'We had to change after Vegas' - but England suffer another humbling

It was not meant to finish this way. Again.

The thinking was that a dynamic new-look England side could get much closer to Australia than the group that fell to a record 90-4 defeat in Las Vegas in March 2025.

After all, they had shown positive signs in attack when posting a 70-6 win over Wales in their opening World Cup match just seven days ago.

However, on a warm Saturday evening in Perth, England's women suffered another humbling experience as they were comprehensively dismantled by a ruthless Australia side, who underlined their credentials as they bid for a fourth consecutive crown.

The NRLW - the fully professional women's competition in Australia - labelled the 78-0 scoreline an "annihilation" in a post on X, and even the most optimistic England fan would struggle to disagree.

However, while England's struggles began with two major errors from kick-offs and were further compounded by an escalating penalty count, head coach Stuart Barrow insisted that this had an altogether different feel to the debacle in Nevada that had prompted a seismic shift in thinking around squad selection in the build up to this tournament.

"We had to change after Vegas. We might as well bring it up," Barrow said.

"We made a lot of changes to bring a young group in and this young group is going to keep developing and that's a good learning curve for them.

"We can't start a game against the world champions like that, with two errors from two kick-off sets. It takes all the words and enthusiasm you've had in the dressing room straight out of you.

"It's really disappointing when you see a score like that. You can't be happy with it, in any way, shape or form but it felt different."

Barrow has placed an emphasis on developing young talent. Post-match, he referenced the DiSE programme, which started in 2019 to provide a pathway for young players to develop after leaving high school.

In his 17-player squad to face Australia, he named 11 players aged 23 or under - including the all-Wigan half-back pairing of Isabel Rowe and Jenna Foubister, both 19.

"We are here to compete, but with a group like this we are hopefully bleeding them in for the 2030 World Cup," Barrow added.

"There are a lot of 19, 20 and 21-year-olds in our group, who are going to gain a load of experience from this.

"Our aim is to give them every experience we can to make them better for the future."

In contrast, Jess Skinner's Australia only had two players below the age of 25 in their 17 and had an average age of almost 28.

And the greater experience, power and pace of the seasoned professionals told against England, who only fielded three NRLW players, and have a squad largely comprised of players who have full-time occupations away from the sport.

"When they get on a roll like that I don't think any team in the world can compete with them," Barrow added. "They are just too quick, too skilful and too fast for our girls at that stage.

"They don't face that week in, week out. So when it comes at them quickly, it can be a shock to the system but they will learn from it. I thought they competed and tried in the second half but we never had the ball."