England 20 Australia 28: Jonny Thurston too good for brave England

“We sat there afterwards thinking what might have been and there’s a big sense of frustration that we didn’t finish the job off”

Steve McNamara

Skipper Kevin Sinfield agreed, saying: “Our belief is there and we can only get better.” Australia coach Tim Sheens said: “It was not our best performance but you can’t take anything away from England.

“They defended well and threw a lot at us. We have work to do but I’m happy to come away with a win.”

England caught the Kangaroos cold with a seventh-minute Ryan Hall try.

The English pack was dominant and Sinfield’s superb reverse kick bounced kindly for Leroy Cudjoe to score with the captain adding the conversion.

But the Aussies responded in ruthless style. Greg Inglis beat Sam Tomkins to a Cooper Cronk kick and put Thurston over before Greg Bird touched down.

Then Billy Slater grabbed a glorious try right on half-time as he dummied through and fended off Sam Burgess before racing in at the corner, with Thurston improving all three scores.

Three minutes after the restart, Josh Charnley was controversially adjudged to have stepped into touch and Slater and Darius Boyd put Brett Morris over.

Burgess threw England a lifeline with a try from James Roby’s pass in the 50th minute but they then conceded three penalties on the bounce and Thurston landed a two-pointer from the last.

Another offence led to a fifth Australia try from Boyd with ten minutes to go.

Charnley picked up an opportunist try after the ball ran loose but England had run out of time in front of a crowd of 45,051 – a record for a World Cup opener.

Article source: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/347496/Rugby-Union-Stuart-Lancaster-to-give-players-the-Fergie-treatment

England 20 Australia 28: Jonny Thurston too good for brave England