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.”
What is your verdict on the action? Have your say.
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greyhound, Bolton,Lancashire (31/10/2009 at 17:53)
BRING ON NEW ZEALAND...
Joey Anglin, Newcastle N.S.W. (01/11/2009 at 13:44)
Wanted, running back rowers and sizable quick centres. The second half improvement and the fact that Australia lost the plot is the worst thing possible. We need all to feel like we did at half time then maybe we'll start to look at our game and its lack of foresight, ingenuity, direction and backbone in its leadership.
Lancashire 4ever, Pendlebury, Manchester, Lancashire (02/11/2009 at 18:35)
Where are the players who can side step or swerve their way through a defence? No wonder the game these days is rubbish to watch when compared with how it was a few decades ago, i.e. '50s, '60s ans '70s.