Australia stayed alive in the Four Nations rugby league tournament with a thrilling 16-12 comeback win over England in Melbourne on Sunday.
Facing the threat of missing their first major final in 60 years, the Kangaroos clawed back after trailing 12-4 at half-time and scored two converted tries in the second half.
England, who would have joined New Zealand in the final had they won, led until 17 minutes from full-time but the Kangaroos came home strongly.
“That was a real Test match,” said Kangaroos skipper Cameron Smith. “That was what international football is all about.”
The match finished controversially when the video referee disallowed a fingertip try to winger Ryan Hall in the final minute, which would have given England a winning chance with a sideline conversion.
The ball was loose over the Australian try-line and Greg Inglis desperately tried to knock it dead in goal, with Hall scrambling to get his hand on the ball.
After several replays the video referee ruled that Hall had not applied downward pressure on the ball and got the last touch — a ruling which gave Australia the ball to close out the match.
“His finger certainly looked like it was applying some pressure on the ball when it was on the ground,” said England coach Steve McNamara.
Australia coach Tim Sheens believed the match officials got the decision right.
“I wasn’t sure (about it) but the referee called no try and had it been a try, Hall would have been celebrating,” Sheens said.
“But he wasn’t. They were ready for the line dropout, the player told you really. I think we got the right decision.”
England must now beat New Zealand in Dunedin next Saturday if they are to reach the final while Australia get their chance to make the decider against Samoa in Wollongong the following day.
“I thought we played well,” McNamara said. “We really wanted to throw something at Australia and we did that in the first half.
“We were resilient and dug deep but unfortunately we couldn’t get any good ball sets in the second half, which prevented us from scoring any more points.”
The Kangaroos, rugby league’s dominant nation and long unchallenged at the top of the rankings, have not missed a major final since the 1954 World Cup.
England forwards Liam Farrell (arm wrestling tackle) and Sean O’Loughlin (tripping) both went on the referee’s report in a rugged opening before the Kangaroos scored first in the 17th minute.
Daly Cherry-Evans put Greg Bird into the clear and he passed to centre Michael Jennings, who beat three tackles to score the game’s opening try.
But England responded magnificently with two tries in the space of five minutes.
Centre Kallum Watkins scored off a Sam Tomkins pass following a long break by winger Hall.
Hall was over minutes later for his 22nd Test try after a deft pass from centre Dan Sarginson. Gareth Widdop converted both tries for a 12-4 lead at half-time.
England could have scored just before the interval but the ball went to ground off a Tomkins break.
Inglis had a try disallowed early in the second half when the video referee spotted an illegal block by Boyd Cordner on England scrum-half Matt Smith in the defensive line.
But the Kangaroos closed the gap to two points in the 57th minute when replacement Ben Hunt dived on Cameron Smith’s grubber kick to score a converted try.
The Kangaroos went ahead 16-12 six minutes later when Cherry-Evans sliced through in between tackles and sent Inglis racing over for the decisive converted try.