what else were england supposed to do in those conditions? they were english conditions and i think they played the weather and controlled the french excellently. if you look at the scoreline, i think you'll find many penalties a winner does make. everyone thought france would dominate us, but they were wrong. france's only good spell in the game was the first 10 minutes. england won the game relatively easily after that.
as for the final, i doubt australia or england will want to give away many penalties in kickable positions, and i doubt either side will concede a try unless it's one of the best in the tournament. i think the game will either be an incredibly close one that will go all the way to the final whistle or one side will completely dominate and win by at least 20 points. i'll go with england in a close one though; 12-9 or 9-6.
edit: also, you can't have a tie. as for the 3rd place playoff, i'll go with the kiwis because i can't see france doing much if they play like they did against england. i also don't want them to win because they're french.