England coach Tony Smith admitted his side were punished for a number of early mistakes in their Gillette Four Nations defeat to Australia.

England trailed 26-0 at half-time at the DW Stadium after the Kangaroos powered through for five tries inside 32 minutes.

Smith's men restored respectability with a battling display that reduced the arrears to 26-16 in the second half but Australia's early dominance proved the difference.

Smith said: "We're disappointed, we left ourselves too much to do.

"Some of it was some very good play from Australia early on in the game but they exploited some areas in our team and they took advantage of some situations too.

"If you just slightly show them the door they will barge their way through it. That is what they did in the first half.

"We felt we could do a whole lot better and we showed that in the second half.

"We had a talk. We didn't like the situation we were in and we didn't like the scoreboard.

"It was either pull together and do something about it or - I don't know what the other option would have been.

"A couple of opportunities we created could have given us an even closer game towards the end. We had too much to do in too little time."

The result took Australia above England in the competition table and their hopes of progress to the final now hinge on next week's clash against New Zealand at Huddersfield.

Smith added: "There's a big incentive for us. We'd love another crack at Australia but we're up against a very good team in New Zealand this week."

Australia looked on course to repeat last year's 52-4 World Cup hammering of England as they stormed ahead with two tries from Billy Slater and other touchdowns from Darren Lockyer, Greg Inglis and Brett Morris.

But after seeing Sam Burgess, Gareth Ellis and Lee Smith reply, England captain Jamie Peacock found reason for optimism.

He said: "We can take some belief and confidence out of it.

"It's about us having a good week now and building on the performance in the second half.

"They must have had five or six chances and took them all. That's the sign of a classy team and we did well to come back out and play the way we did in the second half."

Australia coach Tim Sheens felt England gave his side a good fight after the break.

Sheens said: "I won't disrespect England by saying we took our foot off the pedal.

"There was an element of it but they are professional enough to know they can't do that.

"In the second half they rolled over the top of us. If they get the ball a big side can really worry you.

"We have only played 40 good minutes of football.

"We scrambled to get a point against the Kiwis last week and scrambled to keep them out today. We have still got work to do."

After last week's draw against New Zealand, Australia now look well on course for a place in the final in Leeds in a fortnight's time.

The Kangaroos must still face France in their last group match next week but Sheens inadvertently revealed he expects his side to be at Elland Road.

When commenting on the refereeing performance he said: "We have adjusted to it a bit better today and hopefully in two weeks' time we'll be even better again."