England 20 Australia 36: England can take final comfort in defeat as McNamara’s braves fall short of glory

Whenever England, or Great Britain for that matter, have started off a tournament or Test series with an opening win over the Australians at Wembley it has ended in ultimate failure.

That trio of famous successes in 1990, 1994 and again a year later each effectively amounted to nothing as the irritated Kangaroos simply hit back to win the remaining two Tests or, in the case of 1995, triumph in the World Cup final.

On Saturday, brave England this time lost out at the iconic venue, frustrated by a combination of their own poor execution, a series of hampering injuries and, most tellingly, a couple of crucial bad calls from an inexperienced international referee.

However, the belief, if it was not already there before the Gillette Four Nations began, will surely now exist that if they can overcome New Zealand this weekend to reach the Elland Road final, then they will have no better chance of humbling their old foes when it matters most.

Australia did show all their famed professionalism, courage and sheer will to win to ignore their own setbacks – notably the 11th-minute injury to newly-crowned world player of the year Billy Slater, who will now miss the rest of the tournament with a fractured collar bone – to cast England aside and secure their own place in that final.

However, this touring side is not quite in the same calibre as those which have trod these shores before and they are certainly fallible.

At times, especially in the first half, the creative talents of Rangi Chase, Kevin Sinfield and James Roby all exploited gaps, while Sam Tomkins had his best game for his country since breaking through two years ago.

Ryan Hall’s two splendidly created and finished first-half tries further illustrated England’s own potency as the confident hosts trailed just 12-8 at the break.

“It’s a good achievement and I dare say not many people have done it,” said the Leeds Rhinos winger about his quality brace.

“But obviously I would have traded those two tries for a win.

“They were in spectacular fashion and they set us off in the right direction.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the legs to finish off.”

No surprise given inspirational captain Jamie Peacock had been actually playing on one leg for the majority of the compelling contest, injuring the knee he had re-built last year in only his first carry.

However, with Gareth Ellis and James Graham, England’s two most formidable forwards, having departed before half-time with back injuries and unable to return, the towering prop soldiered on.

It says something that England competed so hard with such woe.

They were not helped either by Kiwi referee Henry Perenara who crucially lost grip of proceedings late on, with two poor decisions in as many minutes thwarting Steve McNamara’s side.

He chose not to send off Tony Williams after the robust second-row felled Ben Westwood with a vicious high tackle in the 47th minute. In his defence, apparently, Perenara had a word in his ear from the fourth official that initial contact had been on Westwood’s shoulder. No one else seemed to see it and the incident was merely put on report.

Barely 60 seconds later, Tom Briscoe scrambled through Darius Boyd’s attempted tackle to touch down, only for the England wing to look on in disbelief as Perenara ruled a double-movement, refusing to seek the video referee’s assistance when replays on the Wembley big screens clearly showed it was legal.

That could have brought England back to within four points. Instead, Australia’s traditional killer instinct came to the fore, Cooper Cronk expertly slipping Paul Gallen through a tiny gap.

England responded again when Keighley-born Brisbane centre Jack Reed scored his third try in as many games and then did brilliantly to chase down Greg Inglis after Jonathan Thurston’s interception. However, Boyd made the most of England’s bedraggled defence and, though Chris Heighington crossed after another sublime pass from Tomkins, Australia rounded things off through Chris Lawrence.

Hall said: “There was definitely a couple of crucial turning points where the game could have gone either way.

“That ‘try’ was one of them. He could have at least gone to the video and it could have swung the pendulum in our direction.

“Hopefully in two weeks time we’ll have another bite.

“We had the same format two years ago – needing to beat the Kiwis to get to the final – and got the job done.

“We’ll treat it as a semi-final and a lot of the Leeds guys here have experienced that. We’ll thrive on it. But we need to build and be better.”

The winger is right. Despite those dubious decisions, erratic England will today realise they could have done so much more to help their own cause.

There were positives in the number of times they managed to squeeze balls out of the tackle but it was alarming how so often there was no waiting recipient while there were some key defensive misses which gifted Australia points and Chase’s ill-conceived 20m re-start kick set up position for Williams’s crucial try on the half-hour.

Hall had collected Sinfield’s long pass to touch down one-handed in the 11th minute, strongly holding off Slater who injured himself in the process but who had already denied Westwood one try.

Luke Lewis replied six minutes later, though, when Thurston crabbed and Boyd chucked a pass which Inglis flicked on, Thurston converting.

But after Williams threw off a feeble Heighington tackle, Hall got his second just before the break after Jon Wilkin had unleashed Tomkins who in turn sent the impressive Reed clear with a wonderful flick pass.

Poor England discipline gave Australia position for Inglis to glide over two minutes into the second half, Thurston maintaining his 100 per cent record, and then came Williams’s wild shot.

England: Tomkins; Hall, Reed, Yeaman, Briscoe; Sinfield, Chase; Graham, Roby, Peacock, Ellis, Westwood, Heighington. Substitutes: Widdop, Morley, Jones-Buchanan, Wilkin.

Australia: Slater; Uate, Lawrence, Inglis, Boyd; Lockyer, Thurston; Gallen, Smith, M Scott, Lewis, Thaiday, Watmough. Substitutes: Cronk, Galloway, Shillington, Williams.

Referee: Henry Perenara (New Zealand).