Jonathan Thurston of Australia scores. Source: Michael Steele / Getty Images
SUPERSTAR five-eighth Johnathan Thursrton inspired Australia to an impressive but hard-fought 28-20 victory over England in the World Cup opener at Millennium Stadium.
With the roof closed at the famous Cardiff stadium, the tournament kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony followed by an entertaining match that saw nine tries scored all up and England put up a brave fight.
Thurston starred for the Kangaroos, playing a hand in two tries and scoring another while giant prop Andrew Fifita had a memorable debut off the bench as he lifted Australia after a slow start with his damaging runs.
England's loss could be made worse with Sam Burgess on report for an ugly second half swinging arm that left Sam Thaiday flat on his back.
The Kangaroos were up 18-10 at halftime but not before a nervous start as England raced to a surprise 10-0 after 20 minutes.
In the wake of England's tumultuous build-up that saw Gareth Hock sent home and James Graham stood down, coach Steve McNamara went into the match with all three Burgess brothers in his 17-man squad and in the opening stages Sam and George led the fight from the front.
England's superstar fullback Sam Tomkins laid on the first try for Ryan Hall with a wonderful cut out pass in the 7th minute and they were unlucky not to go further ahead after George Burgess bulldozed through five defenders but lost control as he reached out.
Leroy Cudjoe then turned an average Kevin Sinfield kick into a spectacular touchdown when he jumped between Brett Morris and Brent Tate to open up a surprise 10-0 lead.
But in desperate need of a spark Greg Inglis came up with the big play that turned the game.
Following through on a Cooper Cronk kick Inglis snatched possession off Tomkins and then offloaded a terrific ball for Thurston to score untouched.
And from that the Australians came charging with two tries in the five minutes counting down to the break.
Thurston sent Greg Bird over with a well-timed pass in the 36th minute and just before halftime Billy Slater raced 55 metres to score Australia's third try and claim an 18-10 lead.
A controversial call went against England when Joshua Charnley ruled to put a foot into touch but Australia capitalised when Brett Morris crossed to make it 22-10.
George Burgess crashed over for a crucial try to reduce the gap to 22-16 after 51 minutes.
But with the match in the balance Thurston landed a penalty goal to push the margin out to eight points before he laid the platform for another try when Darius Boyd crossed out wide.
To their credit England never stopped fighting and a late try to Charnley made it 28-20 at fulltime.
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