England 8 Australia 30

 Darren Lockyer lined up in front of the posts for the final act of his remarkable 17-year career.

A chance to convert his own try and hammer another nail in England’s coffin in the dying embers of his last-ever appearance.

And he fluffed it, the ball ballooning horribly wide of the mark.

In normal circumstances, serious embarrassment would have reigned.

Not this time.

Lockyer, grinning from ear to ear, simply turned on a sixpence, swigged from a water bottle and laughed it off.

It said everything.

The retiring skipper’s team were 30-8 up, the Four Nations trophy was in the bag and the cigars were being passed around.

Nothing could wipe the smile off the Brisbane and Queensland star, who was winning his 59th Kangaroos cap and playing the 471st game of his career.

The final whistle then sounded to confirm Australia’s near 40-year dominance of England and Great Britain.

Not for the first time, English hopes had been reduced to rubble by Lockyer, pivotal in his side’s dominance in the final quarter.

“It was a nice try but shame about the kick,” Lockyer told the Elland Road crowd, who gave him a standing ovation.

“I’d like to thank these guys here for what we’ve achieved tonight. This was a very tough game and to win here is always tough. Now I just want to say thank you and goodbye.”

Jonathan Thurston was then asked about the tackle that threatened to remove Ryan Hall’s head from his shoulders during the first half.

Again, Thurston laughed it off.

Typically, in the final reckoning, the Aussies were all smiles.

Minutes later, Lockyer was given a rousing round of applause by the media after an emotional farewell press conference in the Radebe Suite.

He paid tribute to the British press for their positive coverage of the game and himself in the past few weeks.

True class indeed.

The contrast with the England camp was marked.

James Graham, the Canterbury-bound prop, looked close to tears.

Sky pundit Stevo brought up the old chestnut about Super League lagging way behind the NRL.

“There are far too many Australians in our competition – we should be blooding our own youngsters,” he groaned.

In for his press conference then marched Steve McNamara, a mixture of frustration and despair.

“We fell short tonight, there’s no two ways about it,” said McNamara, whose side sorely lacked the skill to unlock the Australians’ defence.

“The players are distraught and the dressing room is a really sombre place.”

England are slowly evolving under McNamara but this was the acid test and they failed as the Kangaroos claimed their sixth successive win over their hosts at Elland Road.

Second rower Sam Thaiday gave them a fourth-minute lead after good work from winger Jharal Yow Yeh and Australia had two further tries disallowed as England struggled to get a foothold in the game.

The introduction from the bench of second rower Jamie Jones-Buchanan added some pep into England’s attack and it was his half-break that set up the position for Ryan Hall to force a penalty try before the break.

A penalty from Kevin Sinfield levelled the scores at 8-8 after the break but Australia kept plugging away down England’s right side.

Yow Yeh was only just denied a try as he was bundled out by Jones-Buchanan and James Roby, but the young Brisbane wing proved unstoppable after 57 minutes, when Lockyer combined with Darius Boyd in getting the ball wide.

Four minutes later, Luke Lewis’ offload and Paul Gallen’s barging run set up Australia’s third try for Thurston, which the scrum-half converted in forging an 18-8 lead.

Greg Inglis then sauntered over unopposed, Thurston converted and with a minute remaining it was time for Lockyer to reclaim centre stage, a role he was born for.

The stand-off gathered a rebound off the post from his own kick to score before skewing the conversion.

McNamara admitted: “We killed ourselves in the last 20 minutes, it’s as simple as that.

“I think we have prepared really well throughout the whole year.

“Maybe we just didn’t work together on occasions.

“We will look at the reasons but without doubt we have improved.”

Nevertheless, the scoreline was a true reflection of the Kangaroos’ superiority, which now stretches back 39 years to Great Britain’s 1972 World Cup triumph.