Australia coach Eddie Jones today paid tribute to England's formidable unbeaten record at fortress Twickenham as his world champion Wallabies began preparations for next weekend's Test match.

Tri-Nations title holders New Zealand became England's 16th successive victims on home soil after they were edged out 31-28 in an epic encounter.

And Australia, who are seeking to avoid a hat-trick of away defeats against Martin Johnson's men, know that they face an immense task following their shock 18-9 loss against Ireland.

"Obviously, over the last two years, England have established a very good record at Twickenham. They've been fantastic there," Jones said.

"I thought that England were very good against New Zealand. Any side that has a 31-14 lead against New Zealand has to be playing well.

"England have got a good playing platform; they are organised in defence, they have a solid kicking game and they have a high goalkicking success rate, which all leads to being a good side."

England boss Clive Woodward was today assessing his options before announcing a team for stage two of an enthralling autumn programme against the southern hemisphere heavyweights.

Centre Will Greenwood went off at half-time against the All Blacks, suffering from a dead leg, which could mean a first Twickenham start for Saracens' Ben Johnston if Greenwood fails to recover in time.

Elsewhere, Gloucester scrum-half Andy Gomarsall starred for his club on Premiership duty yesterday and is challenging Matt Dawson strongly, while locks Danny Grewcock and Ben Kay appear similarly closely matched.

Woodward and his coaching staff are certain to target significant improvements in key areas ahead of the Wallabies clash.

History demands that England take satisfaction from subduing the All Blacks - 1936, 1973, 1983 and 1993 were the only four previous occasions they'd managed it - but relief was also tangible following another Twickenham classic between two nations who could conceivably meet in next year's World Cup final.

"It's always good to know that when you've won, you also know that you can improve dramatically," said Woodward, whose first victory over New Zealand came at his sixth attempt.

"I think that if we are brutally honest, we probably played about half an hour of very good rugby, and about 50 minutes that was nowhere near good enough in terms of what we are trying to get to.

"I thought our first-half performance was generally below the level we were looking for. We lost a lot of ball and the penalty count was too high.

"After half-time, we played 20 minutes of fantastic rugby and got 17 points clear, but a lot of decisions started going against us, especially at the breakdown, and we couldn't keep the momentum going.

"We are setting high standards and we know that we didn't hit those in many areas, so we are not gloating, or whatever the words are that have been used against us by various people in the last few weeks. We are happy to win, and move on," he added.

New Zealand, who paraded five new caps and were without numerous star names, heroically pushed England to the brink of defeat.

They trailed by 17 points early in the second-half after quickfire tries from Jonny Wilkinson and Ben Cohen took England over the horizon and out of sight - or so a capacity 75,000 crowd thought.

English nemesis Jonah Lomu, whose latest try double made it eight in seven Tests against his favourite prey, and substitute scrum-half Danny Lee breached England's defence during the final quarter though, to set up a breathtaking finale.

By the end, England were hanging on.

And it required a double rescue mission - Cohen's stunning try-saving tackle that stopped New Zealand full-back Ben Blair in his tracks, and lock Kay stealing lineout ball against the throw five metres from England's line - to keep them afloat.

"It was a very hard game - physical and quick - which was something we had to adapt to, and I don't think we adapted quickly enough, particularly in the first-half," said England flanker Richard Hill, whose 50th cap started - and ultimately finished - on a high.

"If it hadn't been for the rugby that we played at the start of the second-half, then I think the result would have been far different."