The home side's offensive weaknesses were laid bare and capitalized on by a clinical Australian side as the tourists secured a surprisingly comfortable victory in the opening Test of the Ashes.
The England coach's team had spoken effusively about their motivation going into the first Ashes for over two decades, and they were certainly not short on effort at the famous stadium. Yet, in the crucial moments, it was the world champions who displayed more calmness in front of a record attendance for an series match in the UK of more than 60,000.
Led by an outstanding showing in attack and defence from club star Reece Walsh, the Kangaroos were deserving and convincing winners in the first match of the three-game contest, meaning England must triumph at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium next weekend to sustain their hopes of a first Ashes win since 1970.
England will have to be significantly improved with the ball if they are to achieve that. On multiple occasions in the opening period, the home team found themselves in promising positions but they were unable to cross for any tries. That was in no small part thanks to Walsh, who pulled off two superb turnovers.
The first came as Farnworth seemed destined to put Dom Young in for what would have been the opening try, then Walsh stopped Lewis as the break approached. By then, the Kangaroos had gone ahead as Walsh himself finished a wonderful move.
Nathan Cleary converted before kicking a penalty on the stroke of the interval to establish a eight-point advantage. It was a pivotal point, as was the score for Angus Crichton shortly after the restart which made it 14-0 in favour of the Kangaroos. The hosts now had to cross the line thrice and that seemed to halt their drive.
Should there have been uncertainty about the winners, they were firmly put to bed with 15 minutes to go. Munster's line break was backed up by Crichton, who broke through Welsby for Australia’s third try.
That made it 20-0 and there was added disappointment in the final minutes as Reece Walsh finished another scintillating attack, exploiting a tired and clearly exhausted England defense for his second try.
By then, local supporters had begun to leave early and many missed Daryl Clark’s consolation, which at least prevented the home side finishing scoreless. Nonetheless, there are many issues for the coach to answer going into what is now a must-win Test next Saturday.
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