England upbeat as McGillvary shines
Gillett and Billy Slater, on the back of Lions mistakes.
But England were terrific in the second half, limiting Australia to a penalty and a try in the dying minutes.
McGillvary said: “Australia have an aura about them and they are the best team in the world, but they didn’t look unbeatable.
“I know they won but they were there for the taking and we probably didn’t execute well enough. But we’re really positive.”
The result means England will now face a likely semi-final in Auckland against New Zealand while the Kangaroos can take the easy route to Brisbane after captain Cameron Smith, who equalled Clive Churchill’s record of 35 consecutive appearances, led his team to an eighth successive win under Mal Meninga. Australia looked vulnerable in the opening quarter and the tourists were good value for their early 4-0 lead, courtesy of McGillvary’s try which was the result of long, looping passes from Sean O’Loughlin and Gareth Widdop. The Kangaroos scored their first try on 22 minutes after Gillett wrong-footed Luke Gale on his way to the line before providing the final pass seven minutes later for Slater to jink his way over. Smith kicked one conversion to put Australia 10-4 up at the break.
After the departure of Burgess, England showed tremendous resolve to stay in the game.
Replacement hooker James Roby was held up over the line and winger Ryan Hall had a sight of the line before being bundled into the corner flag by debutant Dane Gagai and Slater.
Five minutes from the end Elliott Whitehead was penalised for a ball steal and Smith kicked the goal that opened up a two-score lead before centre Josh Dugan swooped on a kick from Widdop to sprint 80 metres for Australia’s third try.