England celebrate a long-awaited success in the southern hemisphere © Getty Images

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Matches: Australia 20 - 21 England

Players/Officials: Lewis Moody | Jonny Wilkinson

Tournaments/Tours: England tour

Teams: Australia | England

England captain Lewis Moody and match-winner Jonny Wilkinson refused to dwell on their historic 21-20 victory over Australia in Sydney and immediately warned it was only the beginning.

Moody believes his side's impressive victory - inspired by tries from scrum-half Ben Youngs and wing Chris Ashton - pointed to a bright future after they finally delivered substance to the positive rhetoric that was beginning to sound empty.

"We have always said it doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of hard work but to sit in that changing room having just won in Australia for only the third time in over 100 years is phenomenal," said Moody. "For a team that is relatively inexperienced it is a great platform to build on. We were disappointed last week because we didn't do what we wanted.

"We were more negative than anyone about our own performance. That changed this week and played with our pedal to the metal. We are not going to get ahead of ourselves. It is one step on a ladder that we have to keep improving on. We are improving game by game."

Youngs scored the first try when he burst through a gap at the back of a lineout and beat Australia winger Drew Mitchell to score. Ashton, who was voted Guinness Premiership player of the season and he finished as the league's leading try-scorer, took an inside ball from Tom Palmer and rounded James O'Connor to score his first Test try.

"I am so pleased that Chris Ashton finally got over the line for England after scoring so many tries in the Premiership and Ben Youngs' first start was brilliant. What a legend," said Moody. "I have played with him since he broke into the Leicester team as a 17-year-old and his potential is huge. The speed and enthusiasm and the pace he plays the game at makes such a difference."

Wilkinson came off the bench to drill the decisive penalty through the same set of posts he had bisected with the drop-goal that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. "It was a joy coming back here and I take away some great memories," he said.

Wilkinson insisted the challenge England have now is to ensure this triumph becomes a seminal moment in the build-up to next year's World Cup.

"Everyone can have a big game every now and again but the key is following that up with something else. We've got to follow that example and keep on the right side of the score and wins," said Wilkinson. "I can only recall 10 or 12 press conferences from the last 10 or 12 I have done in which I have said that this is a good team and it's going the right way. It's going to continue to build and the coaches in position are right."

Youngs marked his first Test start with a try after cutting through a hole at the back of a lineout and rounding Australia winger Drew Mitchell to score. "We are representing England and we didn't do the shirt any justice last week. There was a lot of hurt," said Youngs.