England Under 18s had to settle for second best on Sunday after suffering an 11-3 defeat to their Australian Schools counterparts at Ballymore in Brisbane.

The match was the final test for England's young guns after a four week development tour of Australia and although England were disappointed not to have finished the tour on a high they can take some comfort from their three previous wins on Australian soil.

The wet conditions at Ballymore didn't help England's cause and certainly didn't facilitate an open game of rugby, but both teams tried to move the ball and some of the handling was very impressive.

England were on the back foot for much of the first-half but their work in the contact area kept them in touch and only a line-out infringement allowed Australia to go ahead with a penalty. That was the only score of the first half.

Signs were good for England however as the first-half drew to a close, and that continued after the restart with England pressing for much of the time. An exciting run out of defence by Cranleigh School and Harlequins wing Sebastian Stegmann, who passed to Tom Sargeant, saw Bristol and Colston's centre Luke Eves just fail to hold on to the wet ball with the try line beckoning.

England did manage to break their duck moments later with a quick tap and go by captain and Sedbergh School & Sale Sharks no. 8 Carl Fearns. The referee awarded a penalty to England which fly-half Rob Miller duly converted. Australia however replied immediately, going 6-3 ahead.

The match continued in the same vein and although replacement Jacob Rowan from Bradford Grammar School and Leeds Carnegie made some telling contributions in attack and defence England could not break through.

Instead, the tables turned for the worse for the tourists with Ivybridge Community College and Gloucester Rugby lock Dan Williams sin-binned. Moments later a crucial knock forward by England saw Australia seize on the counter attack with wing Afusipa Taumoepeau rounding off an impressive try to make the final score 11-3.

England coach Chris Kibble said: "Three wins out of four matches is an encouraging return for this exciting development camp in Australia. That said the players are really disappointed not to have completed a clean sweep. Charlie Sharples enjoyed an impressive performance whilst player of the match was Carl Fearns who has been a catalyst throughout the development camp."

England team: 1 Ben Moon (Ivybridge Community College/SWERA), 2 James Clark (London Irish), 3 James Currie (Millfield School/Bath Rugby), 4 Daniel Williams (Ivybridge Community College/Gloucester Rugby), 5 Courtney Lawes (Moulton College/Northampton Saints), 6 Calum Clark (Barnard Castle School/Leeds Carnegie), 7 Tom Sargeant (RGS Guilford/Harlequins), 8 Carl Fearns (C) (Sedbergh School/Sale Sharks), 9 Oliver Frost (Bromsgrove School/Worcester Warriors), 10 Robert Miller (Keswick School/Newcastle Falcons), 11 Charlie Sharples (St Peter's High School/Gloucester Rugby), 12 Mike Stanley (Oaklands College/Saracens), 13 Luke Eves (Colston's Collegiate School/Bristol Rugby), 14 Sebastian Stegmann (Cranleigh School/Harlequins), 15 Greg Tonks (Nottingham High School/Leicester Tigers) Replacements: 16 Joe Marler (Sussex Downs/ Harlequins), 17 Tom Collett (Wyggeston & QE 1 College/Leicester Tigers), 18 Greg Bateman (Cranleigh School/ Harlequins), 19 Jacob Rowan (Bradford Grammar School/Leeds Carnegie), 20 Alex Gray (Barnard Castle School/Newcastle Falcons), 21 Daniel White (Hymers College/Leeds Carnegie), 22 Rory Clegg (Barnard Castle School/Newcastle Falcons), 23 Tom Casson (Sedbergh School/Sale Sharks), 24 Ben Williams (Bryanston School/Bath Rugby), 25 Henry Trinder (Hartpury College/Gloucester Rugby), 26 Jack Wallace (Aylesbury Grammar School/London Wasps)