Years of humiliation and being pushed around by England's forward pack were somewhat put to bed when the Wallabies had the last laugh and erased demons of the past with a powerful display in a 33-13 thumping of the World Cup hosts.

Playmaker Bernard Foley deserved his moment in the spotlight for a record-breaking 28-point haul.

But it's the scrum which gets the credit for the most remarkable transformation.

The Wallabies have been dogged for the past year by set-piece embarrassment, they've been holding on to the memory of the 2007 World Cup scrum capitulation against England and stewing on England's bully tactics.

All of that was harnessed into a demolition job of their own, beating England at their own game, winning penalties and destroying the pride of the hosts' game.

The Wallabies ruthlessly exposed England prop Joe Marler's technical deficiencies and the tables were turned when Marler was one penalty away from being sent to the sin bin for not scrumming straight.

Before the tournament started, England's 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward said the country boasted several props in club rugby that would be picked ahead of any Wallabies front-rowers.

But the performance on the biggest stage was redemption at its best and rubbed salt into England's open wounds.

"The scrum ... the last time we were [at Twickenham] we really struggled [in November last year]," said flanker Michael Hooper.

"The guys have done a great job in turning that around. It's really good, I'm not going to lie. We're really happy with that but we know it's about going back to back.

"They've [the Wallabies scrum] has copped a lot of criticism and it's been a really tough 10 months for them. But now they've set that benchmark for themselves they have to keep that going."

The Wallabies were also breakdown pests and destroyed England at the ruck thanks to the duo of Michael Hooper and David Pocock.

Pocock forced three turnovers while Hooper and Scott Fardy completed a back-row masterclass.

"It's nice to just stand back sometimes and watch Dave do his handiwork," Hooper said.

"He's so strong over the ball and it certainly excites you when he is over it, because more often than not he's turning it over.

"Outstanding from him, and 'Fards' was a real pest as usual. We've got a good symmetry going. I think we're complementing each other, but it's a growing thing."

The Wallabies have not been able to escape the scrum microscope of northern hemisphere rugby since they arrived in England two weeks ago.

Every player has been asked about the woeful performances of the past and whether it will be Australia's weak point in the World Cup. But the front-rowers answered their critics in the best possible way.

Coach Michael Cheika has brought in Argentina scrum guru Mario Ledesma to strengthen the pack and it has worked wonders so far.

They deployed two different front-row combinations that left England trudging backwards when the heat came on.

There were moments when England got the upperhand, but the Wallabies won the war and have planted the seed for a strong set piece going forward in the tournament.

Sekope Kepu and Scott Sio were brilliant at the start of the game. Kepu exploited Marler's weakness of scrummaging illegally and referee Romain Poite rewarded the Wallabies big men.

Ironically, it was Poite who picked apart the Wallabies' scrum technique in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions series two years ago and sent Wallabies props to the sin bin.

But Ledesma's mantra has been "all eight push straight" in the scrum and it's starting to pay dividends.

"That belief and trust came through and it really was all eight of us [in the forward pack]," Kepu said.

"We knew that [England] pride themselves on their set piece, we just quietly went about our work [since last November].

"We just had to keep at it. You knock off on one scrum and one guy knocks off for one moment ... we have to keep on top of each other and keep working towards that perfect scrummaging performance."