England 4-14 Australia
by James Nalton
at Bramley-Moore Dock

AUSTRALIA claimed the rugby league Ashes for the 21st time following a 14-4 victory in the second test at Merseyside on Saturday.

It was the Kangaroos’ 14th consecutive triumph in the series, which has been revived this year having last been played in 2003.

The Everton stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock proved a hit with the sport and the majority of its fans and media, in what was the first non-soccer event to take place at the new facility.

Despite a relatively short field length, the in-goal areas were more spacious than they are at Old Trafford for the Super League Grand Final, which has long been a problem in one of English rugby’s showpiece matches.

The pitch markings were also missing a few lines, but despite a couple of issues, the response to the new venue was overwhelmingly positive.

Fans faced familiar problems on England’s public transport network, but this didn’t dampen enthusiasm for the stadium itself, even though the home team couldn’t get the win required to level the series.

England’s attack was predictable and their kicking game unimaginative as they failed to score a single try.

A couple of first-half penalties were all Shaun Wane’s side could muster in terms of points in this second test.

Australia matched them in a competitive first stanza, and in the second, the visitors managed to take advantage of a couple of England mistakes in dangerous areas and cross for two tries through Cameron Munster and Hudson Young.

England looked devoid of ideas in attack, and couldn’t even cross for a try when Australia were down to 12 men when Reece Walsh was sin-binned for 10 minutes in the second half.

They didn’t even use the shorter pitch length to execute 40-20 kicks, as the Australians did successfully on occasion.

England have been unable to score a meaningful try in the two matches in this three-game Ashes series. The only time they have crossed the line in 160 minutes was for a late consolation try from close range in the 26-6 defeat in the first test at Wembley.

They will hope to recover some pride in the third and final test at Headingly next weekend, but it will be difficult against this machine-like Australian outfit.