It wasn’t pretty, but Australia have picked up a tough 14-point victory over England to kick-off the Rugby League World Cup in Melbourne on Friday evening.
England took an early lead thanks to a strong start and Jermaine McGilvary try, but it would be the last time Wayne Bennett’s side troubled the scorers all night as Australia scored three tries and a penalty goal to take victory.
Australia looked shell-shocked coming out of the blocks. If anything, their execution was off with it obvious no one had been on a rugby league field for a month as England found their way onto the front foot, sending McGilvary over for a great opening try.
Mistakes flowed through the first half for both sides, but Australia went on to dominate for most of the 25 minutes leading into halftime, having most of the possession and field position.
England’s defence was superb, but they let in two first half tries, Australia taking a 10-4 lead to halftime on the back of Matt Gillett and Billy Slater tries. Both were soft, but England, looking tired made it to halftime without conceding again.
In what proved to be a killer blow for England, Sam Burgess was ruled out of the rest of the match with a knee injury just before halftime. He will have scans tomorrow with hopes he will be back on the field next Saturday against Lebanon.
The second half was back and forth, but England were undoubtedly the better team despite not being able to crack the Australian defensive line. They had a multitude of chances, but errors close to the line, as well as a solid Aussie defence held them out.
Wade Graham picked up a dubious penalty just give mintues from fulltime, allowing Cameron Smith to put Australia in front by eight with a penalty goal, before Josh Dugan ran away off a kick to ice the game for Australia.
The win leaves Australia sitting pretty at the top of Group A, likely to avoid a semi-final with New Zealand. They will take on France next Friday evening in Canberra.
Australia 18
England 4
Simoc
Guest
Sydney can't afford World Cup games. They're not up to it. No money or brains in that place.
terrence
Guest
I think Melbourne doesn't do events well at all. Should have had the opening match in a more global city like Newcastle.
republican
Guest
.......we looked ordinary penalties or no penalties. NZ, where the sport is niche, will put us to the sword based on that performance and win the WC - again.
duecer
Guest
makes my point even more pertinent then.
Justin Kearney
Guest
State of origin gets over 3 million.
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
Probably would have helped theIr cause to score more than one try to be fair mate... As for the rest - you're kidding yourself if you think Australia were offside all night and England were perfect. Both sides kept the 10 about the same, but for the most part the Aussie forward just over powered England. Australia were far better in the first half, and England were better for most of the 2nd, but at the end of the day they couldn't convert their opportunities and seemed to panic when there were genuine tries on offer. Meanwhile, Australia got one chance to score in the 2nd half and took it. THAT was the difference.
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
There were 3 penalties all game... and the poms got away with some shockers.
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
What are you talking about?? Mate, there were 3 penalties ALL GAME! Say what you like, but the Poms actually probably got off lucky when you consider that toward the last 15 mins they got away with blatant taking out a Roos play after an attacking kick in England's 20 metre zone. Never seen a more clear example of obstruction in my life - player only had eyes for the kangaroos player and the ref just let it go.
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
There was no penalty goal to Australia in the first half... what game were you watching?
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
Did they really? There were only a handful of penalties all match and frankly there were a couple huge ones England should have copped that they let go. The huge obstruction by England in set before the penalty goal near the end being a prime example
TingoTango
Guest
I agree what about the tackles that the ref missed for the Poms just terrible. And do not get me started on his ball handling skills. No wonder England had no chance of winning
Basil
Guest
doubling down hurts your credibility even more!
Basil
Guest
neutral? Lol
AussieIrish
Guest
Well, here’s an opinion from someone who is neutral. Neutral in that I follow Rugby but watch the test match with League following friends. All I can say is that League supporters criticisms of the poor standard of international Rugby refereeing has been turned on its head. Australia won through good luck and very poor refereeing. I know enough about League to understand that Australia were allowed to constantly infringe the 10 metres rule, while England were always pushed back, sometimes nearly 12 metres by the ref. This gave Australia a huge advantage in both attack and defence. The English hooker, Roby crossed the line but the event was not sent to the video ref. Roby seemed to be saying that he was sure grounded the ball. At the other end a clear knockon by the Australian player was sent to the video ref, just in case. If this was sent upstairs, why wasn’t Roby’s? There as one Australian player, McGuire, I think, who head hunted all game and took out at least 3 English players with very late hits. Not even a blink from the ref and yet when Graham dropped the ball under pressure from two England players, an unsighted ref penalised them for a strip. England was the better side, except for about 25 minutes in the second half, and deserved to win. Had it not been for poor reffing, they probably would have.
duecer
Guest
Perhaps that may have been one reason to start in Melbourne, rating 847k is pretty good, but a far cry from over 2 million for each SoO.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Lacking passion? I seriously don't understand how anyone could claim that that game lacked passion. Klemmer steamrolling like a monster, Graham running the length of the field in futile desperation even after the game was lost, Slater trying to desperately earn a 20m start but dropping the ball in goal and so on and so on. There was a lot of passion on that field. Perhaps the lack of fisticuffs may have confused some?
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Slater made a few errors but I don't recall a single mistake from Klemmer.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
It was a soft penalty, for sure. Maybe we were watching different matches because I thought the game was enthralling. Set after set after set saw England repelling everything Australia threw at them. Billy Slater was sublime in his counterattacking and Klemmer was Frankenstein's monster on heat. McGillvary was a threat every time he touched the ball and the England attack started finding its mojo once they wrestled some momentum and possession away from Australia. Even with a minute to go, England were desperately probing away and a fortunate bounce saw Dugan race the length of the field with England prop James Graham running with him all the way. And all that was part of an ordinary game? Ouch.
Dean
Guest
I agree with the others who nominated Klemmer for MOM. Best player on the field by a country mile. Not only did he keep carting the ball up, it was the manner in which he did it. It was brutal without being dirty. Everytime he went for a run he sent defenders flying. Slater was good but he made that howler of a mistake on his own try line wereas Klemmer was mistake free all night. Graham for the poms was fantastic, once again. The chase on Dugan says it all. Even in his NRL games he's the same. He just doesnt give up. I stand by my earlier comment on it being the worst case of referee bias in a test match that i have seen for a very long time. I doubt that he set out to be biased, but that's the way it appeared by the end of the game. Perception is everything. Can't wait for NZ v Samoa tonight. Don't know that I'm enthusiastic about some of the "smaller" games but im glad for those countries that they have been included. Expansion has to start somewhere.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Yeah, I thought it was harsh. That and McGillvary's 'troubled' play the ball decision. But it didn't cost them the match (though an 8-point buffer with a few minutes remaining is tough). Just to go back to the village for a moment, the NRL need to get back to one referee. Two referees is a solution to an imaginary problem.