Five tries with inferior possession has given a rust-proofed England reason to believe they can sink Australia's Four Nations hopes next weekend.
The English dodged a bullet with a thrilling 32-26 over tournament minnow Samoa at Suncorp Stadium but they have the wounded Kangaroos in their sights at Melbourne's AAMI Park.
Relieved coach Steve McNamara expected his charges to be rusty after a limited preparation and they were often their own worst enemies with poor ball control.
However, McNamara and playmaker Gareth Widdop said the tournament-opening scare would work wonders for big games ahead.
"There's definitely certain areas we need to improve and we started the game quite poorly, there was a lot of dropped ball and ill-discipline," Widdop said.
"But like I said to the boys, this was the sort of game we needed - a big tough, physical match like this to start the competition."
With the new-look Kangaroos suffering a 30-12 loss to New Zealand, an English upset would virtually end Australia's defence of the Four Nations title they won in 2011.
Of most concern to Tim Sheens would be improving his defence to nullify the creativity and precision of St George Illawarra five-eighth Widdop and rookie halfback Matty Smith - who made the most of limited attacking opportunities.
"On the back of that to manage to get five tries is certainly a positive and we will certainly have to build on that next weekend," said Widdop, also influential with six from six with the boot.
"(Smith) is a typical halfback who likes to control the game and control the structures and push the boys around which helps, it certainly allows me to play a little bit more."
Despite Australia's five-tries-to-two defeat by the Kiwis, and injury worries to Greg Inglis and Daly Cherry-Evans, England are braced for the host nation's best.
"They've got a lot of changes but they've got a lot of depth as well," Widdop said. "They're all great players and I'm certain it will be a big battle."
England have one injury concern with Super League Man of Steel Darryl Clark, who set up their first try with his first touch, in doubt after being twisted badly in a gang tackle just before halftime.
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