Australia will use skills rather than strength to try to match England’s big-bopping Burgess twins in Sunday’s must-win Four Nations rugby league clash in Melbourne.

Australia were out-muscled by New Zealand’s big forward pack in their 30-12 loss in Brisbane on Saturday.

With the likes of giant brothers George and Tom Burgess, Joel Tomkins and James Graham in the English pack, Australia are bracing for another brutal exchange.

But Kangaroos lock Greg Bird felt his team contributed to New Zealand’s dominance with poor ball control giving their opponents too much momentum.

“New Zealand did hurt us in the middle but that comes from giving them possession as well,” Bird said.

“I’ve got confidence in my team that we can arm-wrestle a team out of the game.

“Against New Zealand we couldn’t get in that arm wrestle because we kept coughing up possession in our end.”

Bird said losing five-eighth Daley Cherry-Evans to a hip injury and fullback Greg Inglis because of a virus didn’t help in the back end of the game.

“With the extra couple of injuries that we did have, a few of the guys were quite gassed there in the second half and I think it showed with the ease they were running through our middle,” Bird said.

Inglis appeared at a schools league tournament in Melbourne on Tuesday and looked to be back to full health.

Still troubled by the hip complaint Cherry-Evans, left the Kangaroos camp on Monday night to fly back to Sydney for the birth of his second child, with officials unsure when he would return.

While Bird is fully aware of the ability of the Burgess brothers and Canterbury’s Graham, he said there were a number of players in the England pack who were a mystery.

“There is a lot of new faces in that English team … I’m sure we’ll do a full review from their Samoa game,” Bird said.

The Kangaroos, who haven’t lost to England since 2006, must win to remain alive in the tournament.