Just back from the game, 2nd night in a row of watching Aus vz NZ with 14 Australians on the pitch and 13 Kiwis.
Watching live I thought that the Kiwis were hard done by, and that the lack of replays on the big screen didn't help to quell that feeling amongst the crowd in the stadium. They weren't chanting "Kiwi" when the Kiwis were ahead, but the tries ruled out and the penalties given/not given in that second half felt crucial in a 1 score game, and brought the crowd into the game.
The Aussies appealing like cricketers most tackles, and surrounding the ref when he did give calls against them in the first half clearly worked.

Both tries were correctley ruled out although Aus was lucky on both occassions.

Absolutely belting game. The Aussies are relentless but NZ had their chances to win that.

Hard to know where England are currently in terms of matching that but we should have a better idea after tomorrow.

Shows that sometimes being at the game can be a disadvantage , nothing really went against the Kiwis , just a terrific game that the Aussies just deserved to win but the Kiwis lost little in defeat

Guess you just have to accept that the Australians are so good that they didn't hold anybody down, or stand offside, or incorrectly play the ball, unlike the Kiwis...

I could be wrong but from memory dont remember many penalties being given at all.

Whilst that was true for the most part he did penalise NZ for offside but failed to do so against Australia on numerous occasions when they were very, very offside.

Thats correct, its just fans wanted NZ to win the game which based on the first half looked very promising. In the second half Oz cut down on there errors and started to work over the NZ middles, NZ were gassed after 60 mins of play but OZ increased intensity and the pressure that went with it.

Bit of a lesson for England here if they reach the final, OZ will eventually destroy them in the middle and McLlorum will really struggle like Smith did yesterday. We probably need fast passing plays to the edges and a good consistent kicking game through and over the defence line to break up that very efficient defense stucture that can play full on for 80 mins.

au contraire

Nightmare start for Watkins and Welsby so far.

Just give Welsby his own ball as he doesn’t care about the rest of what the team is doing.

Crap first half. Need to sort it out quick time. Neither team out of first gear yet.

Why do we have to have terrible banging music in stadiums so you can barely hear the people you've gone with?
If I wanted to go clubbing, I would.
Bateman, Welsby and Watkins have been horrible in defence.

Great Samoa try.
Unlucky for Williams. Brilliant 1 on 1 tackle against Paulo, thought he'd nailed him short.

England's entire right side has been woeful

This is a national embarrassment.

Wane should be sacked after this. Embarrassing not to make the final.

So glad to see the real Samoa turn up today.

Forwards really fronted up and the halves for Samoa have controlled the game.

Don’t understand that? His tactics have been okay. It’s silly errors and daft defensive reads that have made us poor. Young dropping an easy catch. Watkins shooting, Watkins and Welsby switching off.

George Williams, take a bow

Too many players found out today. Welsby in particular, absolute passenger.

What a f up. Couldn’t complete 2 simple sets.

A hell of a game. Well done Samoa!
England didn't deserve to win that, far too many errors.

Great game. Trust us to fu*k it up having possession.

Those two plays didn’t cost us. Poor defence in the first half did. Disgrace how Watkins, Young and Welsby switched off in a Semi Final.

Listening to how it’ll ‘improve the game.’ This result is the death knell of British RL.