ENGLAND 16, AUSTRALIA 26

ENGLAND fans should start claiming danger money after this latest rollercoaster of agony and hope.

Never mind supporters having to pay to watch, they should be compensated for having their nerves shredded. Yet again.

Last week, England almost had hearts stopping with their whimper of a win over underdogs France.

This time, the heart looked to have completely gone out of the team with an abysmal first-half display.

The death notices were already being written for England's Four Nations hopes, as well as gaffer Tony Smith's job.

But, at 26-0 down, and deservedly so, the home side suddenly found they had a pulse after all - and how it started beating!

Sam Burgess sparked the fightback with an early touchdown that will have the NRL looking forward to his arrival there next season.

Gareth Ellis - already a hit Down Under with Wests Tigers - struck another blow with a try created by wonderkid Sam Tomkins.

And when rugby union-bound Lee Smith dived over to cut the gap to 10 points, things were starting to look a whole lot rosier for the 23,122 crowd.

By the end it was the mighty Aussies who were hanging on against an England side who had rediscovered their pride, guts and will to win.

Kangaroos scrum-half Johnathan Thurston was so rattled that he was sin-binned for the last seven minutes for holding down Smith, slowing up another England attack.

And staggeringly, considering the first-half hammering, it was England who kept the Roos scoreless in the second half.

But, to Smith's massive regret, England had given themselves too much to do and ran out of time in their bid to pull off what would have a sensational comeback. He said: "We are disappointed because we left ourselves with too much to do in too little time.

"We are a young team and we've shown we can learn quickly.

"But we need a stronger first-half so that we do have not to scramble and learn as quickly as that in the second half. We need to put that learning into action before we're in a position where we are having to scramble for it."

Australia, who needed a late try to sneak a draw against New Zealand last week, are now favourites to finish top with only France left to play.

England's hopes of meeting them again in the Four Nations Final at Elland Road on November 14 will come down to a do-or-die clash with the Kiwis next Saturday.

They will have a battle on their hands against the World Cup winners. But, on the basis of the second-half display, England certainly have the bottle for the battle.

Even Aussie boss Tim Sheens admitted he was glad to hear the hooter. He said: "I was not surprised that England responded in the second half but I was disappointed with the way we played.

"We wanted to keep them without any points but it was them who kept us out after the break. We had to scramble against the Kiwis to get a point last week and today we've had to scramble to keep England out."

The second-half fightback was a far cry from the shocking display England mustered in a one-way first half.

Roos captain Darren Lockyer caught them cold with a record equalling 33rd Aussie try in the fifth minute, to celebrate his joint record 27th appearance as captain. It was frightening to watch the ease with which he was put away by Thurston, and then played a one-two with centre Greg Inglis before diving over.

But it was just the omen of more bad news to come for England as the first-half plunged into a downward spiral of Aussie dominance and English despair.

Full-back and international player of the year Billy Slater skipped over twice in three minutes, with England's defence hardly putting up any resistance.

Burgess came off the bench in a bid to stop the rot but his spilled pass set up man-of-the-match Inglis for an 80-metre canter to the line for try No 4.

It was agony to watch and, when winger Brett Morris touched down for a 26-0 lead, there didn't look any way back for shell-shocked England.

Smith's half-time pep talk, however, clearly needs to be kept and bottled for future use if it always works as well.

England looked like a new team in the second half, with Wigan halfback Tomkins finally starting to show some of the class that has got the whole game talking.

After ditching his nerves, Tomkins showed hints of his mesmerising talent, as did fellow 20-year-old Kyle Eastmond, who came on as a sub.

Now it's all down to next Saturday with Smith insisting: "We are coming up against another very good team in New Zealand but we would love another crack at Australia."

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