Rugby story by Gareth Bowman, Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:20:00 GMT


Great Britain lost a closely fought match against Australia as their hopes of progressing further in the Gillette Tri-Nations Cup suffered a serious setback. An early interception by Matt Cooper set the tone for the Aussies who went 8-0 up at half time.

The Lions fought back gamely though in what were less than ideal conditions at Wigan's JJB Stadium. But a costly error by Paul Deacon, a scrumhalf who was nowhere near the top of his game ultimately put paid to Britain's hopes of challenging the Kangaroos. After 70 minutes of hard fought Rugby, the score read 8-6 and the match hung by a thread before Matt Cooper put paid to any hopes of a close clincher. Anthony Minichiello ran through the British ranks and scored to put the final nail in the coffin.

"Those couple of soft tries might come back and bite us on the backside later in the tournament," admitted Brian Noble, Great Britain's coach. However the attitude of the Lions was more than aggressive and was a welcome change from the one, which saw them, go down to New Zealand 26-42.

Manchester United's captain Roy Keane, who was watching from the stands along with his children, would have had no complaints in this regard! Kevin Sinfield and Stuart Fielden played exceptionally and captain Brian Carney regained confidence after a disastrous outing against the Kiwis.

But Deacon and Harris appear to be struggling and Noble would be forced to take a long hard look at them as the Lions must regain lost confidence over the next two Saturdays.

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