More fuel for the fire I'd imagine
Young Poms scare Roos
October 29, 2003
England A 22 Australia 26
THE Kangaroos were pushed all the way to eke out a tough win in the second match of their European rugby league tour in London today.
Fitzgibbon - goalkicking decisive.
The Kangaroos led 14-6 at halftime and raced to a 26-6 lead early in the second-half at Griffin Park, but the young English rallied and made the tourists fight hard for the four tries apiece win.
Although the Australians were a more cohesive unit than in last Saturday's scratchy 34-10 win over a French Selection, the undermanned Kangaroos wilted toward the end under immense pressure from the home team.
With only 11 days and one match, against Wales on Sunday, before the first Test with Great Britain in Wigan on November 8, coach Chris Anderson was disappointed with the late lapse.
"We didn't get a great deal out of today," he said.
"There wasn't a lot of great performances out there. It's going to take a while for it to gel.
"We'll give ourselves a little talking to tonight and learn from what we did wrong.
"We let them back in the game, that was a bit silly. At 26-6 we took our foot off the pedal."
Danny Buderus and Matt Sing crossed for first-half tries for Australia and when Robbie Kearns and Michael Crocker scored early in the second-half it looked like the Kangaroos would run away with the game.
But the home team, inspired by Parramatta-bound five-eighth Chris Thorman, picked up the tempo and tries to Martin Aspinwall and Martin Gleeson added to Ade Gardner's first-half effort to bring the game alive at 26-16.
The English pressured Australia's line and had several chances before prop Andy Lynch finally barged over in the 74th minute to make it 26-22 following Thorman's third goal for the night.
Craig Fitzgibbon's perfect five goals from five for Australia made the difference.
England A had one last chance with a minute left but Australian skipper Darren Lockyer fielded a difficult chip kick to save an embarrassing evening.
In their search for form before the first Test with Great Britain, the Australians showed glimpses of class, particularly in Crocker's try in which Trent Waterhouse and Buderus showed brilliant hands to set up the utility forward.
They grew in confidence in the second-half but were never allowed to take complete control.
Details:
AUSTRALIA 26 (D Buderus, M Sing, R Kearns, M Crocker tries; C Fitzgibbon 5 goals) ENGLAND A 22 (A Gardner, M Aspinwall, M Gleeson, A Lynch tries; C Thorman 3 goals) at Griffin Park, London. Crowd: 6,817. Ref: G. Black.
