By Olivia Franks
A deflated Shaun Wane lamented the second-half switch-off that allowed Australia to seal the Rugby League Ashes at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
An improved England side fell to a familiar pattern of second-half Australian pressure in a 14-4 defeat that handed the Ashes to Australia.
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England could not take advantage of their first-half dominance, and a “ruthless” Australia clinched the Ashes with two tries from Cameron Munster and Hudson Young in four minutes early in the second half.
England coach Shaun Wane said: “There’s no excuse, we need to be better and it’s absolutely gutted me.
“I thought we were good for 70 minutes. The switch off ten minutes after half time hurt us immensely.”
A tempestuous start to the second test had all 26 players involved in a brawl that saw Dom Young and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui both sin-binned for the second-minute scuffle.
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Reese Walsh made uncharacteristic errors, and Australia endured a first-half attack littered with handling mistakes, but it did not show on the scoreline as England could not convert possession into points.
Wane said: “Even when we were competing and testing them, there are a few areas where we could have done better with the detail of our attack.”
Instead, the boots of Nathan Cleary and Harry Smith kept the score moving and with the game tied 4-4 at half time, it was up to both teams to stamp their mark on the game.
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Australia did that early in the second half with two tries in four minutes to make it a ten-point game.
Wane said: “Our defensive frailties, firstly the Munster try – that just cannot happen at this level.
“They’re ruthless when they get a chance and we weren’t but defensively we should do better.”
After a dummy stopped George Williams from effecting the tackle, Munster sailed through for the first try of the game in the 48th minute.
And the world champions would get another five minutes later when England did not deal with a Cleary high ball and Young collected the ball to score in the right-hand corner.
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But Australia were dealt their own test when Walsh was sin-binned in the 66th minute for his second reckless Young challenge of the day.
Young stretched for a George Williams chip in the right-hand corner and was cleaned out by Walsh while also being tackled by Josh Addo-Carr.
But despite the man advantage, Australia’s suffocating defence and misplaced passes meant that England still could not get over the white line in the ensuing passages.
Australia coach Kevin Walters said: “I had a lot of confidence and faith in our defence. We turned over a fair bit of ball in that first half but they just kept defending to the end.
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“Defence is what wins the big games.”
Australia could have had a third try when Munster dived under the posts, but a fumble brought the Kangaroos back and neither side troubled the scorers again.
Australia took the spoils 14-4 by shifting through the gears in the second half, taking an unassailable 2-0 series lead into the third test.
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