But he didn't, and Briscoe couldnt even walk in with the line at his mercy. Fair enough the ref got the call wrong, but it should have been scored if it wasnt for his fannying about. Not mentally strong enough to make the correct decision at the time.

Stop putting words into your own mouth.
If he'd have backed himself, he'd have scored in the corner.

Simple.

I must admit when I saw it live I thought he'd ruined the chance and was swearing at him. Not sure what he was doing, but it was a try. I guess hindsight is good but how many fans thought it was a try in real time? I certainly didn't.

Then again I have been drinking

I thought you might have realised, seen as though it's actually a thread about England.

he did, regardless whether he should have gone straight for the line or not, it was a terrible decision from the referee that change the game into a 10 point swing in australias' favour

Wrong decision from Briscoe, he should have gone for the line. Then there was the humongous cock up from Sinfield and Yeaman in the first half and Widdop in the second.

Wrong decision or not he still scored the try, and the ref chose not to award it.

I do agree that Briscoe should have just put his head down and dived for the corner. But that has nothing to with mental toughness. Besides he scored the try, it.was incompetant reffing that cost him it. I also like how you say "when will we learn he isnt good enough." when hes 21 years old. Theres tonnes of kids older than him been classed as future talents who havnt even made their club debut yet.

It's a double mistake from the referee, in days of old I could have lived with it but to not go to the video is terrible. It would have taken one look in slow motion for Smith to give it.

I'm still worried - Despite being confident we'll beat NZ, now - that the team aren't comfortable playing in their opponents 20.

While in a theoretical final against Australia we would play well and match them statistically, we don't seem to have the confidence or composure playing a few metres from their line. We should have dominated Australia today with the opportunities we had, to such an extent that any refereeing decisions would have been irrelevant.

Anyway, we'll be much better for this game and I expect a solid performance and win against the Kiwis.

(I thought we would be trounced this series, for the record)

Of course it does. If you make the wrong decision it's because you are not strong enough to make the correct one under pressure. Charnely wouldn't have pis$sed about before the line.

What I want to know is couldn't he have simply ignored his earlier call?

There was a game in the NRL this year where a referee called no try, I believe a Wests Tigers game, and then changed his mind and went to the video ref, awarding the try.

I know on paper you shouldn't do that, but I'm surprised the referee didn't.

You know the ref ed up too. He looked like he was gonna cry for the rest of the game.