Warriors blindside flanker Ted Hill scored a brace of tries to set England on their way to a 56-33 win over Australia in their final pool match in the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Sante Fe, Argentina.
Hill, recalled after missing the narrow victory over Italy on Saturday, crossed twice before the break as England produced their best performance of the tournament.
England scored eight tries in all but, having lost their opening match against Ireland, they had to settle for third place in the pool and they missed out in a place in the top four play-offs.
Instead England will now face Ireland again in the fifth place play-off on Monday June 17 in Rosario.
England led 42-12 at the break in Santa Fe although Australia had to play all but the first three minutes with 14 men after Pat Tafa was sent off for a high tackle.
From the resulting penalty, England opted to scrum and having won another penalty and a further set-piece saw Fraser Dingwall crash through Australia’s midfield for the opening try.
Soon after, there was a second try for England, Ollie Sleightholme collecting a spilled up-and-under just inside the Australia half before flying home.
Neat handling resulted in Noah Lolesio slicing through for Australia’s first score and Will Harrison converted for 14-7.
Isaac Lucas finished off an Australia counter going over in the corner, but Hill crashed through midway through the half to extend the lead and the flanker scored a second soon after, taking advantage of an overlap on the left wing which Josh Hodge converted.
Tom de Glanville carved through from close range for a fifth England try before Aaron Hinkley crashed over just before the break and Hodge maintained his perfect record from the tee with a sixth conversion.
Manu Vunipola found space to dart through for a seventh England try, while Will Harris jinked over for Australia before the hour mark.
A pick and go from Tom Willis saw him burrow over but Australia replied with captain Fraser McReight and Carlo Tizzano, sealing a four-try bonus point.
“I’m really pleased with the performance, it was much improved. We cleared the breakdown really well, particularly in the first half. We carried hard and made ground and that was the catalyst for us to create some quick ball which meant we were on the front foot,” said England Head Coach Steve Bates.
“We used our dominance up front and looked like a team that was confident on the front foot but there were some really good performances from our lads and they will feel a lot better after that.
“I feel a lot of sympathy for Australia because we suffered two yellow and a red in our first match against Ireland and that affected the result and it was similar here.”