Tour captain Jamie Fields gives his views following the loss to the Australian Affiliated States.
"I'm still absolutely devastated, still gutted now about it because i thought we were there. 75 minutes into the game, we were still pushing but our own mistakes again and they went in at the corner, which was a really cheap try to let in at the end of the game. It was a bitter pill to take being honest, especially working hard.
"I thought our middles were outstanding throughout the whole game, I'm still feeling shocked now, the effort we actually put into that game but our own mistakes crippled us.
"It was quite a composed performance in so many different ways and a bit of a role reversal, from our defence being really good against the Fijians and attack were quite basic, but we created every try we scored against the Aussies and defensive errors let us down so it was a strange game.
"Middle parts of it, we really took control."
Asked if the team got what they expected from the Australian side, Fields replied, "Like I've said before, they think they have a god-given right to win every rugby league game and for seventy minutes we took that away from them, and they knew they were in a game. I think they were quite surprised in how good we actually were.
"They were quite physical in collision but there was always something for us after. We could always get through that collision. In all honesty I would have thought they'd be a bit better. I wouldn't say they were leaps and bounds in front of us at all.
"It was borderline. Having spoken to a friend who knows their coach, he said they choose that team from 10,000 players, we choose from three counties of seventeen players from each side. That does soften the blow a bit knowing they have chosen from such a large pool and we've chosen from the M62 corridor and a tiny bit of England up north, so to compete with a nation like that should be marked down as an achievement, to lose out when pushing for the game by two points when pushing for the gamr to then concede a silly, cheap try, but I still can't get over how we lost it."
Despite the loss, BARLA Lions are still in with a chance of winning the tri-series with the Bati to play later today.
"They beat and then drew with the Australians so there can't be much in it. They are very unpredictable with what they do. You've got to go man-for-man marking rather than numbers, we are still in with a chance, I don't know how much we need by point difference but I think if we can go back to England with two wins out of three, it will have been a successful tour, I'm sure that Australian game will be fresh in people's minds for a good while.
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