ENGLAND paid the price for a poor start as Australia held off a strong second-half fightback in a compelling Gillette Four Nations clash.

Australia looked set to hand out a repeat of the thrashing they inflicted on England in last year’s World Cup as they raced ahead with five first-half tries at the DW Stadium.

But Tony Smith’s men dominated the second half and restored respectability ahead of a crunch clash against New Zealand with Sam Burgess, Gareth Ellis and Lee Smith tries.

Australia’s Greg Inglis admitted his side had been outplayed by England in the second half.

He told BBC1: “They came out in the second half and played us off the park, luckily we scored enough points in the first half.

“I don’t think we took our foot off the gas, we just didn’t complete our sets and do what we spoke about at half-time.”

England coach Smith added: “They got off to a flyer and took advantage of a few of our mistakes. They have some exceptional people who can do that to you.

“We grafted in the second half and showed what we are about, played a bit more how we like to play and were a lot better defensively.

“We showed the character we’ve got. We are disappointed, we wanted to do better but I’m proud of how the players went about it in the second half.”

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