Australia 52 England 4:England produced a sorry second-half display at Sydney's Telstra Dome to crash to a record defeat in their World Cup Pool A clash with Australia.
Full-back Billy Slater and centre Greg Inglis both scored hat-tricks as the Kangaroos followed up their 30-6 rout of New Zealand with an even more convincing display to strengthen their grip on the trophy.
Tony Smith's men never recovered from an appalling start in which they conceded two tries in the first nine minutes and collapsed completely in the second half.
It was England's heaviest World Cup defeat, surpassing the 49-6 thrashing by New Zealand in the 2000 semi-finals at Bolton, and Smith must hope their morale is not damaged beyond repair in time for next Saturday's final group game against the Kiwis.
England should still qualify for the knockout stages but the tournament was handed a devastating blow by today's one-sided affair.
Captain Jamie Peacock admitted England were outclassed.
"We have got a lot of work to do. We were off the pace," he told Sky Sports. "It seemed that every time they got in our 20 they scored.
"If we want to progress in this tournament we have got to be better."
