Sorry but Sinfield is entirely to blame for that last try. England weren't even short on that side and he flew out far too quickly. He clearly thought Johnson was so deep he could get on him before the ball got there. That's the harsh reality. He took the gamble and missed his tackle. Unfortunately Johnson is probably the best stepper in the game - the wrong man to rush.

George Burgess also at fault for the penalty - but in the 79th minute of a game of such speed and intensity you can forgive a 6'5" heavyweight for not bending his back. But still a stupid arm.

That said, a RL game is won over 80 minutes - other players gave penalties and missed tackles - and Sinfield has been outstanding throughout this World Cup. I was one of his doubters and he proved me wrong. I feel for him, his face at the hooter said he knew he'd made a mistake and he doesn't deserve that.

Every England player today was outstanding. S Burgess was a monster, Graham ran his blood to water, Roby outstanding, both wingers excellent, Sinfield instrumental. A few iffy decisions in field kicking but can't fault much else. Everyone should be proud. Gutted.

Bottom line is New Zealand were there for the taking today. We blew it big time with our indiscipline, lack of respect for the ball and letting them back in just before and after half time. We lost a lot of go forward with Burrow and Burgess on. You can look at Sinfield's play, but the penalty that led to it was stupid and equally to blame...

I thought Charnley was average today as well. His non effort to jump for the high ball that got patted back which NZ promptly scored from..he's a lazy, lazy winger

Briscoe would have at least competed for that and done better from the attacking positions he had. Not once did we kick to our wings high as we successfully did with Briscoe there.
It's the difference between winning and losing and these 'failures' whilst spread across certain players/areas still all point to SM..he just isn't good enough given the talent we have.. (No Crabtree was a major off the richter scale mistake)

Crabtree was not missed one bit, our props today were g & s burgess graham and hill all a class or in some cases many classes above Crabtree

You can't pick out Charnley or else you might as well continue with George Burgess (giving away penalty), Sinfield (missing conversion and running out of line for their try), Hall for falling over with only one man to beat. Briscoe has had no form whatsoever this season and Charnley was the right guy for the job. Hopefully he'll live and learn...

I still can't get over it.
Just started running the end through my head in bed and images sinfield stealing the ball at the end instead of missing the tackle

I cannot imagine what the players must feel like.

Isn't he just.

So many what ifs in just 5 minutes of RL! We never seem to be able to get those 50-50 going our way when it matters most. Having said that I thought we lost it in the first half when we dominated them but let them right back into the game before HT.

This stuff about "weak" Aussie and Kiwi sides is just rot of the highest order, IMO.

I've never seen a Kiwi side as strong as this across the park. If Marshall hadn't left to chase the dollar, I'd have them as favourites to beat the Aussies. They're an immensely strong side.

The Aussies are also just inhumanly good. Anyone who describes a side with Thurston, Inglis, Slater etc in as "weakened" is bonkers. Bottom line is that Aus haven't had to play a good side since their first game against England, which they were rusty in, but still won fairly comfortably. But if you watch what they've done since then, it's been astonishing. Against Fiji, 64-0. Against USA 62-0. Against Fiji again 34-2. Against Ireland 50-0. In 4 games against players drawn overwhelmingly from professional competitions, mostly SL and NRL, they've let in precisely zero tries. Even in games which you'd forgive them for relaxing in. And these are no crap sides. Fiji, USA and Ireland would go well in the SL competition.

This is a very strong Aussie side, with talent all over the park. The final between Oz and NZ will be, all things considered, the most outrageously talented 34 rugby players ever seen on a pitch at the same time. The Kangaroos will have too much for the Kiwis, in my opinion, as their backs are all outstanding world class players. But I wish I could have managed to arrange to make the trip up north for the final, as it'll be a rugby league moment to savour.

I should try to avoid letting you drag me down to your level.
I should not fall into your immature traps.

Tomkins knock on, on half way straight from the scrum was a huge turning point as well. Tomkins, hasn't been that great in the tourney I don't think.

You can't just pick out Tomkins, there were too many turning points:

Burgess high tackle
Hall dropping that interception
Hall slipping over
Sinfield missing that conversion

Watch the replay and it was Tomkins' hands that helped us tear the Kiwis apart on their left hand wing...

Still got a huge number if try assists though and I've been impressed with his kicking TBF.

In reply to Christopher regarding Crabtree, I agree he wouldn't have been a better replacement for the four props,, but surely for Ablett who wasn't even used? Bonkers decision not to use him.

I don't feel deflated at all, the current England NZ and Australia teams are the best in their colours i've ever seen.

Luck is a combination of preparation and opportunity

This isnt a classic Aussie team, and is well beatable, the Kiwi's are not weakened as such, but what they are as always are a team capable of raising their performance to a level above the sum of their individual players