I don't think anyone who sat in the stands or on their sofa can question Tomkins' commitment. he set himself to take the ball. it moved, which is why it looked like he didn't fully attempt.

No ball is uncatchable, commentary on sky is an absolute joke, I cringe when PC pipes up, Carney is the only guy on that gantry with an ounce of relevant RL knowledge.

Don't tell Clarkie he will slit his wrists

clark just chunners on with inanely his timing is woeful he refuses to let go of his little ramble even when there is an intense period of play requiring incise and accurate commentry

Surely any falling ball is falling at some angle or other, or the kick would have been made from the catcher's position?
You are Phil Clarke and I claim my £5.00.

Completely agree and how long did he have to set himself for it?.. and lets face it he was under no pressure at all.

Dont know about the No Pressure,,!It was a great kick,but its Clarkey who comes out with the drivel...

I've grown to love Sam during the 4Nations, but Clarke's fawning over him was embarassing, as is the insitence from people on here that it was uncatchable.

No ball is ever uncatchable if it's close enough to hit you when you aren't really moving.

He just had a bad game, it's a shame but it's not something that requires us to fabricate excuses for him. He'll have bad games in the future as well and he's no doubt set himself up for a season of pressure from bombs on the last.

For all the hype, Tomkins is a weak player at international level. Yes, he can run a bit but compared with a young Darren Lockyer he's a joke. We need to keep things in perspective. He's the best prospect we've had in the back-line for a while but he's along way from being a great international player. He still needs to improve on some of the basic skill of the game.

Clearly you have never been under a high ball in a spiral coming down.

A high ball usually goes vertical from the boot and drops straight down.

sam clearly positioned himself to catch the ball,by the time he 'd realised he'd completely got it wrong it was to late and he was half a metre away from it.theres no defence he messed up under the high ball and not for the first time in this series.Stop making excuses for moments of mediocrity.

It was a poor attempt by Tomkins, who looked like a rabbit in the headlights all night.

Phil Clarke is so biased towards Wigan that his position as a pundit should be untenable.

"Do you know Eddie...if you look at the stats you can see that zero percent of players caught that ball at that time, thus proving that no one could have caught that ball.....blah, blah, blah"

Clarke: "you know, there's a supermarket in this country with the saying 'every little helps'......" ........oh dear god Phillip.

Exactly the point I explained to my lad at the game. Wellens would have caught the ball and then got smashed, but still held the ball. That's what an international RL player should do, for him, his team mates and his country. Get that ball/player no matter what the cost.

The guy's a joke, when Warrington beat Wigan back end of the season he said absoloutly nothing all game. Similarly, he jumps out of his seat with some of the cheap shots coming in from NZ last week and then keeps silent when Hock gouges and then punches Harrison.

Carney is an infinitely better pundit.

every bomb comes down at an angle. The trick is to be positiopned so that you can judge the flight and get to it.

They were good kicks, with a good chase. Tomkins is not great under a high kick with that pressure. He looks better in SL because very few players kick as well as Lockyer or Thurston and he he has loads of time as very few chase as well as Austraklia.

It is a weakness in his game that needs to be improved.

Not excusing Tomkins but it didn't help that there were 3 or 4 Australians bearing down on him but not one English player, where was the protection and support any fullback should expect from his team mates.

That attempt looked awfull from my couch, every player even the great Billy Slater have brain explosions, the other high kicks he had to deal with on the night were very well placed to make every one a risky option & that was down to Englands players not been able to put the kicker under pressure or get into position to protect him from the on rushing Green jumpers. The whole team looked jaded I think last weeks game took a lot out of them?

From where I was sat in the of the North Stand (opposite end from where he took the kick), he never looked like getting to it.
Yes, some protection would have helped, and yes, he had some very difficult kicks to handle, but I'm convinced Wellens and many others would have at least got to them, if not actually taken them.
What surprises me is that extreme bravery in defence has been of Tomkins most admirable qualities. Last night though, every time they sent one up, a little voice in my head seemed say "Oh sh**, he's gonna bottle it"

Sadly you are making exuses for him.
Taking the 'real' high ball is obviously a fault in his game,3 or 4 in this tourament alone points this out.
Also watchind the aussies bearing down on him rather than watching the ball,tut tut.

Noted on twitter

Not what he said, retweet from Wellens Twitter -

I wouldn't have fancier taking that one. Would you?” filthy kick. That would have moved heaps.

Phill Clarke's outburst was embarasing as was Hemings & Stephensons comentary why oh why can't SKY get shut of them. God knows what the viewers in Australia must have thought?

I was at the game so I didn't have to listen at the time - just watched it back on Sky+ though and I can only agree.

Clarke's attempts to sound intellectual and insightful are plain embarassing, as is his unashamed Wigan bias; Eddie comes across as a jolly moron who knows absolutely nothing about the game beyond who the players are and Stevo, sad to say, can't even finish a coherent sentence any more - I don't think he's got all his faculties.

Carney struggles vainly to keep things sensible, but his voice is lost in the background thanks to the constant stream of e spewed by the other three.

Every ball is catchable when kicked in the air.He just made a mistake and did not get his body shaped correctly into the catch.He is a human being like all of us, and is not superman.