MELBOURNE: Australia beat England 34-14 Sunday to qualify for the final of the Four Nations rugby league tournament against New Zealand. Luke Lewis scored two tries for Australia, his first in the fifth minute. The win gave Australia a 2-0 record and a spot in the Nov. 13 final in Brisbane against New Zealand, which is also unbeaten after two games. England and Papua New Guinea are both winless after two matches. New Zealand and Australia will play for first place in the tournament standings next Saturday in Auckland as part of a doubleheader that also includes the Papua New Guinea-England match. Three of Australia's tries came directly from errors after England had taken an 8-6 lead after 15 minutes. But any hope of an upset evaporated in 13 minutes as the home side ran in four tries for a 26-8 halftime lead. Lewis gave Australia the early lead, but England replied when Sam Burgess crashed over under the posts following a James Roby pass. A Paul Gallen high tackle allowed Ben Westwood to put England ahead via a penalty goal, but that, and the arrival of rain, signaled the beginning of the end for England's chances. Darrell Goulding knocked-on inside his own half to present Lewis with an opportunity to double his try tally before opposite winger Tom Briscoe came up with a mistake off a Darren Lockyer kick to allow Billy Slater to swoop and score. Another error resulted in Brent Tate finding the line for a 20-8 lead. Willie Tonga completed the first-half onslaught when Lewis passed up on a hat trick after picking up a loose pass. Luke Robinson scored for England from 10 meters out three minutes after the restart, but the momentum didn't last long as Lote Tuqiri went over four minutes later. Australia put the margin beyond three converted tries when Cameron Smith completed the scoring with a penalty goal. England coach Steve McNamara said despite two straight losses, including a 24-10 defeat to New Zealand in its opening match, his side has a bright future. “This team has an average age of 24, the captain (James Graham) is only 25, the other starting front rower (Burgess) is only 21 and the outside backs probably only have 10 caps between them,” he said. “We came across with the sole intention of winning this competition but it's also about making ourselves a whole lot stronger for the future in international rugby and I certainly think we've made some strides forward within this tournament.”
