Australia boss Tim Sheens has admitted that his side were caught by surprise by England's strong start during Saturday's World Cup opener in Cardiff.
The tournament co-hosts made at storming start at the Millennium Stadium, with Ryan Hall and Leroy Cudjoe touching down to earn a 10-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes.
However, the nine-time world champions battled back to secure a 28-20 victory thanks to tries from Johnathan Thurston, Greg Bird, Billy Slater, Brett Morris and Darius Boyd.
"I won't take away from the English performance," Sheens told reporters. "They came out aggressively and scored from their first appearance near our line.
"England scored early, which probably rocked us a bit. We had two or three fundamental errors in our own half, which you just can't afford in Test matches.
"To the credit of the guys we fought back and ended up leading at half-time. Then we got a good start to second-half, but maybe clock-watched a little towards the back end."
Next up for Australia is a clash with Fiji at Langtree Park on Friday.
Robert Summerscales
