HERBIE FARNWORTH says set completion and errors cost England after losing 27-26 in golden point extra-time to Samoa and being knocked out of the World Cup.
England came from behind several times to send the game to golden point, but Stephen Crichton’s long-range field-goal won the match at the Emirates.
“We have no one to blame but ourselves,” the centre said.
“We just let ourselves down. We didn’t complete and didn’t stick to the game plan that we’ve spoken about all week. It’s just a bit fresh at the moment.
“I still can’t really believe we lost that game. It’s probably the first time we’ve not played really well. That first half, we’ve made a big deal about coming out in the first half and really giving it to the other teams. But this (second) half, I don’t know what happened, it just wasn’t us.
“We just went away from what we’ve done well. We didn’t complete at all; we gave them chances. Made the game slow in that first half, which is how they want to play.
“We just went away from the game plan. It wasn’t our way. We had a strong fight back towards the end but it wasn’t enough. Errors again killed us. It just really, really hurts.”
Farnworth scored a brace in the semi-final and was one of England’s best against Samoa.
It was his late second try, and Tommy Makinson’s conversion, that forced extra-time just two minutes from the end.
“When I scored, I definitely thought we’d go on to win,” he said.
“We always believed that we were going to come back and we believe we can come back against any team. But it just wasn’t our day; things didn’t go our way. We just didn’t complete as much as we should, which was a big one.”
