Ruthless England have sent Australian crashing out of the Rugby World Cup, playing with more precision than the frenetic Wallabies to win their quarter-final 40-16 in Oita.

Winger Jonny May scored two tries in the space of three minutes midway through the first half on Saturday to set up a deserved victory and book England a semi-final berth for the first time in 12 years.

The result has almost certainly ended the tenure of Australian coach Michael Cheika, who has failed to get the best out of his team in Japan in the manner he did at the global tournament four years ago.