The coach of the national Rugby League side, Tony Smith, has spoken of his embarrassment at England’s record World Cup defeat.

Defending champions Australia humbled England during the match at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne, winning 52-4. The Kangaroos managed to score an impressive total of nine tries, with Greg Inglis and Billy Slater both scoring fantastic hat-tricks.

Tony Smith has stated that England have been left feeling hurt and embarrassed and he believes the team needs to improve quickly.

Smith was quick to praise the Australian team, stating that the “speed” of their “exciting players” made a difference during the match. However, although nobody can deny the quality inherent in the Australian national side, England should simply have put in a more competent performance and should have had the ability to stem the flow of the Australian attack.

The coach believes that the team will not suffer psychologically from this potentially morale-damaging defeat. Rather, Smith believes that the match has brought the team together.

Furthermore, he was keen to point out that he had managed to take some positives from the experience. Smith was impressed by certain periods of the first half and revealed that at half-time there was a real belief in the dressing room that the match was not yet over.

Unfortunately for England fans, the players could not raise their game and Australia went on to set a record which beat the previous one set by New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2000 tournament.

England are set to face the Kiwis at the weekend and will hope to have put their disappointment and embarrassment firmly behind them.