Early errors prove costly for Smith

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England trailed 26-0 at half-time at the DW Stadium after the Kangaroos powered through for five tries inside 32 minutes. Smith's men restored respectability with a battling display that reduced the arrears in the second half but Australia's early dominance proved the difference.

Smith said: "We're disappointed, we left ourselves too much to do. Some of it was some very good play from Australia early on in the game but they exploited some areas in our team and they took advantage of some situations too."

He added: "If you just slightly show them the door they will barge their way through it. That is what they did in the first half.

"We felt we could do a whole lot better and we showed that in the second half.

"We had a talk. We didn't like the situation we were in and we didn't like the scoreboard.

"It was either pull together and do something about it or - I don't know what the other option would have been.

"A couple of opportunities we created could have given us an even closer game towards the end. We had too much to do in too little time."

The result took Australia above England in the competition table and their hopes of progress to the final now hinge on next week's clash against New Zealand at Huddersfield.

Smith added: "There's a big incentive for us. We'd love another crack at Australia but we're up against a very good team in New Zealand this week."