England have brushed off a gutsy display from the Wallaroos for a 48-15 win in Manchester.
The 33-point lead indicates a dominant win for the Red Roses, but it was far from as the world champions were forced to dig deep by the Australians.
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The Wallaroos stunned the crowd early for a 10-5 lead at the break, the first time England had trailed at half-time since November 2020 against France. This was 60 Tests ago for a Red Roses side who haven't lost in 1,400 days.
But the quality of the world number one shone in the second half, piling in 36 unanswered points for the victory.
"I don't think that scoreline is a reflection of what the game was," captain Siokapesi Palu Sekona said post-game.
"We didn't finish the way that we wanted to, but we'll take a lot of positives...We're going to take a lot of confidence against a world-class team like that. We can actually give in, so for us it's just trying to string along the full 80-minute game so that we can actually compete."
The Wallaroos proved their toughness and fight in a dogged first-half display that delivered a deserved five point advantage at half-time.
Samantha Wood’s boot opened the scoring in the third minute as the visitors were smart with their control of field position.
England had most of the chances in the first half but met a wall of gold. Meg Jones thought she had the opener in the sixth minute after a charge down, brought back after the English skipper was offside after the deflection from Desiree Miller’s kick.
Eventually, smart hands delivered points via back-rower Abi Burton after Wood was binned for a deliberate knock-down.
But the Aussies didn’t dip their heads and instead launched a counter via Faliki Pohiva. The prop rumbled over the line for the lead after Michaela Leonard’s stolen lineout on England’s five-metre line.
After strong goal-line defence, Australia had a 10-5 lead at the break, with the Red Roses trailing at half-time for the first time in seven years.
It took the 47th minute for England to take a lead that wouldn’t let go, hooker May Campbell delivering at the back of the rolling maul.
This opened the floodgates for the English as Jones gave them a lead that wouldn't let go.
Five tries in a 15-minute period quashed any hopes of a dream Australian upset, as the replacement front row of England was unstoppable, most notably returning prop Hannah Botterman.
Eva Karpani's yellow card for a deliberate knock down only made matters worse as veterans Sadia Kabeya and Lucy Packer added to the lead.
Karpani made up for her indiscretion with a late five-pointer, but it was England's second half to savour as Claudia Moloney-MacDonald iced the win.
The Wallaroos turn their attention to France next weekend, with changes likely after the brutal contest.
Flanker Lily Bone failed a HIA midway through the first half, with Pohiva among several dealing with knocks throughout the game.
"We responded so much better in that game than we did against our game against the Black Ferns, so we know we're going to be confident leading into [the] France game," Palu Sekona added.
"They're just elite; they're a Tier 1 nation for a reason. We know what to fix, but we're just going to string it along.
"We could see the glimpses in that first half. We really took it to them, and so for us it's just belief and just making sure that we can compete."
