Soon: Australia have belief to go all the way

Australia's dramatic finish against South Africa was one of the highlights of the third round of pool games at the Women's Rugby World Cup, with the Wallaroos scoring in the final play to put them through to the semi-finals at the expense of Canada who they overtook on the points table.

The Wallaroos went into the match knowing exactly what they needed to do - win by at least 56 points if they were to overtake Canada, second in Pool C after losing to France, and put themselves in pole position to be the best second placed team to join New Zealand and France in the last four.

With the game locked at 55-0 for a 20 minute period in the second half, the Australian fans at the game were gripped right to the final whistle as Sharni Williams eventually crossed in the last play of the match to see Australia through to play England on Wednesday night.

Captain Cheryl Soon says the focus was just to go out there and play with the points eventually coming.

"Going into the South Africa came we were just focused on the little things, like executing the simple things a bit better. We weren't looking at exactly what points we needed really, just looking at being better at what we do and then the scores would come.

"We weren't sure on what everyone else needed to do, but we knew we had to score a lot of points. The focus was on our own game plan and then hopefully that would be enough."

Australia's World Cup has been mixed so far, with some good performances against Wales and South Africa sandwiched between a drubbing from New Zealand and some poor discipline that saw them pick up five yellow cards in their first two games.

"We haven't had much time together, not many test games just a few camps. We are building each game and we are looking to build again for the England match. Discipline was a huge factor going into the South Africa game. We have been highlighting that quite strongly reminding the team that we are obviously more effective with 15 people out there so we needed to really work on our discipline and I was really pleased we improved so much in the last game."

South Africa came into the game on the back of a famous victory over Wales but they were no match for the Australians who put on a great display of finishing.

"We just went into it really really hungry and really wanting it. We knew that we had to pull together for 80 minutes and fight for every inch and I really thought we did that very well. The support has been massive here and back home so we wanted to put on a good show. We have heaps of supporters here - the disappointing thing is that it has been hard to get tickets because it's sold out a few times really quickly. There are around 40 travelling supporters with us the whole time and at home everyone has been watching on Fox Sports."

Soon accepts that Australia are the least experienced team in the semi-finals but having already played New Zealand will stand to them as they face England.

"It's all about trust and belief and we have got that in each other. Or forwards have stepped up and I think they know if they play well they can out-muscle anyone. New Zealand were a clinical team. They are the benchmark and they certainly proved that against us. We were on the backfoot the whole time and we couldn't recover. You learn from matches like that and I think that's why we came out so strongly in the South Africa match. We did not want a repeat of that - and we did not want to feel how we did after that match again. We were very disappointed and we knew how much that hurt."

England are up next for Australia, who are looking for a World Cup double this year having taken home the Wold Cup 7s in 2009.

"England have got a very strong forward pack and we will have to front up. I think we have got the team to do it but we'll have to be patient and work really hard to stay in the match."

"We are not here just to give it a nudge. We are here to win it and everyone believes that. We have come off a 7s World Cup where we had a taste of it. This is the pinnacle. We are here to make history, to play good rugby and to win."

Australia play England in the World Cup Semi-Final t 20.15 on Wednesday night.