Sat 12th Nov: RLWC SF: England v Samoa KO 14:30

[Futtocks]

1 minute ago, The Legend said:

The officials did their best for us to get us through

Drivel. Absolute howling testicles.

The officials did a fine, professional, even-handed job. 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

Gutted.

But well done Samoa. Huge for the sport.

[The Masked Poster]

1 minute ago, Chrispmartha said:

Im not overly patriotic so can probably take some emotion out of it, Samoa getting to a world cup final is huge for our game

It's a step forward for Samoa for certain. But it simply reinforces the view that our game is inferior, hence less likelihood of wider international competition between us and Australia. 

It's nothing less than a disaster, however good it might be for Samoa personally. 

[OMEGA]

It was forward, I’ve seen them let go because it was marginal but I’ve no complaints about Sutton decision.

Samoa kept their composure and worked a good drop goal routine to create room and time to get the point

Sorry but Welsby was at fault for both Golden Point errors that gifted Samoa the game

[The Masked Poster]

1 minute ago, Chrispmartha said:

Samoa beating Australia would be huge for the game

They won't. 

[DavidM]

Do we really believe ? I often wonder that in big games 

[SalfordSlim]

2 minutes ago, Trojan Horse said:

Best team won in the end. 
 

Poor tournament from England. Fallen at the first truly competitive game.

Maybe a brighter future if we get some youth coming through. The likes of Tomkins, Hill, Mccollorum, Cooper etc just not good enough. 

TBF Hill's had an excellent tournament and should be spared any of the blame. I've been calling out Mcllorum all tournament and I hate to say I've been proved right as he's done absolutely F all in any game he's played. Shame we didn't have a 9 on the pitch to take advantage around the ruck when their big guys started blowing.

We all know Tomkins is way past his best and unfortunately he's been playing because Wane wanted a way to shoe horn him into the team instead of playing Welsby at FB and actually playing an in-form SH alongside Williams. 

Unfortunately, Watkins had a stinker as did a few others and yet we managed to get as far as golden point which shows we've lost that game ourselves.

Just an absolute kick in the b0ll0cks and yet more false promise.

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, crashmon said:

oh well, lets look forward to France in the mid season international next year

I get where you're coming from but I'm looking forward to the finals next week.

Australia will win both but let's enjoy ourselves.

[The Legend]

1 minute ago, Futtocks said:

Drivel. Absolute howling testicles.

The officials did a fine, professional, even-handed job. 

Do testicles howl? 

Edited November 12, 2022 by The Legend

[arcticchris]

2 minutes ago, The Legend said:

Best team won. That was never a penalty on Tomkins. The officials did their best for us to get us through but we wasn't good enough. 

I think Phil Gould will say "He who laughs last, laughs longest" he certainly won't be getting tweeted by the England fans now like he did after the first game. 

Some young kids in there like Young and Welsby cracked with the pressure but they have the time on their hands and can only gain experience from that. I feel sorry for the older guys like Tomkins, Whitehead and Hill who's time is over. 

Best team won I can just about agree with but come on that was a clear cut penalty he could have avoided contact entirely let alone pushing through with full body weight.

What cost us in overtime was composure.

Ultimately it was a fantastic match that was a superb showcase of our great sport.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Samoa beating Australia would be huge for the game

Won’t happen though. Australia are to professional, it won’t be close.

[EagleEyePie]

Once again it was a case of almost but not quite. Come the biggest game we were too weak at hooker (if only we had Roby to call upon), centre and we only had one cool head in the halves (Lomax was missed). At this level weaknesses get exposed and England still have too many.

Wane was vindicated for some of his selections - Williams, Hill, Cooper, Bateman, Radley but Watkins as a centre and McIlorum remain just as puzzling as they were when they were announced.

Ultimately though the players on the field were all capable of so much more but produced their worst performance in the most important game.

[gingerjon]

Just now, DavidM said:

Do we really believe ? I often wonder that in big games 

They believed too much.

The obvious difference is that Samoa played smart and England didn't. That's not belief, that's percentages and execution.

[tjhrads93]

I think this England team has been the best to watch in my time following the game - circa 2010 and I thank them for that.

I really thought we’d win that and give the Aussies a really good go but that hasn’t happened.

Really disappointing performance on the day, execution and concentration were not quite there. 

Who knows where we will be in 3 years but it would be a travesty if we have to wait to play Australia for potentially 8 years so we need to go again. 
 

Interesting thing - and probably could do an entire thread on this - is who will still be there and, in particular, who the big men will be with 2-3 of the lads that played today and maybe Walmsley retiring by the next World Cup.

Great game and hoping for another next week. Gutted.

[Futtocks]

Ah well, the Wheelchair semi-finals are on tomorrow, and if Australia get past France, we may as well formalise this suicide cult's terms and conditions.

[Davo5]

6 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Now let's waste the next dozen pages blaming Shaun Wane for England not playing to Shaun Wane's game plan. Plus demonising all the players who play for <insert name that isn't my club>.

To be fair it started after 10 mins,& multiple pages ago,I suppose it was inevitable seeing the ref was having a good game.

[Leyther_Matt]

Followed the game by WhatsApp while watching Bolton at Cambridge. Gutted. 

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, The Masked Poster said:

It's a step forward for Samoa for certain. But it simply reinforces the view that our game is inferior, hence less likelihood of wider international competition between us and Australia. 

It's nothing less than a disaster, however good it might be for Samoa personally. 

The English game/player pool is inferior, getting to the WC final wouldn’t change that.

it really isn’t a disaster more of a wake up call

[Jughead]

Appreciate the pull of a World Cup and a Semi-Final but two massive crowds for England v Samoa in non-heartlands areas. The RFL shouldn’t let Samoa leave the stadium with getting pen to paper on them coming back here in 2023. 

[Man of Kent]

A moment’s silence, if you will, for those of us who are booked onto a 06.30 coach from London Victoria to watch Australia smash Samoa. 

[The Lad]

We didn't deserve to win, Samoa where the better team for large parts of that game and should be in the final. However based on Samoa's performance i think Australia will have no worries going into the final.  

[Live after death]

11 minutes ago, northamptoncougar said:

#moron

True though int it 

[shrewsbury roughyed]

Whitehead was outstanding. Makinson same. Can’t criticise Hill or Burgess. Basically came down to bad mistakes in defence and not enough cutting edge up front. Good interview with Wane. I do rate the guy. The inexperience of Welsby showed and lack of pace from Micky McIlorum suggested that Ackers on the bench might have made a difference. Radley one bad mistake but otherwise excellent and made Morgan Knowles look poor. A naive performance but a great deal of spirit to get it back to 26 all. Devastated really

[N2022]

4 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Samoa beating Australia would be huge for the game

Samoa will not beat Aus. Would love them to make a game of it, but a team that lost by 50+ to Eng and then squeezed past an Eng team who made key mistakes is not going to trouble Aus. Aus will be 2 or 3 scores up by half time.

[The Masked Poster]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

The English game/player pool is inferior, getting to the WC final wouldn’t change that.

it really isn’t a disaster more of a wake up call

Come on mate, we've been having wake up calls since 1982. 

Until the dynamic of RL changes, as in depth of players and areas the game is played in, that won't change either.

You'll have to excuse me, I'm sick.