GARETH ELLIS is confident England will improve naturally on their low-key opening to the Gillette Four Nations, as they prepare to take on tournament favourites Australia at Wigan.

England had to come from behind to beat France 34-12 at Doncaster on Friday night. But Ellis, man of the match on his first international appearance as a Wests Tigers player, says they will be better for the experience.

“Since the Grand Final boys came in, we’ve only had a few sessions together,” he said.

“It’s a new team. There’s a few new faces that I’ve never played against – and I’ve only been away for nine or 10 months – so it’s exciting times.

“We all expected a tough game with how the Catalans finished the Super League season and we knew they had a bit to prove from the World Cup and the mid-season game.”

Tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley, both converted by Thomas Bosc, put the Catalans Dragons-dominated French 12-4 up at half-time as the 11,529 crowd at the Keepmoat Stadium sensed a major upset.

But two tries at the start of the second half from teenage scrum-half Richie Myler put England on the front foot – and Kevin Sinfield, Ryan Hall and Tom Briscoe also touched down as the French wilted.

“To be honest, I never thought we were ever going to be in too much trouble,” said Ellis, who played the first 70 minutes of Friday’s match, his first for almost two months.

“We had to fix a few things up at half-time to get us rolling forward, in particular controlling the ball a little bit better to make France work a bit harder at getting out of their own half.

“We were still confident we were going to come away with the points at the end.”

Australia, who needed a last-minute converted try from Cameron Smith to earn a 20-20 draw with New Zealand in their opening match in London last night, remain 1-4 favourites to lift the trophy at Elland Road on November 14. Tony Smith’s men have slipped out to 13-2 third favourites following their unconvincing display against France, but Ellis remains undeterred over their prospects.

“Australia can either dismiss us or think they’re going in with a game on their hands,” he said, looking forward to Saturday’s match.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think they’ll be thinking - it’s what I know we’ve got in this dressing room.

“There are a lot of areas of the game we need to tidy up on, and I’m sure Tony will be looking through that now before he passes it across to us.”

Meanwhile, a two-man international match review panel will tomorrow decide the fate of France players Jean-Philippe Baile and David Ferriol.

Baile, the team’s vice-captain, was sent off for a high tackle on Myler in the closing minutes - and Ferriol was earlier placed on report for an ugly challenge on Sinfield.

The panel of ex-Great Britain forward Paul Dixon and former St Helens coach Ian Millward will rule on what charges, if any, should be brought against the French duo.

If France opt to accept their decision, any suspension or fine handed down will apply with immediate effect. But if they decide to contest the ruling, the case will be heard by an international disciplinary committee on Tuesday.

That committee will be chaired by a member of the Rugby Football League’s regular disciplinary panel, alongside two nominees from the four competing nations.

France, who host the Kiwis in Toulouse on Saturday, have already ruled out prop Remi Casty for the rest of the tournament after he broke a bone in his hand at Doncaster.