England were stunned in the first 40 minutes of their WXV Global Series opener at the CorpAcq Stadium on Saturday (Sunday AEST) as the Australians went in to the break with a 10-5 lead but any outlandish hopes of handing the hosts their first defeat after 38 straight victories was, almost inevitably, buried after the break.
The John Mitchell-coached world champs, initially rusty in their first outing since being crowned European grand slam champions in May and struggling to adapt to the new smaller 4.5 ball being trialled, ran in eight tries in total as their set-piece finally began to tick over to their normal high efficiency.
But Australia could be proud of their efforts, deserving their halftime lead as they controlled the breakdown and defended stoically even after being reduced to 14 for 10 minutes in the first period when halfback Samantha Wood was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.
Still, they went in to the break with the lead thanks to barnstorming prop Faliki Pohiva rumbling her way over for a try after Michaela Leonard's stolen lineout on England's five-metre line, but the world champions were hardly inconvenienced, despite their initial rustiness.
"It is an absolute joke if you are worried about being down 10-5," suggested Mitchell afterwards -- and the response of his team demonstrated they were surely never really concerned.
"More important is how we worked our way back into it."
In front of a crowd of 9,251, England did indeed begin to turn it on, with May Campbell, captain Meg Jones, Bryony Field, Mia Venner and Sadia Kabeya all crossing for tries in a 20-minute spell to add to player-of-the-match Abi Burton's first-half score.
Lucy Packer and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald also then went over, with Asoiva Karpani scoring a second for the Wallaroos late on in a show of defiance amid the hammering.
Wallaroos skipper Siokapesi Palu Sekona was proud of her "super-stoked" side's efforts, suggesting: "Unfortunately I don't think that score is a reflection of the game we produced.
"I know that we didn't finish the way we wanted to but we're going to take a lot of positives.
"That's the first time England have trailed at halftime since 2019, I believe, and so we'll take a lot of confidence.
"Against a world-class team like that we can actually give it, so for us it's about stringing it for a full 80-minute game now."
The Wallaroos travel to Marseille for their next assignment against France next weekend. Flanker Lily Bone failed a HIA midway through the first half while Palu Sekona (knee) and debutant Amelia Whitaker will both be monitored after suffering knocks.
Meanwhile, Scotland were swept aside 64-26 in Edinburgh as Canada warmed up in style for their World Cup final rematch against England in Exeter next weekend.
