England suffer more Ashes misery as Australia win second Test: here's what happened
Fighting spirit wasn’t enough as England were beaten 14-4 by Australia in today’s second Ashes Test.
In front of a capacity 52,106 crowd at Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, England were the superior side in the first half, but didn’t take their chances and, inevitably, they paid the price. There wasn’t a lot in it, but the Kangaroos were better after the break and two tries in five minutes won it for them and retained the Ashes with a game still to play.
England got their pride back after the poor effort in the Wembley opener and it was a proper Test, though stop-start. Aussie referee Grant Atkins penalised England twice before they’d touched the ball, though the final count was eight-six in their favour.
England, with Leeds Rhinos’ Kallum Watkins playing the full-80 and Mikolaj Oledzki getting a short spell off the bench - took it to their opponents and there were several skirmishes, the first of which led to the hosts’ Dom Young being sin-binned alongside opponent Tino Fa’asumaleaui.
They certainly muscled up, but England have scored one try in 160 minutes and that’s not good enough. Nathan Cleary booted Australia ahead from the penalty following the double sin-binning inside the opening two minutes. Harry Smith levelled after seven minutes when Mike McMeeken was tackled high in front of the Aussie posts. That came after England created space for Tom Johnstone, but the Wakefield Trinity winger was kept out by Reece Walsh.
Young returned and was immediately involved in another England chance, off an excellent build-up involving both halves and Harbie Farnworth. The winger was tackled into touch just short by Walsh; video referee Jack Smith awarded a penalty for a high shot, but the hosts couldn’t make that count.
Atkins went to the screen on two more occasions in the opening 23 minutes for potential England tries, but Morgan Knowles fumbled before touching down from George Williams’ grubber, then Young was unable to ground Farnworth’s low kick. It was a spell of intense England pressure, but as soon as the Aussies got the ball they received two penalties either side of a set-restart and Cleary made it 4-2, which was more than the visitors deserved.
Justice was done in the final minute of the half when AJ Brimson was taken out by Walsh under a kick from Smith, who took the two to send the sides in all square. Australia went four points clear eight minutes into the second period following an England error, when Williams’ poor pass wasn’t taken by Johnstone and the ball went into touch. Cameron Munster got past Williams to score a try which was confirmed by video official Smith.
Five minutes later, Johnstone couldn’t deal with Cleary’s high kick, the ball rebounded to Hudson Young and he galloped over for a converted try which opened a 10-point gap and completed the scoring. Walsh was sin-binned in the final quarter for a ridiculous foul on Dom Young.
England: Brimson, D Young, Farnworth, Wardle, Johnstone, Williams, H Smith, McMeeken, Litten, Lees, Pearce-Paul, Watkins, Knowles. Subs Lewis, Walmsley, Smithies, Oledzki.
Australia: Walsh, Nawaqanitawase, Staggs, Shibasaki, Addo-Carr, Munster, Cleary, Collins, Grant, Fa'asuamaleaui, Crichton, H Young, Carrigan. Subs Dearden, L Smith, Cotter, Koloamatangi.
Referee: Grant Atkins (Australia). Attendance: 52,106.