England suffered an 8-3 defeat at the hands of Australia on game day three at the 2022 World Lacrosse Men’s U21 World Championship in Limerick, Ireland.

England started fast and worked their way into a fantastic position early on, taking a 3-1 lead heading into the second quarter.

But Australia showed their quality as the game wore on, eventually getting themselves in front mid-way through the second quarter.

That quality, coupled with England struggling to take their chances, resulted in a tough 8-3 defeat.

There were huge positives to take from the game, however, as England dominated the early exchanges and had themselves one goal up after just 45 seconds when Elliott Bickerton was quick to pounce on a parry from the Australia goalie to finish on the crease.

And it got even better for England three and a half minutes later when Will Allsop doubled their lead after he received a perfect pass from Danny Hilditich and fired in from distance.

Despite Australia getting one back, England continued to push for more and Hilditch got a goal for himself after Bickerton fed him in from behind and he ripped it past the goalie.

England knew Australia would grow into the game and that’s exactly what they did as the second quarter wore on, eventually pulling themselves ahead with three minutes to go in the half after goals from Lucas Koczwara, Arlen Lim, and Alexander Rubins.

After such a good start, this seemed to knock the wind out of England’s sails and the game increasingly became a struggle for the boys in red.

Australia limited England to virtually nothing in front of goal in the third quarter while scoring three of their own but the fourth quarter yielded much more in the way of chances including Hilditch pinging a shot off the post.

The Australia defence and goalie stood strong, however, and they managed to see out the game and win 8-3.

England now play their final pool stage game tomorrow against Canada at 7pm BST.

England Points: Elliott Bickerton (1G 1A), Ollie Allsop (1G), Danny Hilditch (1G 1A)

Sunday 14 August Schedule (times BST)