Rugby League World Cup: England coach Wayne Bennett sees progress in Australia defeat
- Published
England head coach Wayne Bennett said there was visible progress in Friday's 18-4 World Cup defeat by Australia compared to their Four Nations loss to the Kangaroos 12 months earlier.
Bennett's side lost 36-18 at the London Stadium last year, but were far more competitive in Melbourne on Friday.
Just six points separated the teams before Cameron Smith's penalty and Josh Dugan's late try pulled the Roos clear.
"I was pretty happy with it overall. There's no comparison," said Bennett.
"I thought it was a top effort by the guys. They've improved a lot since London.
"They hung in there really good despite some tricky situations and played some good football."
England were peppered by the Green and Golds in a first half in which they conceded two tries and also lost talismanic back-rower Sam Burgess to a knee injury that will limit his further participation in the tournament.
The second-half display was much sharper, cutting missed tackles from 35 to just eight, reducing line-breaks from six to zero and improving share of possession to avoid the same second-half slump saw them go from 10-6 down at half-time to an 18-point loss in their previous meeting.
"They reduced their errors and, although we are still not where we want to be, it was a huge improvement," Bennett added.
"Tonight wasn't a destination, it was part of a journey, we want to remind ourselves of that. We've got the next four of five weeks to get all these little things right."
'We need to iron out the errors'
Josh Hodgson felt England's errors gave them too much defending to do
Canberra Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson were clear where England had fallen short, telling BBC Sport: "I thought we were patchy in certain areas of the field and we had to do a lot of defending off the back of that.
"We need to grow from that and know we are a better team than what we showed.
"We need to iron out the little errors. We will always put effort in but need to be better with our execution. We will get more games under our belts and keep progressing."
The loss places extra importance on England's group matches against Lebanon and France, particularly with an eye on the knockout phase.
"There is a lot more in us - we are disappointed by the defeat but can take a lot from it," said skipper Sean O'Loughlin.
"I thought everyone had a real dig tonight. We had some patchy periods but I thought the effort was good from everyone."
'We've got to brave, we have to do something different'
Wales tried a positive approach to facing Australia in 2000, scoring 22 points but conceding 46 in their semi.
Former England captain Kevin Sinfield told BBC Sport
"That second half showed us what our strengths are in the Super League. We offload the ball, ask questions and move the ball side to side. The NRL game is very different. We need to play to our strengths.
"That second half is exactly where we need to be. If we try to beat Australia set-to-set in an arm wrestle game, we will lose.
"Think back to the 2000 World Cup when Wales went close against Australia, they played football. When New Zealand have beaten them in the past, they've played football.
"We need to do that. But it's a balancing act. You need a fair share of possession, and the risk of playing that way can be high, so we need to get a balance.
"We haven't beaten them in 12 attempts, so we've got to be brave, we have to do something different."
You can follow the fortunes of your favourite team with live match notifications sent straight to your phone or tablet via the BBC Sport app. Line-up, kick-off, score, half-time and full-time options are available for all teams participating at the World Cup.
- Published27 October 2017
- Published15 October 2017
