GEORGE WILLIAMS says England didn’t play how they wanted to in the World Cup semi-final and “probably got what we deserved” in their loss to Samoa.
England bowed out at the Emirates after suffering a crushing one-point loss in golden point extra time.
“As you can imagine, it’s pretty heartbreaking,” Williams said.
“Watching that kick (from Stephen Crichton) go over was a nightmare, it felt like it was going over forever, it went that slowly. We didn’t play how we wanted to and we probably got what we deserved.
“We are well better than what we showed today. Credit to Samoa and good luck to them in the final, but we are disappointed with how we played. When we did get momentum, we’d then make an error due to ill-discipline.
“They’ve got too many players for us to be off, and we were a little bit off.”
Williams admitted there were tears inside the England dressing room after the semi-final defeat.
“It was a tough one to take, there are some heartbroken lads,” he said.
“It’s some people’s first tournament, and some people’s last, so you can imagine there’s some tears.
“It’s been the best six weeks of my life, it’s been brilliant. Credit to the coaching staff, the players and Waney (Shaun Wane) for the environment he’s created.”
Williams believes it will take at least three years, until the next World Cup in France, to get over the heartbreak.
“We fell short, which is the most disappointing thing,” he said.
“We knew we had to be at our best to win the game, and I don’t think we were. We had been throughout the tournament, but that’s why it hurts, because on the biggest stage we fell short.
“It’ll take until the next World Cup to get over this, that will sit with us for the next three years. We’ll never have this group together again, so that’s why it hurts so much.”