The attendance wasn't bad at all. It just looked poor with the sheer size and layout of Wembley.

That's encouraging. It definitely sounded like a lot more during that second half!

may have looked better if both sides of the upper tier seats were covered with giant flags of the england, wales, nz and australia

Lot of negativity on here. I thought England played very well for the most - a country mile better than the last World Cup or Four Nations. A couple of basic defensive errors (why people continue to run out the line against Aus has baffled me for years) and handling mistakes cost us dearly - but then we know any errors against the ockers will be punished.

Ref was good for the first half, but lost the plot in the second. That idiot who says Williams' shot was accidental has obviously never played and doesn't understand that he lined up for that shot; his entire body set up for it before he threw it. Deliberate and a good case for a straight red, but definitely a yellow. Ref bottled it. Why he didn't go to the video ref for Briscoe's effort I don't understand. Poor effort.

As for Aus, people may say they played within themselves, but then they weren't that great against NZ either. England defended well and put them on the back foot at times, and were intelligent territorially until penalties or mistakes handed over possession in dangerous areas. Aus probably do have another gear but they don't seem as fluid a unit as in the past.

We should beat NZ based on that performance and if we can cut out the small errors we'll give Aus a tougher game in the final.

Im still struggling to see the fuss about Heighington personally....would shift Sinfield to 13 next week and start with Maguire amd Widdop in halves....Confirmed what i have always though of chase today...big fish in small pond and vastly over-rated.

Absolutely bang on. Sinfield is a good, intelligent player, but he has very limited speed and little or no creative spark. This basically means that he's a postbox at number 6. Contrast that to the Aussies, where Thurston and Lockyer take on the line and offer threat every time they touch the ball. Stick Sinfield at 13 (really, Heighington is little more than a cultural cringe towards the NRL - both JJB and Wilkin played better when they came on). Then we can play Widdop at 6. Unfortunately, I suspect all the training has been for this combination, and Macnamara is just not good enough a coach to be able to change things around successfully, or even admit to being wrong in his initial selections.

I thought Thurston was superb and Australia whenever they had to step up a gear they could. England still to me look like a side that when forced to defend there own 20 look like they will concede. If NZ get in the last 20 they will score!!

Sam Thaiday is immense.

Widdop has to play. Sienfield should not be in the halves!!

Ryan Hall is just a brilliant finisher. Everytime I see him play whenever he has a sniff of the tryline he does not disappoint. His 1st try was world class!!

Briscoe did score but he still messed up by not going for the line. It was the wrong decision and there would of been no doubt if he went for the line.

Tomkins was very very good. Thats the 1st time v top opposition for England I have seen him put in the positions to make things happen and he did just that. If there is one English back that Australia will want in the NRL it's Tomkins.

Is that supposed to validate your opinion somehow?

How old are you?

We can take them in the final. Just cut out the silly mistakes and be more clinical close to the line. It was 2 tries a piece at halftime but we should have been going in at the break in front, we had more territory and posession and should have converted it to points. Instead, not only did we not go to the break in front, we went in 4 points behind!

Then a stupid mistake and boom, Inglis is over. Then in the space of 2 minutes aus should have been a man down, and only 4 points ahead with briscoe scoring. Instead none of the above comes to pass aus go up the other end and make it 24-8, game over.

Australia are ruthless and if you give them an inch, they take a mile.

Overall it was 6 tries to 4 (should have been 5) and considering england were pretty much playing without 2 forwards for an entire half, and one on one leg, it's a bloody good effort. We should feel confident we can make the final and beat them, because we can.

England need to tighten up their fringe defence, if they can defend australia better when they work the ball wide, we will win.

On another note, I never read as much rubbish on here as when the internationals roll around. I don't know whether people are taking the m*ck or what, but it's a one opinion fits all thing. It doesn't matter what happens in the game it's ''english rugby league will be dead in 2 years, the poms are shocking, australia won at a canter and would have broken a thousand if they could be bothered, england are further behind than ever before blah blah blah''.

People are idiots.

By 'step up a gear' do you mean simply score when field position is gifted to them? Clinical yes, but hardly stepping up a gear.

I know it sounds bitter but I can't remember a game of england australia where england got the rub of the green in terms of refs calls. Bounce of the ball and 50/50 calls always go aus way and england needs those things going their way to beat them,.

The bounce of the ball consistently going their way is mainly due to the fact that they are always ready for the offload. We spend too much time not doing that and instead setting up for the next tackle. Twice in good positions an England player got the ball out in a dangerous area and players who should have been in a position to capitalise were looking the other way pointing at their own line.

Good turn out,but dare I say it after 31 years of London RL why wasn't it sold out.

