England 8 Australia 30: Same old story for England as Lockyer bows out on a high with emphatic win

Any morose England fan searching for a crumb of comfort as they looked up and saw yet another final scoreline heavily in Australia’s favour may have thought if such a true great can make such a basic error there is always hope.

But, just as the Queensland legend missed the kick – after the captain fittingly scored in the 79th minute of his 471st and last game – they missed the point.

Earlier, Lockyer had done it when it mattered most, a crucial ability errant England continue to be unable to discover and one which ultimately cost them one of their best chances of success in any of the preceeding 39 barren years.

These Kangaroos had not been bounding at Elland Road, more limping, yet Steve McNamara’s side failed to capitalise on their initial deficiencies.

Australia led just 8-6 at half-time when really, with such an abundance of ball and territory, they should have been 30 points ahead.

But the famed Green and Golds had been unusually wasteful themselves. In good strike position, Anthony Watmough dropped with his first touch, the otherwise outstanding Sam Thaiday fumbled a poor Lockyer pass, Tom Williams lost the ball driving for the line while Jonathan Thurston was clawed back by Adrian Morley after making a break which ordinarily would have profited a try.

They had gone ahead worryingly easily in the fourth minute when Tom Briscoe failed to take Thurston’s hoisted kick and Chris Lawrence smartly supplied Thaiday but the tourists had two further efforts correctly ruled out by the video referee – Lawrence’s because of a couple of lazy offside chasers – and seemed to be doing their utmost to encourage an England fightback.

The hosts had shown all their usual strength through their bullocking forwards but a poor kicking game undermined such endeavour and they still barely got to a position where they could strike.

When they did they either lacked composure or failed to even try shifting wide, surprising given the rich form their outside backs had enjoyed previously in this tournament.

Yet somehow, when Ryan Hall scored a penalty try in the 36th minute – desperate Thurston hitting the Leeds winger high as he scrambled for the corner, forcing him to fumble – Kevin Sinfield’s conversion from in front saw them level.

Australia, with Luke Lewis and Paul Gallen relentless up front, still had time to bomb another chance, James Graham brilliantly getting back to drag down Lockyer after a searing Darius Boyd break, and, although Thurston nudged them ahead with a penalty for offside in injury-time, relieved England knew they had been let off the hook.

If they could find some creativity, the final was there to be taken.

Hearteningly, the start of the second period was suitably uplifting. England emerged re-energised, acted with more conviction and their foes – apart from when Greg Inglis struck the excellent Gareth Ellis with a thunderous tackle – looked shaky.

Inglis himself, the long-striding prince of centres, spilled twice in quick succession, once off an alarmingly sloppy Thurston pass and next due to the ferocity of Jack Reed’s defence.

But England, so measured and accurate in lacerating the Kiwis a week earlier, did not have the patience to make the pressure tell, rushing passes or failing to take the right options as the line approached. Sinfield instead accepted a penalty in the 52nd minute to draw level and the hope was England would then press further, only to commit the cardinal sin of losing possession in the next set.

An ill-advised pass from Jamie Jones-Buchanan on his own 10m line saw an unsuspecting Kirk Yeaman fail to collect and, though the duo then combined to just edge Jharal Yow Yeh into touch – video referee Ian Smith denying the unfortunate winger a try for the second time – there was no such resilience when Jones-Buchanan conceded a penalty soon after.

Lockyer came to life. With one of those delayed passes which had become his trademark over the last 17 years, making defenders momentarily hesitate, the stand-off fired out to Boyd, who now had just enough time to aim a cut-out delivery for Yow Yeh to finally score at the third attempt.

The clock stood at only 57 minutes – ample time for England to recover – but there was an immediate sense of impending doom from the majority of a partisan 34,174 crowd

They had been here before. It was around this mark when Australia proved their dominance at the same ground two years previously, absorbing England’s best for an hour and then cruising home 46-16.

The damage was not as severe this time but equally as painful.

The killer strike came just four minutes later, Cameron Smith exposing two floored markers to set his side in motion.

Briscoe came up to meet Lewis but could not complete the tackle, Thurston, who finished with five goals, found Gallen accelerating past Jamie Peacock before accepting a return pass to skip by Sam Tomkins, England’s great attacking hope who was never been given an inch of space all evening.

Lockyer’s perfectly arrowed long kick downfield – the 34-year-old sprinting after it like a teenager to become the first to meet Hall just yards from his own line – signified the Australians had re-discovered their merciless nature.

Sure enough, Smith, Thurston and Watmough combined to splinter the England defence soon after, Inglis dummying his way over before, with just seconds remaining, Lockyer got the try that, by now, all Elland Road wanted to see.

His grubber ricocheted off an upright back into his arms – no doubt intended – and the crowd stood to warmly salute one of the game’s finest.

Beforehand, the gravelly-voiced captain had confessed he feared defeat: “There is going to be a day when the Poms are going to beat us.”

It so easily could have been Saturday.

Instead, Lockyer got the farewell everyone always truthfully expected.

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

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

Referee: Matt Cecchin (Australia).