Sarah Hunter
Captain Sarah Hunter gave England the perfect start by scoring her team's first try
England: (19) 41
Tries: Hunter, M Packer 3, Ward, Cokayne, Matthews; Cons: Scarratt 2, Rowland
Australia: (5) 5
Try: Chancellor

In atrociously wet conditions, England defeated Australia to reach the Rugby World Cup semifinals.

Sarah Hunter became the most-capped England and women's international on the day she scored the opener.

All seven of England's tries were scored by forwards in the wet weather.

Emily Chancellor scored a try.

England extended their record winning run to 29 Tests in a row by crossing the line with four more people.

The Red Roses will face either Canada or the United States in the semi-finals of the World Cup, with a possible final against New Zealand or France to follow.

Abby Dow tries to make yards
Conditions were challenging with players splashing through surface water

England power on through the rain

It was clear that England would not be able to follow in New Zealand's footsteps after the rain poured on the pitch.

England had to win by force instead of the exciting running rugby shown by Black Ferns stars.

On a day that felt more like the English autumn than the New Zealand spring, England turned to their powerful pack and captain Hunter went over first at the back of a scrum.

Australia are amateur and committed errors that could not be overcome by the Red Roses.

England went down to 14 players, but they didn't let the yellow card of lock ZOE LADCROFT slow them down.

The scrum-half looked lively, the fly-half showed smart kicking, and the centre was an attacking threat.

The captain of Australia was sent to the sin-bin for a number of times near the try line, and England eventually made it over again.

Packer's first score came in a trademark driving maul, then she cut through a gap after England's forwards passed her the ball.

Heard was left with too much to do defensively after she missed a tackle on Liz Patu and England's opponents were able to end the half on a high.

Marlie Packer scored two tries in the first half
Marlie Packer scored two of England's three tries in a tough first half

Packer leads forwards' charge

After the rain stopped at half-time, England were in control over a side that has never beaten them.

Cokayne fought her way over after a line-out after Ward went over.

England's head coach made changes after 50 minutes.

Hunter was given a loud cheer from the numerous travelling support as he came off the Red Roses front row.

Packer completed her hat-trick with a last line-out drive.

England got to where they needed to be even though it wasn't always a pretty victory.

England celebrate Amy Cokayne's try
Amy Cokayne scored England's fifth try

What they said

Sarah Hunter said that they used to play in the rain. I thought we played well. There were mistakes, but we made our mark on Australia.

We've had four tough games and now it's about recovery and working out where things didn't go well. The right game plan is needed for the semi-finals.

Winning her 136th cap has been amazing. I have tried not to think about it too much as you never know what will happen. It has been a great day and now I can relax.

I would like to thank my team-mates and everyone who has supported me over the years.

We could not have imagined how difficult those conditions would be. We played well and took our chances.

Sarah Hunter did a record performance. Sarah was always with us when we needed a carry.

The only way to handle the ball was to let the forwards go from there.

Helena Rowland of England is tackled by Bienne Terita of Australia
England full-back Helena Rowland slides after being tackled by Bienne Terita of Australia

Line-ups

England: Scarratt, Heard, Thompson, Harrison, Infante, Cokayne, Bern, Ward, Matthews, M Packer, Hunter

L Packer, Aitchison, and Davies are replacements.

Australia has Piliae-Rasabale, Terita, Friedrichs, Williams, Cramer, Morgan, Patu, O'Gorman, Leonard, Kemp, Chancellor and Hamilton.

The replacements were Naden, Robinson, Karpani, Naiqama, Duck, Batibasaga, Smith and Murphy.