Peacock sees the positives

England found themselves 26-0 down at the break  but scored 16 unanswered points after the break to give them hope for this weekend's do or die clash with New Zealand at Galpharm Stadium.

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."