Jillaroos thrash England 78-0 in Perth

Australia's Jillaroos beat England 78-0 in the Women's Rugby League World Cup on Saturday, scoring 15 tries without reply. The Guardian reported the result from HBF Park in Perth.

In rugby league, a try is scored by grounding the ball over the opponent's try line, and it is worth four points. Australia scored plenty of them, and the gap was already huge at the break. They led 36-0 at half-time.

The match was a Pool A fixture. Pool matches are the group-stage games that decide which teams move on, and this one was a big test for both sides. England had not beaten Australia in four previous meetings before Saturday's game.

England now face Samoa the following week, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, according to the Guardian. That makes the loss a hard one to bounce back from quickly. Their squad will need to reset fast.

The Jillaroos had opened their campaign with a win over Samoa, as ABC News reported last week. They went into the tournament as favourites to win a fourth straight Rugby League World Cup. Saturday's result will do little to dent that status.

Fans who made the trip to Perth paid as little as $19 for a ticket, the Jillaroos said in a pre-match post. The same venue also staged the men's England v France game on the programme that day, so the stadium hosted two international rugby league matches in one afternoon.

For newcomers, the key point is simple. Australia were the stronger side from the start, and England struggled to hold possession and stop the scoring. Rugby league is a game of repeated sets of six tackles, where a team that loses the ball must hand it over. When a side keeps gaining ground, every set counts, and Australia kept finding their way over the line.

England's next match will show whether they can respond. For Australia, the attention now turns to the rest of the pool and the knockout rounds ahead.