June 12 (Bloomberg) -- England's third-biggest defeat in rugby Tests against Australia exposed a lack of ruthlessness that needs fixing if the world champion is to successfully defend its title next year, players and coaches said.

England wasted several try-scoring chances in yesterday's 34- 3 loss in Sydney as the Wallabies crossed the line three times in the second half to give John Connolly a winning start as coach and hand the English a fourth straight defeat.

``The game's about getting over the try line and the opportunities we created we bombed straight away,'' England coach Andy Robinson said at a news conference. ``We have to learn to be more ruthless. When we had the ball and we were running the ball, we were sloppy.''

Last night's match marked England's return to Telstra Stadium after beating Australia there to win its first world championship in 2003. Since that victory, England has won just three Tests away from home and finished third, fourth and fourth in Europe's annual Six Nations tournament. France hosts next year's World Cup.

Tom Varndell, making his first Test start, twice kicked the ball away yesterday and threw a pass over fellow winger Tom Voyce's head in the first half. Captain Pat Sanderson also broke the line before throwing a long pass that was intercepted.

England's best chance came when fly-half Olly Barkley chipped ahead for full-back Iain Balshaw, whom the video referee adjudged to have been held up by Wallabies skipper George Gregan as he tried to ground the ball over the try line.

`Be Merciless'

``Our attack at times was great but we have to do it for 80 minutes and be merciless in the way we do it,'' Sanderson said. ``At this level the opportunities are few and far between. If you get three you must take three. I think that was the difference between the sides.''

Australia's three-try haul was more than England had managed in losing its last four games. England scored two tries against Ireland in March after failing to breach the defenses of Scotland and France.

Full-back Chris Latham angled a run to score the first try in the 54th minute and put Australia 17-3 up. Winger Mark Gerrard and rookie prop Rodney Blake added tries in the last eight minutes for Australia's third-biggest win over England after a 76-0 victory in 1998 and 51-15 triumph two years ago.

Australia, world champion in 1991 and 1999, has begun a new era after losing eight of its last nine Tests in 2005.

The streak, combined with a decline in forward play that saw the Wallabies overpowered by France and England in November, resulted in the firing of coach Eddie Jones and the appointment of Connolly as his successor.

Pack Shuffle

``There were more pluses than minuses,'' Connolly told reporters. ``You're never happy, but now we know where we stand. We can improve across the board considerably.''

Connolly, nicknamed Knuckles because of his uncompromising approach, gambled on Australia's most inexperienced front row in 23 years. Blake and hooker Tai McIssac made their debuts alongside Greg Holmes, who was playing his fourth Test.

He also paired Rocky Elsom and Daniel Heenan, who are both 6- foot-4 and weigh more than 235 pounds, in the back row for the first time. No. 8 Elsom was named man of the match. Gregan said the new-look forward pack ``did really well'' in what was a ``fierce contest.''

``It was a starting point,'' Gregan said after tying Jason Leonard's world record of 119 Tests. ``We've got something to work off.''

The teams meet again in five days' time at Melbourne's Telstra Dome. Connolly said he plans to make changes as Australia seeks to regain the Cook Cup following the 26-16 loss at Twickenham seven months ago.

``We've got some ideas what we would like to do next weekend,'' Connolly added. ``These are incredibly important Tests for us to broaden our squad. We are very conscious with the World Cup next year of building a strong squad.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Baynes at Telstra Stadium, Sydney dbaynes@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 12, 2006 00:37 EDT