PARIS—Defending champions England sealed a World Cup quarter-final spot on Friday with a 36-20 win over Tonga at the Parc des Princes in their final Pool A match.
Two first half tries to right wing Paul Sackey helped England avoid the humiliation of becoming the first Cup holders to fail to qualify for the knockout stages.
England, who were beaten 36-0 by South Africa two weeks ago, will now face Australia in Marseille on Oct. 6 in a replay of the 2003 final.
After his team had been trailing 10-3, Sackey seized upon a cross-field chip from Jonny Wilkinson from a penalty to score his first try. He than ran 80 metres to score a second after a Tonga movement broke down inside the England 22.
"He's being doing that for a while but it's great to see him bring it on to the international stage when he gets the opportunity," coach Brian Ashton told a news conference.
Wilkinson, whose return from yet another injury was a determining factor in England's 44-22 victory over Samoa last Saturday, again skilfully directed play and recorded a dropped goal in either half.
"We did the basics right and we did it just about well enough," Wilkinson told Britain's ITV television. "It was a tough night, we were chasing shadows. We knew it was going to be tough.
"It could have gone either way but we showed some fitness and some strength and we were much stronger at the end."
The penultimate weekend in the group stages features three other knockout matches.
Wales play Fiji in Nantes on Saturday in a match to decide who accompany Australia to the quarter-finals and Scotland meet Italy in a game which will resolve second place in Pool C behind tournament favourites New Zealand.
On Sunday, Argentina meet Ireland in a game which should determine the fate of Pool D, which includes hosts France.
If France defeat Georgia, Ireland need to pick up a bonus point by scoring at least four tries while denying the Pumas a bonus point by losing by seven points or fewer.
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