England’s bid to win the rugby league Ashes for the first time in more than half a century was dealt a sobering blow following a 26-6 defeat by Australia at Wembley.

In the opening match of the three-Test series, Reece Walsh scored the first of four Australia tries after 22 minutes. Angus Crichton crossed over shortly after half-time before he completed his brace with 15 minutes left.

The impressive Walsh then landed his second try in the closing stages, while Nathan Cleary converted four conversions and one penalty.

Daryl Clark’s converted try in the 76th minute provided nothing more than a consolation for England on a dominant afternoon for the Kangaroos.

The two teams will lock horns again at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium next Saturday before the concluding fixture in Headingley on November 8.

Shaun Wane’s side headed into Saturday’s fixture with the weight of history heavily stacked against them.

The last time a British team won the Ashes was in 1970, and in the previous series, 22 years ago, Australia dealt Great Britain a 3-0 defeat.

Australia, the double defending world champions, last lost to a British side in 2006. And on the previous occasion England played in London, at the Emirates Stadium in 2022, they suffered an agonising 27-26 defeat to Samoa, which denied them a place in the World Cup final.

Here, captain George Williams was partnered at half-back by Mikey Lewis, following his brilliant treble-winning season with Hull KR, while Australian head coach Kevin Walters handed debuts to Walsh, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Gehamat Shibasaki.

And it was Walsh who delivered the first try midway through what had been a cagey first half. Lewis appeared to be caught out of position as Australia moved the ball back inside with Nawaqanitawase playing in Walsh and the new man making no mistake.

Video referee Jack Smith was tasked with seeing if Lewis had been unfairly taken out by Jake Wardle in the build-up. But the try stood, Cleary delivered the additional two points, and the visitors were six points up.

A second try looked inevitable with England defensively on the ropes – a scrambling Herbie Farnworth saving the home side – but a chance arrived for England when Williams ran with the ball on the fifth tackle before finding Wardle only for Walsh to keep Australia’s advantage in tact with a knock on.

The visitors had a second try through Crichton ruled out after Dom Young was taken out under the high ball by Josh Addo-Carr. But on the stroke of half-time, Jez Litten tackled a ball-less Walsh and Cleary kicked the penalty to extend Australia’s advantage to eight points.

The second half was fewer than five minutes old when that margin increased to 12 points. Crichton was afforded far too much space and crossed over from 20 metres out before Cleary took his personal points tally for the afternoon to six.

England were in desperate need of a response, but growing weary, they rarely looked like providing one, and with a quarter of an hour remaining, Crichton landed his second try and Cleary retained his 100 per cent record with the boot to leave England down and out.

Walsh then added to the hosts’ misery with a brilliant breakway try as he skipped over unopposed with eight minutes left capping a fine man-of-the-match display. England avoided a whitewash when Clark crossed over with four minutes to go but it was too little to late.

The only negative for the touring team came after captain Isaah Yeo failed a head injury assessment following an early collision with Young which rules him out of the next match.