England's new-look attack starring wingers Leon Lloyd and Dan Luger scored three of the team's five tries in a high-scoring warm-up at Ballymore that glossed over the obvious shortcomings among the forwards.
With the centenary Test against Australia just five days away, England have much work to do in scrum and line-out, notwithstanding the pace and finishing power that killed off Queensland before the interval.
Lloyd (21) may have to give way to David Rees when the Test side is announced on Wednesday, but England have found an exciting new talent who is bound to make a strong claim for a World Cup place. The Leicester wing celebrated his England debut with two sparkling tries which, together with a long-range score by Luger, provided England with the healthy cushion they needed to see off a second-half fight-back by Queensland.
It would be easy to dwell upon England's flaws instead of applauding the achievement of a rather ring-rusty side in keeping the scoreboard ticking over. True, Queensland may have been lacking 10 Test players who were on duty against Ireland, yet every man they selected had taken part in this year's Super 12, a competition that probably is of a higher standard than the Five Nations. Clive Woodward, the England coach, was grateful that his side had not come a cropper on the potential banana skin that Queensland's well-drilled team represented.
"We were on a hiding to nothing against a good side that dominated territory but we came through it well," he said. "We hadn't played a match for more than two months since losing to Wales, so it was pleasing to see the guys keep their focus and get two more tries in the second half."
Given the 25-point margin of victory it was a bit mischievous of the Queensland coach John Connolly to criticise "three areas of weakness" (which he did not identify) in England's performance, although Woodward will certainly be looking for more fire and precision from his pack in this week's squad sessions.
Significantly, the captain Martin Johnson hinted that his lineout forwards had performed in second gear, remarking "we didn't want to give too much away".
Despite perhaps not giving much away, Woodward happily settled for the win, no doubt recalling that his below-strength England side lost 76-0 to Australia in Brisbane a year ago. It was also the ideal outing for Jonny Wilkinson, who shared the out-half role with Mike Catt. Catt started at inside centre but frequently worked in tandem with scrum-half Kyran Bracken.
England will probably face their stiffest challenge in the Test in the backrow, where the absence of Lawrence Dallaglio could not be papered over despite a solid display in defence by the number eight Martin Corry.
