Australia proved to be far too strong for Scotland tonight, winning 54-12 in the opening game of the Four Nations tournament at Hull KR’s Lightstream Stadium.
They took an early grip on the game with four tries in the first 15 minutes from Blake Ferguson, two from Cooper Cronk and one from James Maloney, with Maloney adding three goals for Australia to lead 22-0 at that point, with the majority of the crowd of 5,337 fearing that the Australians could be about to register a record score.
Josh Mansour then scored a fine try on the left wing from a superb pass by man of the match Matt Moylan and Mansour scored his second after more good work by Moylan on 34 minutes to give the Kangaroos a 30-0 lead.
The Bravehearts finally started living up to their name in the latter stages of the first half, with Ryan Brierley touching down a kick to the in-goal from Danny Brough to make the interval score 30-6.
And the Scots came out for the second half determined to give a much better performance.
Josh Dugan extended the Aussies’ lead after three minutes of the second half, with Maloney converting for a 36-6 lead.
But on 58 minutes Ben Kavanagh scored a try after some great work from Adam Walker, who was frequently booed by the Hull KR supporters in the crowd, after his recent decision to leave the club to join St Helens. Brough’s goal made it 36-12.
In the final 15 minutes the Australians scored three further tries against a tiring Scotland side, with Tyson Frizell, Michael Morgan and Jake Trbojevic all touching down tries that were all converted by Maloney.
The Australians will now face New Zealand in Coventry next Saturday, while the Scots will face England, also at the Ricoh Arena.
A full report, photos and analysis will feature in Monday’s edition of League Express.