Kangaroos crush toothless Lions
November 02, 2008

AUSTRALIA looked well on the way to an eighth straight Rugby League World Cup title after demolishing England 52-4 in their pool match at Melbourne's Telstra Dome.

A week after trouncing New Zealand - the other side expected to challenge them for the crown - the Kangaroos again looked a class above as they ran in nine tries to one, Storm pair Greg Inglis and Billy Slater delighting their home fans with hat-tricks.

The pair combined for an exhilarating 100-metre try midway through the second half, Inglis collecting an England grubber on his own goaline before finding Slater, who ran rings around Lions winger Mark Calderwood on his way to the line.

Such was Australia's dominance that coach Ricky Stuart could afford to give skipper Darren Lockyer a 23-minute early mark - the ice wrapped around his strained biceps more precaution than cause for alarm.

England showed some signs of life, particularly out of dummy half where diminutive half-back Rob Burrow and James Roby caused numerous headaches for a retreating defence, but their good moments were sporadic against a clinical Australia side.

The win all but assures the Kangaroos - provided they don't slip up against Papua New Guinea next Sunday - top spot heading into the semi-finals, but it hardly seems to matter who else qualifies for the final four with another World Cup appearing a formality for the home side.

It looked like turning into a rout early as Slater and Inglis scored their first tries inside the opening 10 minutes, Slater pouncing on a Cameron Smith grubber to continue a huge six-day period that began with the birth of his daughter on Monday.

England were rattled, even the simplest task of getting to their kick at the end of the set was too tough, but momentum shifted as the Kangaroos - perhaps plagued by complacency - dropped several balls and gave away silly penalties.

It coincided with England's best period of the match, though they received more than a little help from video referee Ashley Klein who gave Roby the benefit of the doubt as he attempted to ground the ball to put the visitors back in the contest at 12-4.

That was as good as it got, their night summed up when Paul Wellens - just minutes out from the half-time break - allowed a kick to roll over the dead ball line without a defender in sight.

Unfortunately for Wellens the ball had been touched off Cameron Smith's boot by another England player. Anthony Laffranchi crashed over from the ensuing drop out to give Australia a commanding 22-4 half-time lead.

Inglis and Slater turned the second half into a party as they toyed with their opponents.

Slater's length-of-the-field effort was followed just minutes later by Inglis's third when a short kick off went horribly wrong for England and the Melbourne superstar sprinted away after picking up the loose ball on his own 40-metre line.