i for one did`nt think we`d be in the final....what a great coach he is...thank god we`ve got him at the wolves...

Lets not judge until after the final next week. England's goal would have been to win the damn thing, so if we can achieve that it'll prove a lot of doubters wrong for the first time since last year's shambles.

Some people are never happy.

Tony Smith knows exactly what he is doing. With a team like that, that was a spectacular game of rugby. We dominated them. We earnt our place in the final and win or lose, we still beat the CURRENT Champions, making us at least second best in the world. We was 3rd last year, meaning Tony Smith has done something right.

As much as I hate Sam Tomkins on a Super League level (such a cocky player), on an international level he shon tonight, and fair play to him, he had a cracking game.

Bring on next week.

It was a very good England win but i won`t be getting carried away personally because i think the conditions were a decent leveller tonight, i thought Sinfield was excellent, it was good coaching from Tony Smith to play Sinfield at hooker with having 2 young, inexperienced half backs, Sinfield`s leadership and organisation was invaluable tonight.

Sam Tomkins certainly ruffled Benji Marshall`s feathers, he was fairly anonymous all game after that. If we get similar conditions next week it will be anyone`s game as wet conditions should blunt the speed at which the aussies move the ball and it will turn into a battle down the middle similar to most of tonights game, it will be who controls the ball better and makes the least mistakes.

In all honesty when the squad was announced did anyone actually think we were gonna make the final.. ???
My reaction was yeah wow brave move and it was obvious that this year was all about looking to the future with the likes of tomkins , eastmond Myler , Shenton Bridge , Briscoe and Fox .
So to me this is already a fantastic tournament , as thes young guys have really stepped up to the mark, and it all bodes well for the future imo.... And a lot of the credit for this should go to Smith ..
Next week i think the aussies will be too strong for us and which will give the wiganers and the rest of them the chance to get back to the Smith bashing, when in truth they know that he has done a superb job bringing these young guys through...

I think that would have been our goal, but I feel we've already exceeded most expectations by getting to the final. If we can show up and at least stick with the Aussie's for a half, we can take great pride in our performance in this tournament, if we win it, well, it would be pretty epic

Loved that game tonight. True English grit and intensity mixed with a little bit of flair for nearly all of the game.
Just a bit more of both next week could see the Aussies off. Ticket ordered tomorrow me thinks !

I have to laugh at a Twitter post I saw earliertony smith just has zero idea. kevin sinfield as hooker? i could be a better job'"

Whoah, hold on a second.

Everyone has been judging Smith since we beat France. Now that we've managed to put in an 80 minute performance against the World Champs and got to the final, now it's "oh, let's not judge until after the final".

It seems Smith can't win!

The kids didn't do too bad, did they?

Can't wait 'til we sign Tomkins when he's closer to the finished article.

you wire fans are funny calling your own coach,after taking england to the final,must be upset about myler,well just shows you are good he is,tomkins and eastmond are englands best,but if one of them gets hurt he might get a chance,by by losers

It rains an awful lot in NZ, Rob. The players will be familiar with playing in those conditions.

Nothing to do with conditions, our pack simply got on top of theirs. End of discussion. Didn't think either backline was too flash, it was whoever got on top in the middle, would go on to win. I think the last World Cup, when NZ did a job on us, it was in wet conditions then, we just weren't good enough that night, we were last night. We were in danger of getting reffed out of it in the first half but did well during that period.

I don't think we should 'downplay' this win, far from it. It was the World Champions out there, who drew with Australia a fortnight back, enjoy the win, in fact talk it up, why not, we're all quick to criticise defeat, we should celebrate success in equal measure, not look for ways to 'dumb it down'.

Thought we would get beat yesterday, but Smith has finally got the squad working together & got his team selection right and more importantly the tactics right.

I would love to see us beating the Aussies but I don't see it, having said that anything is possible just look @ the CC final!