England left to Roo errors
England's Four Nations hopes were washed away at a rain-soaked AAMI Park in Melbourne as they were beaten 34-14 by Australia.
By Rob Lancaster
Last Updated: 01/11/10 8:12am
England's Four Nations hopes were washed away at a rain-soaked AAMI Park in Melbourne as they were beaten 34-14 by Australia.
The Kangaroos made sure they would do battle with New Zealand for the title by running in six tries, two of them from second rower Luke Lewis.
Things had looked so good for England when a converted try from Sam Burgess, plus a penalty from Ben Westwood, had put them 8-6 ahead early in the first half.
But their slender lead lasted for all of four minutes as the home side hit back in emphatic fashion, scoring 20 points without reply before half time to blow the game wide open.
False dawn
England did suggest they could produce a second-half fightback with a try straight after the break, though it only proved to be another false dawn.
A dubious Lote Tuquri score deflated the visitors' comeback hopes before they'd barely got off the ground, meaning Steve McNamara's side will now be playing for nothing but pride against Papua New Guinea in Auckland next weekend.
While England were always underdogs on foreign territory, particularly with key players missing through injury, the look on the players' faces at the final hooter suggested they had again not quite done themselves justice.
They conceded five tries in the opening half but many of them were down to dreadful defensive errors rather than the brilliance of their opponents.
Australia had already had claims for a penalty try turned away by the time Lewis broke the deadlock with a ridiculously easy run-in on the left.
England hit back in fine fashion though when a penalty led to prop Burgess - who plays his club rugby in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs - charging through next to the posts.
Westwood landed the simple conversion and then kicked two more points to put England ahead to punish a high shot by Paul Gallen on Luke Robinson.
That, though, was the one and only time they ever got their noses in front.
Darren Lockyer's boot set up a second try for Lewis, though England had cause for complaint over the decision by the video referee to award the score as Billy Slater seemed to knock the ball on whilst trying to ground it before his team-mate.
Errors
Another Lockyer kick led to Australia moving further ahead - albeit with the help of a huge error from Tom Briscoe. The winger was in the right place to diffuse the bomb but instead knocked it forward straight to full-back Slater.
It went from bad to worse for England when Ryan Atkins knocked on deep inside his own territory. The centre did his best to make amends for his error but was unable to stop Brent Tate squeezing his way over in the corner before being bundled into touch.
By now Australia were on such a roll that even their errors led to further points; a loose pass breaking kindly to Lewis who instead of going alone to complete his hat-trick, passed on to the supporting Willie Tonga to finish.
Trailing by 18 going into the second half, England did breathe life back into their campaign when scrum-half Robinson scurried over from dummy half.
Their fire was quickly extinguished though as Tuquri overcame the strong suspicion of a forward pass to run in a sixth try for Australia in the left corner.
Cameron Smith landed the conversion from the touchline before adding a penalty in the 59th minute, the standard of the game by then having deteriorated as much as the weather.
England to their credit did keep pushing, debutant Shaun Lunt and stand-off Sean O'Loughlin both going close, but even then the Australians, who lost Lewis to a knee injury, were in no mood to give up a late consolation.
