For the second time in nine months, England have eliminated Australia from a world tournament through a far greater appreciation of what knock-out rugby demands. England unexpectedly defeated the Wallabies 12-10 in last October's World Cup quarter-final in Marseilles - Australia were the favourites then, just as their Under-20s were for this afternoon's Junior World Championship Pool C decider. But it was the men in white who again played the smarter rugby and two tries from Miles Benjamin, the second two minutes from the end of normal time, decided the outcome at Rodney Parade.

This was effectively a quarter-final, with England now heading for a Cardiff showdown, almost certainly against South Africa, on Wednesday night and Australia going into the play-offs for fifth to eighth place starting with a likely clash against Samoa in Swansea.

Benjamin may have proved the difference but both tries were handed to the Worcester winger. The first, after 14 minutes, came after the Luke Eves intercepted a pass from the Australia outside-half Quade Cooper 40 yards from the Wallabies' line, while the second followed a series of blunders by the Australia full-back Dane Haylett-Petty. His attempted clearance on his own line was charged down by Alex Tait and all Benjamin had to do was flop on the ball. Australia had been leading 13-11 after the wing Ratu Nasiganiyavi's 59th-minute try, but England had looked the more likely winners because of their capacity to force errors in dangerous areas.

Australia were overwhelmed in the first half, unable to achieve any sort of territorial foothold. They struggled to win their own line-out ball, lost the battle of the breakdown and consistently made unforced errors. Only in the scrum did they show any ascendancy, but England gradually achieved parity up front, exerting pressure on the Wallabies' put-in.

If Haylett-Petty was uncomfortable and uncertain at full-back, the Australia outside-half Cooper was little better. He resembled Carlos Spencer with his hairstyle and played like the New Zealander, mixing moments of inspiration with dreadful judgement.

England, with the mindset of underdogs, were at their most effective when Australia were in possession. Benjamin's first try on 14 minutes gave them a lead they were not to lose until Nasiganiyavi's intervention, but the big Fijian was again underused by the junior Wallabies.

Too often he stood out on his wing when he needed to take the ball up in midfield. Nasiganiyavi had come on as a 16th-minute replacement for the centre Ben Tapuai, one of Australia's stand-out players in the opening two rounds. The loss of Tapuai robbed Cooper of a playmaker outside him and he failed to find an answer to England's rush defence in an intense and highly physical 80 minutes.

''We concentrated in the week on what to do when they were in possession and we forced them into errors,'' said the England coach Nigel Redman. ''What was significant was that the manner in which we won this game was markedly different to the style we showed in winning the Six Nations grand slam. It was a full-blooded Test match between two very good teams and we were delighted to come out on top.''