IN the 47th minute of Saturday’s Test at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, George Williams gave a pass that went behind Tom Johnstone and as the England winger tried to recover the ball it went into touch.

At the time the score was 4-4 after England had dominated much of the first half without being able to score a try.

However, with that misdirected pass by the England captain, I turned to the person sitting next to me in the press box.

“I think that’s the turning point,” I said.

It seemed to me that a crucial mistake would rebound on England – as it did.

It was an unforced error and the Australians have a record of exploiting our errors far more clinically than we seem to be capable of exploiting theirs.

Sure enough, approximately one minute later Cameron Munster was touching down for Australia’s first try to take the score to 8-4.

It was a four-point gap, but it felt like a much bigger one.

Five minutes later, Hudson Young scored their second try after a Nathan Cleary bomb was knocked forward out of Johnstone’s arms into Young and he had a clear run to the line. Cleary’s conversion completed the scoring.

Even though there was 25 minutes remaining, it didn’t look as though England could close the gap, even when Reece Walsh was sinbinned in the 66th minute.

Without Walsh, Australia still looked more likely to add to their score, despite Mikey Lewis coming late into the game.

Williams gave another difficult pass to Johnstone when he was right on the touchline surrounded by Australian defenders.

And then England were saved further embarrassment by try-saving tackles by Jake Wardle on Hudson Young following a Cleary break and one by Herbie Farnworth on Josh Addo-Carr.

It was an immensely disappointing second half after England had competed every inch of the way in the first half, without ever being able to get over the line.

England coach Shaun Wane, who wears his heart on his sleeve, was naturally devastated by the result and he now faces the problem of how to select a side that can restore some glory at Headingley on Saturday.

The question in my mind is whether he will drop his captain for a starting halfback partnership of Mikey Lewis and Harry Smith.

George hasn’t had a great year at Warrington and his moderate club form has carried over into the Ashes series.

I suspect that a halfback combination of Lewis and Smith, with AJ Brimson at fullback and Jez Litten at hooker, would be more capable of unlocking the Australian defence than anything we have seen so far in this series.

It obviously isn’t easy for a coach to drop his captain for a crucial Test match and I wouldn’t expect Shaun to do so without seriously pondering his best combination.

But he did say that he would be making some changes and I can’t think of any change he could make that would have a bigger impact.

It won’t necessarily transform our fortunes, but then again it might.

I think it’s worth the risk.

For example, what would we give for some of the attacking brilliance we’ve seen in the Pacific Cup this year?

The Kiwis and Tongans seemed to be playing a different, high-speed version of the game on Sunday in front of a passionate and mainly Tongan crowd in Auckland.

We desperately need some of that attacking flair at Headingley on Saturday.

I would love to know how many people in the crowd at Everton on Saturday were established Rugby League fans and how many of them were taking in their first game, perhaps as a chance to see the newly-built Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The venue was a great one for Rugby League, despite the faint pitch markings.

The stands had a very steep gradient, as I discovered when climbing up to the press box, which was at the very top of the stand. But it was still a great view of the game.

And the stadium staff couldn’t have been more helpful.

I hope they will welcome us back there for another major game at some point in the future.