www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... efeat.html Poor guy, clearly torn up - no blame to anybody though, great tournament.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... efeat.html Poor guy, clearly torn up - no blame to anybody though, great tournament.

The difference the NRL has made to Burgess and Graham is marginal, but it has made one. Against Australia Burgess made some vital cover tackles which required him to read the play. That reading of the game has come from the NRL. Physically he always had the raw materials, but I'd argue he's just a better all-round player than he would have been had he stayed in England.

I think the difference would be far bigger if we saw SL outside backs in the NRL, and it would make an enormous difference to developing halfbacks IMO.

I would probably rate our best players on Saturday thus:

Burgess
Graham
Sinfield
O'Loughlin

Any of them below Burgess would have been MOM in most of the other England/GB sides I've seen.

Warched the match again yesterday. Still amazed by it. There were errors, but it was a real test match and I haven't seen many like it between any nations in 25 years watching RL. I also, having calmed down and in the cold light of day, can't remember ever seeing a starting front row perform better than that for anyone. I am still struggling to get my head round that being a loss. We've played so much worse than that and won quite a few times over those 25 years.