George Burgess was so distraught he had to decline post-match interviews after England’s semi-final loss to New Zealand.
After putting his body on the line for his country, the youngster was visibly exhausted in the dying minutes and recklessly caught Sonny Bill Williams with a high shot to give away a penalty and set up Shaun Johnson’s match-winning try.
His brother Sam, who was man of the match (and rightly so!), was quick to come to his defence: “It was one penalty.
“There are going to be people wanting to point fingers but it’s a full team effort. There were 17 men involved in this game and it was not won and lost in the last 20 seconds.
“There are so many situations and events that happen in the game that have an impact on the result. There’d be a thousand different things out there that if you could change, the result would be different, but that’s sport and that’s why it’s so entertaining for the fans.
“George is a strong kid – he’ll be fine,” he added.
