England beaten by Australia in second Test at Everton

After the hosts dominated the first period but turned round level on the scoreboard, two Kangaroos tries in five minutes early in the second half handed them control that they were able to cling on to despite being down to 12 men at one stage.

Shaun Wane made five changes to the England starting line-up and seven in all, leaving out of the 17 Saints’ Jack Welsby and Daryl Clark, Leigh Leopards’ Owen Trout, Wigan’s Ethan Havard and North Queensland Cowboys’ John Bateman.

In came Gold Coast Titans’ AJ Brimson at full-back, Wigan’s Harry Smith at scrum-half, Wakefield Trinity’s Mike McMeeken at prop, Hull KR’s Jez Litten at hooker, Leeds Rhinos’ Kallum Watkins in the second row, Canberra Raiders’ Morgan Smithies and Leeds’ Mikolaj Oledzki on the bench.

And the response in intensity and desire was clear for all to see – a proper Test match that Wane had called for in the battle to keep the series alive.

England’s bite was more like alsation than pug compared to the previous week’s first-Test loss at Wembley and the second-minute yellow cards for Newcastle Knights wing Dom Young and Australian prop Tino Fa'asuamaleaui added to the spice.

Led by the dogged St Helens loose-forward Morgan Knowles, England took the fight to the tourists and created the best chances of the opening 40 minutes.

Young was bundled into touch when heading for the corner post, Knowles touched down after Australia’s Wembley hero Reece Walsh spilled England and Warrington Wolves skipper George Williams’ kick along the wet surface but the Saints man also knocked on while recovering possession.

The pressure continued from England, with Young creeping up behind Walsh in chasing a Herbie Farnworth grubber and although the winger got his finger tips to the ball they came away again before grounding.

And then from a towering Smith high kick, Young challenged in the air and patted the ball backwards so that Newcastle Knights’ Kai Pearce-Paul could feed a charging Knowles but he was stopped two metres short.

It was all England, but somehow the Aussies kept their line intact and two penalties each through the boots of Smith and Nathan Cleary saw the half end 4-4.

But when it came to the crunch Australia were clinical.

And after moving the ball wide Cameron Munster used three runners as decoys to go for the line himself. Although Williams got to him the stand-off had enough momentum to score the game’s first try.

Four minutes later the Kangaroos delivered a killer play thanks to Cleary’s high kick. The ball flew out of the challenge in the air between Kotoni Staggs and Tom Johnstone, falling perfectly for Hudson Young to collect and power over the line in Smith’s attempted tackle.

Cleary’s touchline conversion were the final points of the game, with the 52,106 crowd silenced and England taking some poor options as they chased a way back into the contest.

That was the difference in the end, England matched Australia physically but lacked some smart and clinical moments in their much improved performance.

“I was proud for the majority of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were good," said Wane.

“I thought the switch-off for 10 minutes after half time hurt us immensely. Munster’s first try was soft and shouldn’t be scored in a Test match. But we did a lot of good things today, just not enough.

“It’s very hard for me to think about that (improved performance) at the minute. They’ve won it and we’ve not and it hurts. So my overriding thought is that we got beat.

“I’m devastated, that one hurts, but I’m very proud that the players had a dig. I was so disappointed in that period after half-time which cost us dearly.

“Both of the tries we needed to defend better and I don’t feel they should have been tries scored in a Test match. Fair play to Australia, they turned up and they were ruthless. But defensively we can and should do better.

“I wanted to see more thrown at them. They defended well. First half we had a lot of the ball but the main thing was I wanted us to build pressure in the game. We didn’t do that last week and I felt we did that this week but with the detail in attack where we could have put them under a bit more pressure.”

Next Saturday’s third Test at Headingley in Leeds will be a dead rubber as far as the series is concerned, with Australia's hold on the Ashes continuing to 55 years, but England have some more hurt pride that needs restoring.

England: AJ Brimson; Dom Young, Herbie Farnworth, Jake Wardle, Tom Johnstone; George Williams, Harry Smith; Mike McMeeken, Jez Litten, Matty Lees, Kai Pearce-Paul, Kallum Watkins, Morgan Knowles. Subs: Mikey Lewis, Alex Walmsley, Morgan Smithies, Mikolaj Oledzki.

Australia: Reece Walsh; Mark Nawaqanitawase, Kotoni Staggs, Gehamat Shibasaki, Josh Addo-Carr; Cameron Munster, Nathan Cleary; Lindsay Collins, Harry Grant, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Angus Crichton, Hudson Young, Patrick Carrigan. Subs: Tom Dearden, Lindsay Smith, Reuben Cotter, Keaon Koloamatangi.