2 Dec: RLWC2017 (Final): Australia v England - Match Thread

[wackojacko]

Can't fault them for effort or desire.

[johnh1]

Well played everyone. Deserved to win that. Ultimately a phantom penalty and a forward pass wins it. But brilliant performance. Got to play them again sometime soon.

[UniSamX]

1 minute ago, MZH said:

Hard to be too critical. Outstanding effort. Zero composure.

Spot on

[CGD]

1 minute ago, MatthewWoody said:

Never been so close to winning it. 

All 3 games in 2003 were closer.

[Forestgravy]

I'm devastated

[Adelaide Tiger]

A loss is a loss but I thought our forwards were stronger towards the end.

Bennetts structure got us very ckose but we needed to be more expansive at times.

Proud of the effort.

[nec]

Incredibly disappointed but very proud that we looked the equal of the Aussie s for the entire match.

[Wolford6]

Admittedly kicked too soon, but one of the chasers was obstructed. Should have had another six tackles.

[MatthewWoody]

Need to play them more often. 

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

Well, whatever we think of what England might have done in terms of control and execution we cannot accuse any single player of leaving anything on the park this morning. England were an ankle tap and a bit of composure away away from getting back on level terms then anything could have happened.

I trust the Australians who have been telling us how far we are behind the Kangaroos, not just on this forum, will acknowledge that they have been in a real game

[Northern Eel]

We kept Australia to 6 points, and still lost. Margins are tight. 

[deluded pom?]

Massively disappointed but massively proud. Sorry Goughy but you can have pride in a loss. I feared the worst when the waves kept coming early in the second half but not only didEngland repel them we actually got down the other end and it was Australia's turn for desperate defence.

[snapski]

6 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

The halves were the difference, should've picked Sneyd for game management 

Bore off

[mickhornet]

Very close, well done Ben Thaler for ruling out the 2nd Aussie try.

[Stan Doffarf]

We need a stand off. Kevin Brown ain't it, and never was.

[EastLondonMike]

How many times did we cough up possession on their line/in their 30? That's where we lost it.

lack of composure in key positions. 

There cannot ever be a game of this magnitude played again without a neutral ref. Sutton made some big calls that went against us. THat aside we only have ourselves to blame.

[Damien]

England made stupid mistakes and could have won that game. I think the players will probably be kicking themselves. Obviously many of these were on the back of a high pressure situation against the best team in the world. However that said they were outstanding and every player gave their all and you cannot ask for more than that really. Proud of them all.

[jannerboyuk]

Proper test match. We can win the next four nations...oh yeah ☹️

[Forestgravy]

I Don't want to hear any excuses about any decisions here and there blah blah blah. If we had better composure we'd have won that. Unbelievable effort and performance, I think in 4 years we can win it, no big 4 for Aus.

[Wolford6]

That game has done a lot for Superleague. Terrestrial viewers will have been very impressed.

[GeordieSaint]

Absolutely gutted... but we were immense today; absolutely immense. Every single one of them should be proud of themselves. 

[Guest]

Hopefully we can keep Bennett and the majority of this group together. Losing Bennett now would be a blow .

[Futtocks]

We played an 80 minute game against the Kangaroos for once, and they were only just clinging on at times. They had halves who play together far more often at every level, which is what we don't have.

More internationals, please!

[Northern Eel]

OK, I will say it. I want Bennett to stay...

[Jacko45]

7 minutes ago, Hvy wg said:

Brain explosion 

Joke sport, Refereed by a bent Aussie.

What other sport as a Ref from one of the finalists.