Andy Robinson last night assessed his first defeat as England head coach, but insisted that panic is not on the world champions' agenda.

England will head to Cardiff in ten weeks for a hazardous RBS 6 Nations Championship opener against resurgent Wales, having won just two of their last seven Tests.

Australia (twice), New Zealand (twice), France and Ireland all stopped England's chariot in its tracks this year, providing a sobering experience following the intoxicating World Cup triumph.

Robinson believes England are on the right road, saying: ''The Six Nations is a long way away but I am really pleased with the way this squad has pulled together.''

''It would be very easy to panic, but that won't happen. We have learnt a hard lesson, and I think it will make the team even tighter. It showed just what an unforgiving place international rugby is.''

Australia extended a prolonged World Cup final revenge mission on England by following up their 51-15 summer romp in Brisbane with a first victory at Twickenham since four John Eales penalties gave them a 12-11 verdict six years ago.

Matt Giteau, the Wallabies' extravagantly gifted 22-year-old centre, denied England through two late, long-range penalties. His match-winning strike came after Andy Gomarsall's reckless shoulder charge had floored him.

Giteau's kicking proved in stark contrast to the shambolic English efforts without their injured points machine Jonny Wilkinson.

Fly-half Charlie Hodgson missed two straightforward first-half penalties that England so desperately needed, given they were 12-0 adrift, while Gomarsall's missed conversion of Lewis Moody's 50th-minute try was laughable.

Centre Mike Tindall took up the challenge, landing two conversions, but with Hodgson off injured and Henry Paul substituted early on, England finished with no recognised kickers and found themselves going for touch, rather than goal.

''Charlie had got a bang on his leg, and Henry was off, so that was our first and second-choice kickers out of the game. Andy Gomarsall's first kick wasn't so good, so what do you do?'' said England skipper Jason Robinson.

''We knew that we had to pull something out of the bag, and I made the decision to kick into the corner and put some pressure on.

''Thankfully, at the time, it worked, but normally we would have taken the points and built the score. We weren't too confident at that time in taking the kicks.''

Andy Robinson, who fiercely defended his decision to haul Paul off after 26 minutes, identified England's late ill-discipline as a cause of their downfall.

They had done the hard work, wiping out a 15-0 deficit to lead by four points through tries during a devastating 17-minute spell after half-time by Moody, Josh Lewsey and his fellow wing Mark Cueto.

But Australia were not to be denied, even without injured backs Stephen Larkham, Stirling Mortlock and Clyde Rathbone, while fly-half Elton Flatley joined the casualty list after 25 minutes, handing Giteau a decisive move to No 10.

''We gave two penalties away on our 10-metre line and have got to think about our discipline in that area," said coach Robinson.