It was never mentioned during the game, however from me it looked like England were running into the wind in the first half.
You could see this in the drop outs that struggled to get to the 40 metre line.
In the second half with Australia running into the wind it was noticeable that they lost a lot of momentum, in part because they could no longer rely on big downtown kicks.
Were Australias game management shone though was that their halves knew to keep the ball low, and go for touch. This stopped England form getting momentum in kick returns. Something Australia got in spades when England just kicked down their throats in the first half.
I thought it was interesting that Billy Slater said he thought the English back 3 in Lomax, Mgilvrey and Hall were dangerous. Many people on here clearly dont think Lomax is upto it. However the Aussies obviously found him difficult to handle, and someone who needed a lot of watching.
Hopefully we can kick on from this, we were not outclassed by a long way, infact it was a tough arm wrestle of a game.
I would keep the halves as they are to build structure. However would look at squad rotation to rest some of the big forwards, and also to give some of the backs like Percival and Williams a run out to see how they go in case injuries hit.
