England deserved better - Smith - Sport in brief

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England led three times in a compelling encounter at Elland Road but were eventually overrun as Australia - leading just 22-16 after 66 minutes - finished strongly to win 46-16.

Smith said: "Scoreline-wise we are disappointed. I'm not sure if it really reflects the game. It probably reflects some of the special individuals Australia have. But for 60 minutes of that game it looked like it could have gone either way."

He added: "They (Australia) have the ability to score special tries and they did that at the end - that blew the scoreline out.

"It's probably an advancement for us in terms of what we have done against Australia - better, but not good enough."

South Sydney-bound Sam Burgess scored two brilliant tries and Peter Fox also touched down as England relished the challenge, but each time Australia came back.

Brett Morris cancelled out the opener with the first of his double and a controversial Greg Inglis try - the centre ruled to have touched down just inside the dead-ball line by the video referee - put Australia in front at the break.

Smith added: "I need to go and review that but it was puzzling. There were a couple of puzzling decisions, but we're not using that as an excuse.

"You have to be able to overcome those decisions. That is the beauty of sport.

"I'm really proud of the effort put in by the players. They have been outstanding throughout this series."