Back from Wembley. Funny game.

First thoughts were that Australia played well within themselves. England seemed to think they are better than they are and, for me, did not play flat out.

A few more mobile and skillful players like Tomkins and we'd create alot more.

Reed is a liability when defending close to the line and gave away a couple of tries.

Ref. made a couple of shocking decisions and lost control for a few minutes second half. He was out of his depth and seemed unsure of the rules.

Whoever decide on the kick from the tap - coach or player (who was it?) should immediately be dropped and never represent England again. Most ridiculous thing I can recall seeing in decades.

Overall, a game that had its moments but one that turned out flat and a bit of a flop for me.

ok what about setting up 3 trys? or making the breaks? i think your just trying to be awkward now.

if you think tomkins was poo then darius boyd must be horse e.

I didn't say Tomkins was . I said I didn't rate Briscoes performance - 2 different players and 2 different statements.

Learn to read. And saying someone had a bad game is different to saying someone is a bad player. I don't know enough of Briscoe to pass comment on him on the whole, all I know is that his game today didn't impress me in the least and I thought he was a weak link.

Tomkins was the best player on the field from either side. It would be scary what he could do to England if he was Australian and played in their side.

A pleasure to watch tonight but sadly its probably pushed him closer to a Union move.

I'll say again, you cannot sin bin someone for foul play, persistent foul play yes but one incident no!

There is no defence within the rules for what Williams did, accidental, poor technique, off balance or any other you want to dream up do not exonerate a player when he makes such a violent and heavy impact above the shoulders of a ball carrier.

You can repeat your defence of Williams a million times but you'll still be wrong!

Good performance, we were on the wrong end of some calls, and the rub of the green certainly went Australia's way and we kept it close and thats something to build from. I certainly saw nothing in that Australia team that should make us nervous. We matched them throughout and could have won if we had cut out some of the silly mistakes we made.

The Briscoe no try was a disastrous decision. I can forgive a ref getting a call wrong, what i cant forgive is him not following the process. He had to refer it to the VR, there was no reason not to refer it to the VR and because he didnt we ended up with the wrong decision. Unacceptable from the referee. I think a few other things went against us as well but from time to time they will. The play the ball was an absolute mess as well.

Sinfield, Roby, Peacock, Morley, Tomkins were very good and more than stood up. Ryan Hall was absolute quality. We cower from the Aussies three-quarters, but Hall would have stood out, even if he was wearing a green and gold jumper, top quality performance from a young English winger against the Aussies. It was a wonderful sight. Jack Reed made things happen he is an exciting talent. Tomkins, Hall and Reed look like an actual threat against the Aussies and that is something great. It has been a long time since we had 3 players in our back 5 who the kiwis and kangaroos will be going on to the field worrying about.

On the negative: Yeaman struggled, but im not sure what we have to replace him. Chase made too many wrong choices. I cant fathom why we would start with Chase and bring on Widdop against tiring defences when Widdop looks like he could give us a lot more structure and Chase looks like he revels in broken play and off the cuff plays than he does turning pressure in to points. To me it seems obvious that if we use those two players we do it the other way around.

All in all, we look probably two world class players away being able to regularly beat the Aussies, though there was plenty to build on if we qualify for the final and no reason why we cant beat them in a one off. Id like to see Widdop start against the Kiwis with Chase on the bench and see how that works. I could have liked to see another prop on the bench tonight in place of Wilkin and I think thats what we should go with next week.

What are you talking about? You have no clue

Match Report: northernsportsreport.com/2011/11 ... australia/ Reaction: northernsportsreport.com/2011/11 ... r-critics/ Thoughts?

Match Report: northernsportsreport.com/2011/11 ... australia/ Reaction: northernsportsreport.com/2011/11 ... r-critics/ Thoughts?

anyone hear or know todays attendance?

42,344

pretty good really.

The attendance wasn't bad at all. It just looked poor with the sheer size and layout of Wembley.

That's encouraging. It definitely sounded like a lot more during that second half!

may have looked better if both sides of the upper tier seats were covered with giant flags of the england, wales, nz and australia

Lot of negativity on here. I thought England played very well for the most - a country mile better than the last World Cup or Four Nations. A couple of basic defensive errors (why people continue to run out the line against Aus has baffled me for years) and handling mistakes cost us dearly - but then we know any errors against the ockers will be punished.

Ref was good for the first half, but lost the plot in the second. That idiot who says Williams' shot was accidental has obviously never played and doesn't understand that he lined up for that shot; his entire body set up for it before he threw it. Deliberate and a good case for a straight red, but definitely a yellow. Ref bottled it. Why he didn't go to the video ref for Briscoe's effort I don't understand. Poor effort.

As for Aus, people may say they played within themselves, but then they weren't that great against NZ either. England defended well and put them on the back foot at times, and were intelligent territorially until penalties or mistakes handed over possession in dangerous areas. Aus probably do have another gear but they don't seem as fluid a unit as in the past.

We should beat NZ based on that performance and if we can cut out the small errors we'll give Aus a tougher game in the final.

Im still struggling to see the fuss about Heighington personally....would shift Sinfield to 13 next week and start with Maguire amd Widdop in halves....Confirmed what i have always though of chase today...big fish in small pond and vastly over-rated.