Rugby League Coaching Manuals

Sporting Life - England coach Tony Smith insists that all is not lost despite his side's nine-try World Cup humiliation by Australia. England's worst fears were realised when they were thrashed 52-4 by the Kangaroos, who delivered a major blow to the credibility of the tournament by highlighting for the second successive week the yawning gap between the world champions and the rest.

Smith must pick his shattered team up for their final pool match against New Zealand in Newcastle next Saturday and a potentially daunting rematch with Australia in Brisbane a fortnight later.

On the evidence of their shameful second-half capitulation at Melbourne's Telstra Dome, it looks a hopeless task but Smith remains outwardly confident that his side can recover from their mauling.

"We got a good thumping by a very, very good team and we've got to take it like a man," said Smith, whose first defeat as national coach was as painful as it gets.

"We'll certainly do that and bounce back and be even more determined the next time we get a chance.

"It's very quiet in the changing room. Everybody is hurting and will probably for a day or so but you just pick yourself up and go again.

"That's what you do in professional sport. We've all been there before. It pulls you all together."

The signs were ominous in the opening round of games, in which England struggled to get past group minnows Papua New Guinea and Australia brushed aside the Kiwis' meek challenge.

Kangaroos coach Ricky Stuart had warned his side to expect a ferocious opening onslaught and Smith had obliged by starting with Adrian Morley in the front row rather than on the bench but the whirlwind came from the hosts and the game was over as a contest inside nine minutes.

Full-back Billy Slater won the race to Cameron Smith's deft kick to claim the first try on four minutes and when centre Greg Inglis glided over at the corner three minutes later it was 12-0.

Hooker James Roby, one of the few England players to emerge with his reputation unsullied, briefly gave his side hope when he forced his way past four defenders to score a 20th-minute try.

That gave the 5,000-strong English following among the 36,297 crowd something to cheer and was the catalyst for Smith's men to produce their best football of the match.

Roby and Rob Burrow caused problems for their hosts with their pace and clever footwork but the Australian defence held firm and England heads dropped when Inglis and second rower Anthony Laffranchi added further tries in the last seven minutes of the first half.

"There was a period of the game where we were forcing some errors and they were giving us the ball," said Smith.

"If we had converted some of that pressure, if might have been a different game. When they blew out just before half time, it really hurt us.

"There were a lot of positives at half-time. We all thought we could get back in the game but it didn't work out that way."

As England became ragged and dispirited in a dismal second half, Australia went for the jugular and Joel Monaghan's 56th-minute try ended any lingering resistence.

Slater and Inglis provided further demonstrations of the Kangaroos' clinical finishing by completing their hat-tricks and Laffranchi added a second in only his second Test appearance as Smith's men finished in a state of disarray.

The defeat fell short of Great Britain's 64-10 hammering in Sydney in 2002 but it was still England's heaviest in World Cup history, eclipsing their 49-6 loss to New Zealand in the 2000 semi-finals.

The only positive is that England are not only still in the tournament but, barring a "miracle" victory by Papua New Guinea over the Kangaroos, will make the semi-finals.

"We get another chance," said Smith. "We're disappointed with our performance but you don't have to be at your best just yet. As long as we get closer and closer to our best, we're still in with a shot."

Smith was also able to single out some of his players for praise, even though he will be under pressure to make changes for the next match.

"We showed some improvement in some areas, our control around the ruck, for example," he said.

"I thought we put on some good shots in defence - Australia will know they have played in a game - but in some areas we were a bit soft.

"There were some strong performances. I thought Roby was strong again and Gareth Hock had a massive improvement on his performance last week.

"There were glimpses from some others - James Graham and our captain continue to put their hands up and Mozza tried as hard as anybody on the field. There was a lot of effort out there but we need to improve in some areas and quickly."