John O'Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive, has fanned the flames of animosity between England and Australia ahead of their possible World Cup quarter-final clash. Still harbouring painful memories of the 2003 final, when the Wallabies were undone by Jonny Wilkinson's late drop goal, O'Neill has expressed his "hatred" for England and called for Australia to "get square" with their arch rivals.

Australia have already booked a quarter-final berth with solid wins over Japan, Wales and Fiji, and if Brian Ashton's men beat Tonga in their final pool game against Tonga on Friday, they will join the Wallabies in the last eight. Mindful of past setbacks against Wilkinson and company, O'Neill is desperate to settle a few outstanding scores.

"It doesn't matter whether it's cricket, rugby union, rugby league - we all hate England," said O'Neill. "I would love to see Tonga knock off England but I suspect England will get through and we'll play them in Marseille and that will be a real contest, with Jonny Wilkinson back in particular.

"We remember back in 1995 they knocked us out of the World Cup with Rob Andrew's field goal. They also beat us in extra-time in 2003. It's time to get square and knock them off in Marseille."

Australia round off their group commitments with a match against winless Canada, but are set to top Pool B regardless of the result in Bordeaux on Saturday afternoon.

"It's going very well. I think we're on target," added O'Neill. "We're moving through the pool stages very well. Clearly the game against Wales was the critical one to win and we did that very well. The environment in the team is first-rate. All the signs are positive.

"The important thing is to be performing at the pointy end - get through the pool rounds, finish first, take the quarter-final as it comes. Then in the semi-final, who knows? We don't want to get ahead of ourselves but the momentum is building very well."