Well ,i've said it before & i'll say it again, that England team was much more effective in defence & attack when Hill & Westwood were on the field together & i believe that if they had been left on till the end England would have been going to Old Trafford.

...but for Burgess' brainfart in the last minute.

Cross between gutted and fuming, atm

But what a fabulous game of rugby and a great advert for the game. I was quite critical of the build up to the World Cup and thought it would turn out to be an embarrassment - but how wrong can you be.

Why didn't Tomkins play?

I’m a bit down after being so close but when it’s played like that ours is the greatest show on earth! Well done to all those lads today, what a game the Wire boys gave everything they had. Blood to water!

A wonderful advert, but a terrible shame.

George Burgess is a superb player and it's a shame his penalty ultimately led to the try at the death, though Sinfield charging out of the line was the hammer that struck the final nail in the coffin.

It was a great advert for rugby league & tbh i thought Tomkins probably had his best game i've ever seen & i think Widdop being selected over Chase was vindicated massively. Burrow as replacement hooker in this game seemed to be ineffective whereas i know he is good for Leeds ,but i think he would have been better utilised at half back. Lockers was a very steadying influence & i was pleased for the young back line who stepped up to the mark. By the way, that James Graham looks a promising player.

Widdop quality, how it took this long for McNamara to realise god knows, hopefully that was Mac's last game in charge

In agreement

Hill is good but Westwood is class both a credit to your club. Westwood is a real tough bar steward too.

McNamara has signed a new 4 year deal to take us into the next World Cup in 2017; will be announced on Monday

One of the very best games I've ever seen for intensity, brute force and skill.

Can't praise the players highly enough.

I don't think anyone had a 'bad' game.

Sam B was unbelievable.
Graham was outstanding.

NZ showed individual brilliance that got them over (that 1st NZ try.... wow) but as a team England deserved better and played better.

Nobody mentioned it, but did Ablett even get on?

Tomkins, Widdop, Sinfield, Graham, both Burgesses, Hill, Westwood, O'Loughlin - all had great games. New Zealand just had that little extra. Brilliant game. Final should be a cracker too.

I thought England played very well today. We are just short of a bit of quality in the outside backs and halves but you can't fault the effort and I thought our structure looked good too, it made the most of our strengths so I'm happy with McNamara as coach. Games like that are won and lost on fractions, if Hall's interception had stuck he would have gone the length and game over.

Chris Hill deserves huge credit because he is playing alongside some top class forwards but he doesn't look overshadowed. I was at the game with some RU fans today and had been going on about how great the Burgesses were but they were massively impressed with Hill.

Westwood we have known for a while you can rely on him at whatever level he is playing to step up and deliver.

I look forward to seeing how England can try and improve in the coming years, my main Warrington hope is Ratchford if he can really develop his game he could be the man to bring some quality to our halves (although Widdop was good today it has to be said).

Before the tournament I feared we would go down by 40+ points in the semis but I came away from today thinking tbh we were a better side than NZ, so I am very impressed.

Well said Sally, and very simply summed up. Me to very impressed with commitment, skill level, intensity,desire. Anybody from the dark side watching that must have wondered where RL can unearth prop forwards with the skill package that we displayed today. Of course the answer is simple really on the amateur fields of Wigan, Liversedge and St Helens