Scott Taylor admits he’s sweating on his selection for England’s crunch clash with Australia as coach Wayne Bennett threatens to wield the axe.

Bennett made clear his displeasure with his side’s performance in the 38-12 win over minnows Scotland, which leaves them with an uphill task trying to reach the Four Nations final on Sunday week.

The veteran Australian is sure to make changes for the clash with his fellow countrymen at the London Stadium on Sunday and Taylor, who was deputising for the absent James Graham in Coventry last Saturday, knows he’s vulnerable as long as the former St Helens prop recovers in time from his knee injury.

“I tried taking my chance,” said the 25-year-old Hull prop, who made his Test debut in England’s warm-up match against France in Avignon and was recalled for the game at Ricoh Arena.

“I feel I was maybe a bit too enthusiastic at the start, trying to get involved in too many tackles and leaving my tank a bit empty at the end of my stint and not offering as much as I’d like to.

“But I’m learning. It was my first completed game and I’m trying to kick on from here now.

“It will be Wayne’s choice at the end of the day and, if it’s not good enough, then I’ll just keep working hard. I’m going to train hard and hopefully I can get in that 17 next week.”

England must now pick themselves up from their low-key display against the Scots, pull off a first win over Australia for a decade and hope to squeeze through to the final at Anfield on points difference.

Bennett’s most difficult decision will be whether to stick with the halves pairing of George Williams and Luke Gale or bring back the more experienced Gareth Widdop to face the Kangaroos.

Williams, who played in the Test series win over New Zealand in 2015, is desperately hoping to get the chance to go up against Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk.

“If I do get the nod, it will be a great opportunity for me to test myself,” said the Wigan five-eighth, who admitted England will need a major improvement if they are to give themselves a chance of pulling off an upset.

“Australia are a great side and, if we turn up like we did on Saturday, we’ll get pumped. We’ll have to go up to a whole new level.

“I think we’ve got to put the Scotland game behind us and build on the New Zealand one because there were some nice positives from that game.”