Should have put his last kick into touch too, but other than those 2 points I agree.

That was the killer, just like Finch vLeeds two years ago.
If Sinfield was playing for Leeds that ball would have been either in touch or kicked dead. It's not like him at all and particularly today because he superb and was in the running for m.o.m.

Watching the Union now. I'd said to my children after the England/New Zealand game that if I lived to be 100 I'd never see a better union game than we'd just had the privilege of watching. How do they get the crowds they do?

You eat soup with something sharp?

Agree with rest of the post but please use a spoon yourself next time you have soup.

It was a fantastic game of rugby played by two superb sides. The second semi though was not good. That's going to be the challenge you feel, to get more games of the quality of the first and less like that of the second.

Hopefully we'll be able to see a full strength England side with all of its NRL talent on a more regular basis than has been the case recently.

The turning point for me was at the start of the second half. Locky made a half break and got us in the front foot gave us a quick play the ball and Kiwi's were still getting inside. Burrow had all the time in the world from dummy half to feed a kicker or put a good kick in himself. He seemed caught in 2 minds and ended up putting a god awful kick in along the floor, straight to Locke who collected the ball in his 40 Kiwi's were in the front foot from that point on scoring in that same set and shortly after getting the penalty.

Momentum came back our way when Tomkins fielded a high kick and made a half break getting us going forward again and we retook control.

Regards Sinfield he had a good game but came up short when he was tested at crucial times. Poor kick selection on several occasions but especially at the end, the missed tackle for the try, and yes I know it was a tough one to make but it had to be made, and also the missed conversion that normally he would knock over in his slippers for Leeds. It's moments like that, that separate test players from good domestic players, and he came up short.

Moving forward I would love a change of coach, not using the full bench was a huge mistake for me, and also see Westwood, Sinfield and Burrow officially retire from Internationals.

thats a very Wigan-centric view of the game. Lockers also gave away several pens in the 2nd half which stopped the pressure and allowed the Kiwis to play in our half. Sam dropped the ball on 1st tackle in a key attacking position mid way through the 2nd half ....
In a game of 80 minutes there are always individual errors that can be picked on. However, in the first 60-70 minutes there is sufficient time to recover from them.
The secret to winning big games is how you handle the pressure at the end. the previously 70 minutes can count for nought - it is putting the game to bed which shows class and composure, and that is what we lacked.

From a long term perspective, there are real positives that can come out of this. We have lost yes, but we can hold our heads high in the quality of that game yesterday. We finally have a stand-off that looks at home, and the old guard will now retire/will retire before the next WC (Burrow, Sinfield, Westwood, Lockers). Graham, the Burgess boys, Hill will be there in 4 years time. Sam will have the NRL experience, Hall and Charnley will be at their peak. there is a lot of class there to be supplemented by whoever comes though in the next few seasons.

With a new coach who is able to pick the right combinations and build squads that are not biased by personal grudges/loyalties, we will be a threat again in 4 years time (so long as we get the right coach).

I must say I couldn’t understand why he didn’t bang that last kick into to touch, just to run the time down and give everybody a little bit of a breather. Plus his goal kicking wasn’t quite up to his usual high standard, but we’ll never know what could have been, we only know what is, and what should have been!

What did you all think of the final?. I thought Australia were in a different class and I would add that either Sonny Bill has lost a lot of ability or he has been overhyped in the past. It has been a tremendous tournament though and to get a record crowd for a match in which there were two foreign teams shows that there is a public demand for our game. The challenge for the RL Management is to build on this success and surely we can now find worthwhile sponsors for all our competitions.

Overall I really enjoyed it, shame the final was a blowout but you can't blame Australia for that.
That must be as close as you can get to a perfect performance, hopefully the RFL can get their act together and build on the success of the tournament, if we go into next season without a title sponsor there really isn't much hope.

Until Hetherington & Lenagan work out who's got the biggest, no sponsor will look sideways at the SL. The power-struggle & whatever format we'll be using needs to be sorted PDQ or the ridicule will (rightly) begin all over again & we'll be back to square one.
Regardless of how well received & played the WC was (well, mainly).

We also need to get the Broncos situation sorted asap - there needs to be a successful London side in Super League at all costs...

Might be proved wrong (you never know, miracles happen!)



Let's just hope it's not another Stobart's fiasco.