Australia reaction European club competitions are providing a better grounding for international players than the Super 12 and a gap has opened up between the two hemispheres. That was the reaction of the Australia coach Eddie Jones to his side's defeat, and he believes France too have stolen ahead of the Tri-Nations sides.

Since its introduction in 1996 the Super 12 series has been hailed as the main reason for the south's pre-eminence over the north, but Jones said the World Cup confirmed that Europe had forged ahead.

"There is a Sanzar (the umbrella organisation that oversees competitions involving the three main Southern Hemisphere nations) conference coming up and I will be getting together with my New Zealand and South African counterparts to discuss making the Super 12 more of a contest in areas like the scrum and the lineout," he said.

"There is no doubt that the English and the French have stolen a march on us in those areas and they are also more proficient than us when it comes to kicking out of hand and for goal.

"We have put too much emphasis on entertainment in the Super 12. It has not become a soft competition but too many easy tries are scored and there are not enough battles for the ball at the lineout.

"We have 11 matches, four of which are against South African sides which have fallen off the pace, while the (English) Premiership is a tough slog from start to finish and we need to replicate that."

Jones paid tribute to Jonny Wilkinson but said that England were far from a one-man band.

"Wilkinson is a freak," he observed. "He is an unbelievable kicker of a ball whether he's going for goal, field position or a drop shot.

"It is honed from a high level of natural skill supplemented by hours of dedication and goes to show what you can achieve. He is a great example for young players, showing that if you want to be the best you have to make sacrifices.

"He is not just a kicker but an outstanding outside-half who is a tough little character. He is the example for our three Super 12 outside-halves to follow: disciplined practice makes perfect.

"He is able to show off his skills because of his strong set of forwards and the threat of Matt Dawson at scrumhalf.

"England had probably the best scrummage in the World Cup and their back row had their best game of the tournament against us, which made it very hard to get to Wilkinson."

Jones did not indulge in his usual verbal sparring with his opposite number in the build-up to the final, preferring to praise England, and his players followed the same line.

"We were being totally honest," he said yesterday. "I admire what England have achieved under Clive (Woodward) and they are without doubt the best team in the world.

"Clive gave me a hug after the final whistle but we did not exchange many words. There were no shared beers in the dressing-rooms afterwards, which was sad, but I hope to sit down and have a long chat with Clive at the world conference on the game in Auckland in a couple of months.

"England have set the standards for the rest of us to follow. France impressed me greatly but the mistake they made this tournament was to prepare for dry conditions, forgetting that a Sydney spring day is as likely to be cool and wet as it is to be hot and humid."

Jones admitted that Australia had not shown their full hand in the group stage, including their narrow victory over Ireland.

"We used the first four weeks to get ourselves right for the semi-final," he said. "We were in training rather than game mode; we took a bit of a punt but it worked out for us.

"We knew we would be fit enough to stay with England in the final, but the pace of the game was too slow for us and something has to be done to prevent teams from using injuries as a means of stopping play. Everyone does it, including us, and it should not be allowed."

Meanwhile, the Wallabies' World Cup final defeat had newspapers Down Under eating a large slice of humble pie yesterday.

The Aussie press spent most of the tournament taunting England, accusing them of being too old to succeed, too boring to be worthy champions and too reliant on Wilkinson's boot.

Those criticisms came back to haunt Australia and the Adelaide Sunday Mail hailed "Jonny the Lionheart" and admitted "a gold army of fans across the country were left numb by a 20-17 extra-time knockout punch".

While the Sunday papers in Britain were falling over themselves to hail Wilkinson as England's saviour, the Newcastle out-half's heroics were not so well received Down Under, with the Sunday Tasmanian summing up feelings with their "Jonny Rotten" headline.