Because NZ had the numbers.

The truth is you could try and single any one player out for blame. If westwood had kept hold of the ball when putting the ball down, if G.Burgess hadn't given away the high shot etc etc.

Bottom line is we came as close as you could get. We have a young pack, some great young backs and some decent halves coming in (sinfield should retire from int rl). We should win an international tournament over the next decade if we can keep going the way we are.

What a game, but the most frustrated man in London must be Carl Ablett.

Don't see why anyone is bagging the centres, they held their own this World Cup. Watkins in particular had a good series of games. By the next World Cup there could be more young players coming through to try and get a spot, particularly Percival at St Helens.

And funnily enough, I think the way that we lost has almost done as well as a win, Facebook is covered with people talking about the game and how good it was, even though they've never watched before. If we'd gone down by 30 to Australia next week then there wouldn't be anywhere near the same reaction.

Maybe for a sadsack such as yourself! Wakey,eh? Chortle!

Watkins did have another good game, wish we had have attacked down the kiwi left side instead of their right that was probably their weak link with Manu missing.

VEry true Punk. Go out on a high. Even if it's a defeat. Nobody is going to tell me that the next time England go to Wembley the people there will say I'm not sitting through that rubbish again.

It will last in the memory.

Ps I was not trying to bag the centre's, but I would say they are not the top top class that our pack is. They still did a great job and fully deserved their spots, hopefully in another few years they will be even better.

Proud of the performance England put in today.

What a brilliant game - a fantastic advert for RL

Of course I recognise rationally that can't be pinned solely on burgess. Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that the kiwis always looked much more likely to score than us when in the 20m zone. They move the ball better and create more overlaps.

I think we've been saying for months that our pack can match it with the best in the world. We're right. Unfortunately we've also been right to say we don't have the three quarters. Finding two genuinely world class centres is the greatest challenge for us if we want to go further than this.

Absolutely devastated
England did not deserve that.
Worst defeat I can ever remember experiencing

I don't think I've ever felt so gutted after a sporting event. I feel numb. We deserved to be in that final, and I have to say I feel a bit bitter about it. Fantastic team performance that was let down by a brain fart at the end by a tired prop. I'm happy that Sinfield and McNamara shut a few idiots up but this defeat is really hard to take.

Moving forward we have the nucleus of a very good side. You'd expect the backs to still be around for the next world cup, and as the likes of Lineham, Hardaker, Briscoe, Crooks, even Jack Reed mature and improve they should provide really good competition for places. In the backs though I think we really need to find a quality left centre, Cudjoe has done OK on the left and not let anyone down but he really hasn't looked comfortable at times.

The halves will be interesting, Widdop should now have the stand off position sewn up for the immediate future, but I worry that a scrum half with the game management and kicking game required maybe a little hard to find.

England played very well. So did New Zealand. The difference in the scores was Sinfield's missed conversion, when he kicked at too narrow an angle.

It would have been fairer if the game had been tied after 80 minutes and gone to golden point.

To be honest it may feel like the worst defeat, but it's actually the best defeat (if there is such a thing).

Worst defeat at an international for me was walking into the final of the 4 nations a few minutes late at Elland road and the game was already lost before I sat down. Now that was depressing.

Same here, almost felt tears!