Rugby World Cup: Hosts crash out at first stage

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England have become the first hosts of the Rugby World Cup to fail to make the knockout stages. That’s after they were beaten 33-13 by Australia at Twickenham in their third Pool A match. Fly-half Bernard Foley put the Wallabies firmly in control with two converted tries and a penalty giving them a 17-3 half-time lead. Shortly after the restart Foley added another penalty, before England managed to shorten the gap to seven points. However, any hope of a comeback was soon extinguished when Owen Farrell was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle. Foley then converted two more penalties, and Matt Giteau touched down for another try as the Aussies poured salt in the English wounds. The result means that Wales, who beat England last weekend, have qualified along with Australia from the group.