Nathan Collins led England to victory in the opening match of the Wheelchair Ashes Series after the world champions came from behind in the second half to win 56-28.

The Wheelaroos took a 28-26 lead when Corey Cannane scored a brilliant long-range try midway through the second half of the Test at Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre on Thursday night.

However, England responded impressively with five unanswered tries in the last 23 minutes, two of them to the Halifax Panthers flyer Rob Hawkins who ended with a hat-trick and also landed four conversions for a personal tally of 20 points.

England started the match as they finished, and raced away to a 16-0 lead in the opening minutes before Australia had even touched the ball, with Collins, Hawkins and Joe Coyd scoring early tries.

When the Wheelaroos finally got possession they hit back almost immediately through Zac Schumacher, who converted his own try.

Captain Lewis King put England further ahead but a try by Gold Coast's Daniel Anstey just before halftime kept the Wheelaroos within range, trailing 22-12 at the break.

Australia came out of the blocks much stronger in the second half, with Schumacher, who plays for Brothers Townsville, scoring his second try in the opening minute.

A brilliant individual try by Cannane levelled the scores after he dummied and split the defence before racing away to score.

Schumacher’s conversion put the Wheelaroos ahead for the first time in the match but their lead was shortlived.

Collins, who had opened the scoring in the second minute, played the key role in re-establishing England’s lead with a classy pass which sent London Roosters wing Mason Billington clear down the left.

The Leeds Rhinos pivot converted from wide out, his fourth successful kick of the day to take his own tally to 16 points, and nine minutes later a brilliant piece of play from Jack Brown sent his Halifax club team-mate and Test debutant Finlay O’Neill over for a try his performance richly deserved.

Hawkins’ first conversion extended England’s lead to 38-28 and Seb Bechara, who like Brown made a major impression off the interchange bench, then surged clear down the right for the eighth England try which secured the win.

Hawkins rounded things off in style with his second and third tries in the last three minutes - one from a slick handling move, the other a thrilling dash from halfway.

Despite the loss, Schumacher said the Australian team were happy with the improvement they had shown since losing to England at London's Copperbox Arena in the opening match of the last World Cup.

England went on to win the World Cup against France in a tense final in Manchester that attracted 1.3m viewers on the BBC.

"We didn't get the result but we were pretty happy with the game overall," Schumacher said. "We will go back and do some recovery and analyse what we can improve and what we did wrong."