Johns runs riot as Lions suffer Test humiliation

Australia 64 Great Britain 1

Great Britain slumped to the heaviest defeat of their Test history here yesterday in a mismatch that will surely spell the end of the short-lived experiment of trying to take on the world's best on a hit-and-run visit.

The Lions refused to blame jet lag for their inept performance, but they played like men stranded in a different time zone for much of an evening that verged on the embarrassing.

With Andrew Johns controlling play throughout, the hapless visitors conceded six tries in a nightmarish 21 minutes of the first half. Although there was a brief flurry of resistance after the break, Australia simply stepped up the pace to score four more in quick time and hammer home their overwhelming superiority.

Australia's 64 points beat the 50 they ran up at Swinton in Britain's previous darkest hour back in 1963. The margin was the biggest in the history of Ashes rivalry and Johns equalled the record of 10 goals in an Anglo-Australian encounter.

The only black mark for the dominant Green and Golds was the sight of their outstanding stand-off, Trent Barrett, being taken off on a stretcher in a neck-brace for a hospital examination on a possible spinal injury after mistiming a tackle on Martin Gleeson late in the game. It was the only time an Australian was in any discomfort.

For the first 12 minutes, it was not too bad. Great Britain made their tackles and ran the ball up solidly enough. But then Barrett made a break from deep and, although Great Britain scrambled successfully to prevent Darren Lockyer or Lote Tuqiri scoring, they were on the back foot for the rest of the half.

Australia built up the pressure and scored the first of their 11 tries when Chris McKenna picked up Scott Hill's low pass to touchdown in the corner. Straight from the kick-off, they scored again, Hill somehow squeezing in on the opposite touchline.

Johns, living up to his billing as the best player in the world, now began to run riot, slipping passes for Lockyer and Willie Mason to go over – Mason within minutes of coming on for his debut.

His powerful run and Lockyer's inside pass gave Hill his second, before Barrett's pass left the defence shrugging and looking at each other accusingly as Gorden Tallis went in.

The worst half Great Britain have endured in rugby league history had ended, but Shaun Timmins went through a tackle from the injured Paul Johnson to start the second half.

Johnson was one of three British players, Keiron Cunningham and Kris Radlinski the others, who finished the game on the sideline through injuries.

The best that could be said of Great Britain was that they briefly created an illusion of a resurgence. Karl Pratt celebrated his debut, if celebrated is the right word, by taking a pass from Andy Farrell that looked suspiciously forward to put his side on the scoreboard.

Paul Sculthorpe then strode through, selling a dummy and putting his pass inside for Kevin Sinfield to score.

Not a single person among the 31,844 at Aussie Stadium expected that to mark a turning point. Danny Buderus, Tuqiri, Timana Tahu and Lockyer, with four tries in 10 minutes ensured that it would not.

"We were given a football lesson,'' admitted Great Britain's Australian-born coach, David Waite, whose side had been so ruthlessly dismantled by his fellow countrymen.

Farrell refused to blame the restricted preparation time for the side's dismal display. "We were over our jet lag in a couple of days,'' he said. "We just met a side that blew us away.''

For sympathy, Great Britain had to turn to the Australian coach, Chris Anderson, who despite his justifiable satisfaction at the sumptuous rugby his side had played, would have preferred a more challenging contest. That will mean a rethink about the feasibility of flying an international team across the world to play a game a few days later.

"If we're going to do it, we need to give both sides a chance of a decent preparation," he said. "We need to play each other on a level playing field.''

This one was anything but level, but that was only partly explained by the visitors' short turnaround. The other factor that was all too obvious was that Australia's skills are as far superior as they have ever been.

Any plans to put them off their game by roughing them up were stillborn, because for the key phases of the game, especially that ruinous spell in the first half, the Lions' lethargic day-trippers could not lay hands upon them.

Australia 64

Tries: McKenna, Hill 2, Lockyer 2, Mason, Tallis, Timmins, Buderus, Tuqiri, Tahu. Goals: Johns 10

Great Britain 10

Tries: Pratt, Sinfield. Goal: Sculthorpe

Half time: 34-0 Attendance: 31,844

AUSTRALIA: Lockyer; Tuqiri (both Brisbane), Timmins (St George-Illawarra), McKenna (Cronulla), Tahu (Newcastle); Barrett (St George-Illawarra), Johns (Newcastle); Webcke (Brisbane), Buderus (Newcastle), Ryles (St George-Illawarra), Tallis (Brisbane), Simpson (Newcastle), Hill (Melbourne). Substitutes used: Tate (Brisbane), Mason (Canterbury), Menzies (Northern Eagles), Stevens (Cronulla).

GREAT BRITAIN: Radlinski; Johnson (both Wigan), Wellens (St Helens), Senior, Pratt (both Leeds); Sculthorpe (St Helens), Sheridan (Leeds); O'Connor (Wigan), Cunningham (St Helens), McDermott (Leeds), Peacock, Fielden (both Bradford), Farrell (Wigan). Substitutes used: Joynt, Gleeson (both St Helens), Newton (Wigan), Sinfield (Leeds).

Referee: R Smith (England).