Perhaps Bernard Foley knew who was in the stands or maybe it was just his night. Whatever the case, the Wallabies No.10 etched his name into glory with one of the greatest fly-half displays by a visiting No.10 to Twickenham.

For the record, it was Mark Ella peering down from high up in the press box; the legendary Wallabies No.10 just as impressed by Foley as the various gold pockets of supporters in the corners of Twickenham.

The Wallabies No.10 was, in a word, brilliant. From the moment he hoofed a raking kick down to within five metres of the England line to his final goal-kick, he barely put a foot wrong as the Wallabies, in the words of coach Michael Cheika, "stepped up" and sent England packing from their own World Cup.

Bernard Foley of Australia goes over to score their second try against England© Paul Gilham/Getty Images

The 26-year-old playmaker scored 28 of Australia's 33 points in dominating the game from start to finish.

The first of his two tries set the tone for what should have been clear man-of-the-match honours - instead the local fans voted in Joe Launchbury via the Rugby World Cup app - as he took on the line, burst through some feeble defence and then stepped inside full-back Mike Brown midway through the first half.

And he was at it again 15 minutes later, combining with his midfield partner at the Waratahs Kurtley Beale, in a divine one-two. Foley, sensing the opportunity was on the other side of ruck, slid back behind the tackle and found Beale with a perfect inside pass to which the replacement then sent back to Foley in drawing the final defender.

The game wasn't quite gone for England at the break but at 17-3 to the good, Australia could have done little more in a polished first half.

That lead became 20-3 10 minutes after the resumption as Foley added a further three points following arguably the other great talking point of the match, the scrum. Just 10 months ago the Wallabies scrum was disintegrating; that honour was all England's on Saturday night.

After England were given the opening set-piece penalty of the match, referee Romain Poite couldn't ignore Australia's dominance. The battle against Joe Marler had been won.

But Test matches of this nature are rarely without their challenges and the Wallabies were forced to work through a tense period midway through the second half. The seriousness of the situation called for a quarter-back's - another Cheika term - control and Foley, again, delivered. After a sustained period of phase play, England finally had the numbers to shift the ball wide, only Foley was there to tip up the ball for an intercept; but he was unable to make the catch after a body-check from Dan Cole.

England soon had their try - through Anthony Watson - and when Owen Farrell added a penalty the margin was just seven points with 15 minutes to play. The Wallabies were for the first time on the back foot, and Swing Low was being sung louder than ever.

The challenge had come, but Foley and the Wallabies answered. While the yellow-carding of Owen Farrell relieved some of the tension, the No.10 still had to slot the penalty, which he did, before adding another - at the scrum - to put the game out of reach.

© David Rogers/Getty Images

Matt Giteau's try, including swan dive worthy of a 747 taking flight at Heathrow, was the icing. And then Foley got to lick the beaters as he nailed the sideline conversion.

It was a win not all about the No.10 though either. England were unable to handle the twin breakdown threat of Michael Hooper and David Pocock, the pair combining for several key turnovers between them while the scrum, as mentioned, was all Australia. Then there were the unsung heroes like Scott Fardy, Scott Sio and Kane Douglas who surely earned plenty of plaudits behind the closed doors of the dressing room.

But the headlines will read Foley and deservedly so.

Ella, meanwhile, slipped out a couple of minutes early to beat the throng of disillusioned English fans already departing Twickenham.

His Grand Slam heroics - scoring a try in each match of the 1984 tour - and Stephen Larkham's drop goal from the 1999 semi-final were probably the two defining moments for the Wallabies at Twickenham from years' past.

You can add Foley to that list now, and how timely both Ella and Larkham were there to see it.