Stunned Aussies pay tribute to Sculthorpe

Paul Sculthorpe underlined his growing reputation as the man for the big occasion with a match-winning performance to help Great Britain draw first blood in the Guinness Test Series.

The St Helens player scored two tries and also put over a couple of drop goals to secure a shock 20-12 victory over world champions Australia and put Britain within sight of their first Ashes triumph for 31 years.

Sculthorpe's man-of-the-match display, in front of an ecstatic 21,758 crowd at Huddersfield, helped atone for his biggest disappointment just 12 months earlier, when he was in the England side humiliated by New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final.

"It's the high point of my career, beating the world champions," he said.

"The World Cup was a disappointment. I only played one game and had a shocker, so it's good to come back with a performance like that at international level."

Australia captain Brad Fittler led the tributes to the 24-year-old Sculthorpe and GB captain Andy Farrell, who produced his finest performance yet in a Great Britain jersey.

"You've got to give credit to the Poms," said Fittler. "They just kept going.

"I thought Paul Sculthorpe was outstanding and Andy Farrell played really controlled footie. That's the sort of standard Australia set themselves normally. They did a 180 on us."

In taking the opening Test, Britain have emulated the feat of their 1990 and 1994 predecessors but they know the hard work will come at Bolton next Saturday, when Australia will surely not play as badly again.