through the Australian defence, before popping the ball up to Darren Garforth inside him.

The big prop surged for the line and when he was dragged down just yards short he kept the ball alive and Mike Catt fed it out to Guscott who sprinted over to score with a brilliantly timed burst.

Eales spot-on with the boot

Australia took the lead after just three minutes when Matt Dawson conceded a penalty to the left of the posts and goal-kicking second row Eales made it 3-0.

Matt Perry takes on Aussie centre Nathan Grey

Two minutes later Eales missed a harder chance to double the lead after Underwood's late tackle.

England took advantage of the lapse to launch a concerted period of pressure.

But fly-half Paul Grayson sliced a 16th minute penalty horribly wide as the home side failed to make the most of their possession.

England received a blow in the 32nd minute when Grayson was forced off injured and Catt entered the fray.

Richard Cockerill and Patricio Noriega were both yellow carded after exchanging punches as relations between the two hard-hitting packs often became heated.

Still England pushed on, and as the first half drew to a close they began to get the ball out into the backs.

A charge for the Australian line ended in a straightforward penalty chance in injury time and Catt duly converted to make it 3-3 at the break.

England continued their good work in the second half and another period of dominance ended with Catt kicking a penalty in front of the posts to put the home side 6-3 up.

Jason Little tap tackles England wing Austin Healy

But Australia hit back and only excellent defensive tackling prevented them from breaching the England lines.

The visitors surged on and England were eventually forced into infringements, as Eales kicked two more penalties to give Australia a 9-6 lead.

Then came Guscott's moment of glory which threatened to take the game out of Australia's reach.

But Catt missed what proved to be a crucial conversion, pushing the ball across the face of the goal from a highly kickable position just to the right of goal.

More relentless assaults from the green and gold numbers took play back into England territory.

Four minutes from time flanker Neil Back was adjudged to have played the ball after he was tackled and Eales stepped up to kick his fourth, and decisive, penalty of the afternoon.

Teams:

England:- 15-Matt Perry; 14-Tony Underwood, 13-Phil de Glanville, 12-Jeremy Guscott, 11-Austin Healey; 10-Paul Grayson, 9-Matt Dawson; 8-Richard Hill, 7-Neil Back, 6-Lawrence Dallaglio (captain), 5-Tim Rodber, 4-Martin Johnson, 3-Darren Garforth, 2-Richard Cockerill, 1-Jason Leonard.