UNDER 18 TEST MATCH

Dave Elliott's England Academy side registered an impressive win against their illustrious opponents on a frozen Saturday afternoon in Leigh. The match, originally scheduled for Cumbria, had to be moved south due to the big chill in the north-west county.

England's prolific halfbacks proved Australia's undoing, with Wigan scrum half Sam Powell scoring two tries and his Warrington partner, Gareth O'Brien, perfect on seven goal attempts.

The Australians kicked off in below zero conditions and with light rain falling. Two consecutive penalties to England saw them marched down field, resulting in a converted try in the corner after 2 minutes. During the next 20 minutes England dominated possession through a string of penalties, 8-1 after 17 minutes. The sin binning of Chad Redman in the 16th minute for raking the ball out in a tackle put the Australians under further pressure. However, in the 26th minute Trent Jennings with good footwork scored in the corner converted by Anthony Gadd to even the score at 6-6. By the 38^th minute both teams had scored converted tries to go to the break at 12-12. Just before the break David Klemmer was also sin binned for back chatting the referee.

Australia began the second half with two quick converted tries to Chad Redman and Jack Wighton to lead 24-12. In the 17^th minute, the England half swooped on a dropped ball to score beside the posts. Australia then jumped to a 12 point lead in the 24^th minute, when Paul Carter scored under the posts after a great pass from Harry Siejka, score 30-18. In the next few minutes Australia conceded two tries to take the score line to Australia 30-28. Then a penalty to England and a further 10 metres for back chatting, presented the opportunity for England to level the scores 30-30 with 5 minutes left on the clock. Loose ball on the Australian line after a kick through saw England take advantage and score a converted try to take the lead 36-30. Successive penalties led to an England penalty goal, taking the final score line to England 38 Australia 30.

Pictured: Warrington stand-off Gareth O'Brien kicked a perfect seven goals.

ENGLAND ACADEMY
Matthew Russell, Ryan King, Jordan Thompson,  Rhys Evans,  Reece Lyne, Gareth O'Brien, Sam Powell, George Burgess, Adam Milner (Capt),  Ben Evans, Danny Bridge, Jack Hughes, James Laithwaite. Subs: Adam O'Brien, Jared Stewart, Greg Burke, Matthew Sarsfield

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLBOYS
Henare Wells, Jacon Gagan, Tautau Moga , Trent Jennings, David Nofoaluma, Jack Wighton, Harry Siejka, Chris Grevsmuhl, Chad Redman, Matthew Groat, Lachlan Burr, Vaipuna Tia Kilifi, Paul Carter (C). Subs: Gerard McCallum, Michael Chee-Kam, Anthony Gadd, David Klemmer