League: Australia bravely win in tough conditions

Australia's Matt Cooper dives over the line to score a try during the Tri-Nations match between Great Britain and Australia. Alex Livesey / Getty Images

MANCHESTER, England - Australia has bravely held on for a 20-6 Tri Nations win over Great Britain in atrocious conditions at JJB Stadium this morning (NZT).

The Kangaroos led 8-0 at halftime and despite an Adrian Morley inspired second half comeback, the Australians lifted with two tries in the final five minutes to seal the match and perhaps a final against New Zealand.

The Kangaroos and Kiwis each have two wins already this series and Great Britain must win both of its last two games by considerable margins to sneak into the final on for-and-against.

Great Britain faces New Zealand next week while the Kangaroos play a friendly Test match against France.

St George Illawarra centre Matt Cooper was the star for the Kangaroos with two four-pointers while fullback Anthony Minichiello scored the other.

Cooper ran 80m untouched in the 18th minute after plucking a speculative Keiron Cunningham pass out of the air.

His second try came in the 78th minute after superb ball work from the Kangaroos in wet weather.

Minichiello's try in the 75th minute had sealed the result after he ran onto a Darren Lockyer inside ball, with Craig Fitzgibbon's conversion putting the score out to 14-6.

Sydney Roosters prop Morley had earlier done his best to lift his side with a barnstorming try in the 48th minute.

He powered onto a short ball and spun through soft Kangaroos defence to score next to the posts to make the scoreline 8-4.

The try will go towards erasing Morley's horror 2003 JJB Stadium blunder when he was sent off after 12 seconds for a high tackle.

Australia was unlucky not to have won by more with at least two try-scoring opportunities butchered midway through the final term by dropped ball.

Mark Gasnier coughed it up in the 58th minute when he had just the fullback to beat and winger Matt King in support and then two minutes later Gasnier's pass was dropped by Luke O'Donnell who was accidentally tripped by Cunningham.

Brent Tate could have scored Australia's second length-of-the-field try in the 32nd minute after a sensational grab from a high cross-field bomb.

Tate landed on his feet and had motored into clear space with 70m left to the line when Morley made a superb try-saving tackle.

- AAP