England Head Coach Tony Smith saw his charges miss several opportunities which started as early as the second minute, when, after St. Helens halfback Kyle Eastmond had kicked a wind assisted 40-20, Liam Welham was harshly penalised for failing to play the ball correctly.

Six minutes later, loose forward Joe Westerman looked to have capitalised when a chancy offload from Mike Burnett was scooped up by Danny Houghton who put the Castleford forward away, only to be penalised for a double movement over the Australian line.

Credit the AIS defence for their last ditch effort on that occasion, but they had no way of stopping Leeds winger James Archibald when he swept over in the corner from a Houghton break. Westerman landed the awkward kick and chances continued to arrive for England, Liam Farrell being stopped just short by a fine Daniel Mortimer tackle right on the line, then AIS winger Galu Teo’s kick receipt under pressure  was copybook stuff as well as a warning of what was to come.

England’s stream of attacks brought a second try when Welham was put away by Eastmond and Jordan Turner as England continued to attack and the Hull KR man crashed in for Westerman to convert from the angle, but it was the AIS who finished the half on a high when Teo caught an Eastmond bomb inches from his own corner flag, evaded two chasers and ran the full length of the pitch for a try.

Ben Cronin missed the conversion by a whisker, but with the strong wind to face in the second period, England’s interval lead looked distinctly fragile.

It was to prove exactly that as the Aussies scored four quick tries. Two minutes into the new half, Anthony Mitchell nipped over from a play the ball, then a Daniel Mortimer 40-20 paved the way for big centre Sam Joe to power over. Mitchell turned provider with a neat offload which sent Zac Merritt careering over, and Mortimer – son of former Canterbury and Hull KR centre Peter – showed lightening reactions to collect a kick almost off the toe of Houghton and sprint nearly eighty metres to touch down.

There were two conversions from Cronin and the game was almost out of England’s reach. Welham and Eastmond did their best to reverse the flow, Welham’s sheer determination getting him in at the flag, then Eastmond finishing off a fine move which featured the pace and strength of Archibald.

A Westerman conversion and with fifteen minutes left the gap was back to manageable proportions, but Australian fullback Zac Russ cut clean through  from some thirty metres, Cronin kicked the conversion and a last minute penalty – and England Coach Tony Smith was left to reflect upon a night’s work which promised so much, but ultimately failed to deliver against a side which looked far sharper.

“The biggest differences were our poor execution in the first half and our concentration levels immediately after half time”; said Smith.

“With the wind behind us in the first half it would have been easy for us to go in further in front than 12-4, but it’s no co-incidence that Australians seem able to lift their intensity with a burst of energy at crucial times, and we have to learn from things like that.”

“It’s disappointing that we don’t have the chance to put the record straight with a return game, when I thought that over 70 of the 80 minutes England were the better team – but we knew the situation, and if I had one qualm it would be that we do play only one game against them”.

Smith picked out Wigan forward Lee Mossop and St. Helens scrum half Kyle Eastmond as being among the team’s top performers.

He said;“I made Lee the captain tonight because of his attitude and enthusiasm. He’s not really a front rower, but he played there tonight and he really got stuck in. Kyle Eastmond found himself closed down in the second half a bit, but he’s a player who will go on to bigger and better things and he’ll learn from this.

“Overall, it’s been an enjoyable experience and I can’t fault the enthusiasm and commitment of the players.”