The Kangaroos need only to beat France in Paris on Sunday to confirm a berth in the November 14 final at Elland Road, a task which would appear a formality after New Zealand trounced it 62-12 in Toulouse yesterday.

Australia turned on one of the most blistering 40 minutes seen by a team wearing the green and gold in the opening half, with the score 26-0 at the break.

England rallied after the break to close within 10 points with seven minutes on the clock, but even with the Kangaroos having only 12 players on the field after repeated infringements from Johnathan Thurston saw the halfback sin-binned, the home side was unable to get any closer.

Sheens lamented the poor second-half display, which he said undid many of the positives generated by the first-half showing when man of the match Greg Inglis ripped the England defence to shreds.

''I wasn't surprised that they'd [England] respond but, certainly, I was disappointed. We wanted to keep them to no points and they kept us from scoring points,'' he said.

''That's a worry. We've only played 40 good minutes of football and we've scrambled last week against the Kiwis to get a point and we scrambled to keep them out today.

''We've still got some work to do. We were playing for our country. You don't just go and lose your concentration and not keep the intensity up.'' AAP