Kangaroos win Four Nations after try deluge

Australia restored themselves to the pinnacle of world rugby league with a 46-16 result that was entirely predictable, but yet was in doubt for 54 minutes of this Four Nations final.

England went into a 16-14 lead shortly after halftime when lock Sam Burgess scored his second try, but Billy Slater then shoved his way over from dummy-half to launch a deluge of six Australian tries in the last 26 minutes - three of which fell to the Kangaroo fullback.

"We were in with a shot of winning it with 20 minutes to go, but they pulled away in the end there - they were a bit clinical, weren't they?'' said England captain Jamie Peacock. "Australia are always going to kill you when you give them that much ball and they took their chances.''

The final quarter from the Australians was as good as you would see, three of their tries scored from precision kicks and the rest from subtle inter-passing led by halfbacks Johnathon Thurston and Darren Lockyer, thought likely to announce his retirement from test football after this game.

Four years ago, the Kiwis were at this same atmospheric football stadium and beat the Australians 24-0 in the Tri-Nations final, a night which marked the end of automatic Kangaroo victory in any big international occasion.

But the Australians looked just as good as the Kiwis did in winning last year's world cup and will hold their no1 ranking after this performance.

A near-capacity 31,042 crowd were enthused by England's energetic approach to the opening spell, and while Australia had the real first opportunity - wing Brett Morris denied a try by the video referee and opposite Ryan Hall's crash tackle - it was the home side who led first. Sam Burgess strode clear through the middle of the Kangaroo defence, rather audaciously dummied Billy Slater and scored.

It was too ambitious when he tried the same move again shortly after, ignoring the unmarked Sam Tomkins as the line opened, and when James Graham threw an intercept pass to Johnathon Thurston it became a 12-point error, with Morris scoring one play later at the other end.

England led again when the impressive halfback Kyle Eastmond kicked high for wing Peter Fox in the corner, but it was Australia who had a halftime lead when video referee Phil Bentham watched multiple replays before ruling Greg Inglis had touched down Jarryd Hayne's kick through and Thurston's penalty nine minutes before halftime gave the Kangaroos a 14-10 advantage.

Burgess scored again quickly after halftime but England crumbled thereafter and the final scoreline showed how badly it all fell apart.

Australia coach Tim Sheens described the game as a "real slug'' in the first hour, before his best men clicked into gear. "That's when the class player like a Thurston, Lockyer, Slater or Inglis have something to come back at you with,'' he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News