Far too many silly penalties form Bridge, they were bad because they were not penalties caused by pressure, they were caused by him being a bit of an . I like the fact that he was aggressive and had a go but you have to be cleverer than that at international level.

Won't be an issue much longer

To be honest, and this is a cas fan speaking, I don't think anyone could have done much about some of those tries scored tonight. They were some of the best tries I have seen in a long time.

It was a cracking game of rugby league though (barring the last 20).

What England can take out of this is:

* Kyle Eastmond is awesome (but he needs an experienced HB partner)
* There are no experienced HBs in England good enough to compete at the international level
* Sam Burgess is awesome.
* Eorl Crabtree is better than a lot of people give him credit for.
* For 60 mins, England were in it, and with a shot of winning.
* Australia had to score some pretty special tries to win the game.


Unfortunately, that's what it comes down to; those last 20 mins. That extra degree of ability. Basically, Australia are 20 mins better than England, or if you are Phil Clarke, 25% better!

Thought he was harshly penalised a few times. And there were a couple of times when there were 3 men in a tackle when the pen was given and he was always the one the camera lingered on even though the pen could've been against any of the 3.

Tompkins wasn't ready for the step up, which is what you would expect for someone of his age and experience. However, no one else has ever proven that they can make the step up and Tompkins has proved he deserved his chance. 100% the correct decision to play him and one day he will be one of the best players in the world.

Nobody was at fault, they are just better than us.

I agree completely. Tompkins gave it a good go, showed some real good touches in the series. Not quite ready yet, needs to build more structure into his game. Still, much better option than anyone else available.

Not international class imho, didn't do a huge amount wrong, a few missed tackles and penalties conceded, just looked out of his depth.

Fair point, i probably had last week on my mind a bit and so was looking out for him... and maybe the ref had done his research?

Not scragged him but YES should have got him off to the sidelines a lot sooner. It was a straight concussion no spinal injuries danger.

Thank you Doctor!

Idiot!