Australia edge out dogged England in feisty second Test to claim Ashes series win

Australia have won the Ashes as they edged out a dogged and determined England side 14-4 at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.

Here’s our verdict.

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After their one-sided defeat at Wembley, Shaun Wane’s side were under pressure as they arrived at the brand new Hill Dickinson Stadium for the second Test. They were the team that needed the win, they were the team that needed a spark and they knew they needed to get the 52,106 strong home crowd up and on their side early

That’s exactly what they did, taking the game to the Aussies from the off, asking questions and getting in their faces. A mass brawl inside the opening two minutes of the game got the crowd on their feet with Dom Young and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui seeing yellow for their actions.

That ruckus gave Nathan Cleary the chance to kick Australia two points ahead, but it didn’t prevent England from dominating field position and possession for a huge chunk of the first half.

Harry Smith kicked the home side level after Mike McMeeken was taken high and the much improved England continued to knock on the door.

Dom Young went close but a Reece Walsh high tackle contributed to keeping him out in the corner. Morgan Knowles managed to get the ball over the line but he knocked the ball on before he could take control of it.

Young had another effort that was looked at by the video ref but he couldn’t reach around Walsh enough to touch the bouncing ball down before it went dead.

Australia were defending for their lives at times but they scrambled excellently to ensure Wane’s side, despite their best efforts, just weren’t able to convert their pressure into points.

The tourists reclaimed the lead with another Cleary penalty but Smith ensured the scoreline was even at the break after AJ Brimson was taken out while trying to latch onto George Williams’ kick through.

Australia were far from their best in the first half, but they started the second half quicker and with two tries, they took the game away from the hosts.

Cameron Munster got the first, powering over despite the challenge of Williams. And, just a few minutes later Hudson Young was touching down. The back-rower was on hand to claim the loose ball after Tom Johnstone’s failed attempt to claim a Cleary kick and he touched down from 15 metres.

In truth, England never really came close to scoring in the second half with their best attacking move culminating in a Reece Walsh sin-bin for taking out Young in the air.

Key moment

After seeing England fail to convert all their first half pressure into points, the first try in the second half was always going to be pivotal and it went the way of the Aussies as Munster touched down within 10 minutes of the restart.

Good day for

Australia. They were made to work for it but the series is theirs. Kevin Walters’ side were second best with the ball in hand for huge periods in Merseyside but they were too strong defensively and defence wins you titles.

Bad day for

Reece Walsh. A completely different player to the one that ripped England apart seven days ago. Committed a couple of errors under the high ball, sin-binned in the second half and probably could have seen yellow for his high shot to deny Young in the first two.

Bigger picture

England have lost the Ashes but they certainly didn’t die wondering at Hill Dickinson Stadium. They gave absolutely everything and while they were on the losing side, they can be pleased with their efforts.

They still have the opportunity to stop the whitewash at Headingley next week and they must put everything into doing just that.

Teams

England: AJ Brimson; Dom Young, Herbie Farnworth, Jake Wardle, Tom Johnstone; George Williams, Harry Smith; Mike McMeeken, Jez Litten, Matty Lees; Kai Pearce-Paul, Kallum Watkins; Morgan Knowles.

Bench: Mikey Lewis, Alex Walmsley, Morgan Smithies, Mikolaj Oledzki.

Australia: Reece Walsh; Mark Nawaqanitawase, Kotoni Staggs, Gehamat Shibasaki, Josh Addo-Carr; Cameron Munster, Nathan Cleary; Lindsay Collins, Harry Grant, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui; Angus Crichton, Hudson Young, Patrick Carrigan.

Bench: Tom Dearden, Linday Smith, Reuben Cotter, Keaon Kolomatangi.