England boss Steve McNamara has expressed his frustration after watching his side throw away a 10-0 lead in Saturday's 28-20 defeat to Australia.
The World Cup co-hosts made at storming start at the Millennium Stadium, with Ryan Hall and Leroy Cudjoe both scoring tries inside the opening 20 minutes.
However, England's good work was soon undone as Johnathan Thurston, Greg Bird and Billy Slater touched down to put the tournament-favourites ahead at half time.
"We are frustrated," McNamara told reporters. "We started the game superbly and played with some great energy with the ball, but we gifted a lot of possession to the opposition and gave a lot of penalties away.
"We were sat there thinking and wondering what could have been and what maybe should have been if we had been a little bit cleaner in those areas.
"We know how good Australia are, and we knew we had to be at our best, or near our best, to win that game. We just fell a little bit short."
Next up for England is a match against Ireland in Huddersfield on November 2.
McNamara's men are still near-certainties to qualify for the quarter-finals because three teams will progress from Group A.
However, defeat to Australia means that England are likely to run into defending champions New Zealand in the semis.
Robert Summerscales