I remember going to Manchester City AFC's 'new' stadium a few short years ago and thinking what a fantastic stadium it was,and guess what RL has never been back there.

Had it been at Manchester City's ground today I would definitely have been there,but down to London and staying over is just a bridge too far just now personally.

Couple of things on this thread
Yep the ref should have gone to the video for the disallowed try, there was nothing wrong with it, and the penalty for the offload after the tackle was complete when it was not, do not see anyone on here complaining about the scrum we won when the aus player got taken in to touch with his foot lifted! soon as the foot is lifted tackle should be called complete
The head shot did not deserve a yellow! the fight shoudl have resulted in a yellow

31 years of RL in London means we should have filled Wembley errr how many of the "heartland" supporters bothered with Leigh last week? is next week sold out yet?
The "jewel in the crown" event for RL as in the trand final, was it full? why not you lot have had over 100 years of RL
It was a good crowd!! and a brave move to take it to Wembley

''you lot''?

What do you mean by that?

Good post and agree with most points but particularly about our backs; all of our back 5 apart for Yeaman looked international class and all are 23 or younger so which is great for our international future.

There's also some great young British forwards coming through in SL so I look forward to our team being competitive in future international tournaments.

The big issue going forward is obviously the halves because all of our British players don't seem to be traditional type halves to form an orthodox partnership at international level but as far as next week goes, I'd be inclined to pick McGuire instead of Chase to keep the partnership that won SL at Leeds.

The head shot did not deserve a yellow,am I reading that right,are you serious.Remember when Adrian Morley was sent off in the first minute at Wigan vs Australia,so you tell me what was the difference between that and today.

London,the metropolis of what is it around 7 million people and yet the upper tier remained empty.

Because the game was in London, and RL has been going in London for 31years it was suggested the place should be full of Londoners!
the "heartland" has had over 100 years of RL but did not fill Old trafford for the Grand Final! it was just a daft comment! By the way I am a northerner in excile down here
If this had been played at Old Trafford would it have been full? who knows, personally i would like to think so but doubt it very much

I hope the final is a sell out!

the Adrian Morley sending off, even Mozza agrees it was a sending off, first tackle of the game and a player sets his stall out like that, the ref has no choice to respond!
I have not seen the shot on TV yet so yep may change my mind, it was on the whole a pretty clean game, so i stand by it one incident like that at that stage of the game did not deserve a yellow

If 40k plus northerners made the trip south why couldn't enough Londoners at least match that figure from a huge 7 million population after 31 years of pro RL and on their own doorstep.

Stop making excuses for the Aussie who should have walked no question.

What I can't understand is why Tomkins doesn't play stand off? He looks a traditional stand off to me.

40k plus made the trip!!!!!
ok if thats what you want to think then fair enough
obviously there were no Kiwi or oz supporters there just northerners who graced Wembley with there presence!

Ref was poor 2nd half but used to poor refs tbh so onto the game.
Tomkins, Hall, Briscoe, Yeaman and Reed went well today, the rest were shocking. Summed it up for me when Sinfield was looking other way organising the next play when Chase passed out of a tackle. Same happened later with Peacock.
These are internationals FFS, the under 14's we coach have it drilled into them to never take their eyes off the ball till they actually caught it!!!!
Aussies were better than us, defended better , expected the passes and won the game end of, play people in proper positions and may do better IMO
Still think Brough or Myler should have been in at 7, kicking game today was shocking and Sinfield couldn't beat an egg at 6.

First things first. Apart from the result, that was most enjoyable game of RUGBY I've seen in the last twelve months.

England came out and played with a speed and intensity that I haven't seen, from either England/GB, seen since the 95 world cup. What they were lacking is a loose forward of the Andy Farrell or Paul Sculthorpe calibre!!! The type of LF that can guide the team around the park and take control, whilst being solid in defence. I rate Sinfield, he deserves his place, but both he and O'Loughlin, just, lack that extra bit quality Farrell and Scully brought to the team.

That said, some of the endeavour in first 20/30 minutes, was excellent and both Chase and Sinfield played some good stuff. Unfortunately, both made some crucial errors, wtf Chase was doing with that kick? It was out and out stupid.

Part of what makes the Aussies look so good is the speed at which they play the came, for the first time in along time England stood up and matched that level of intensity. Like others have pointed out, our boys just need to find that extra bit of quality in the last 20. England's job, now, is to get over that game, then go out and display that kind of effort next week.

I can't stand Graham, but the speed of our play did seem to drop, once he went off injured.

I think people are getting carried away because a few tries were scored. I didn't think England played with anywhere near the intensity of many matches over recent years. If Australia had a FB who could tackle we might not have scored so many!

I think people are getting carried away because a fe tries were scored. I didn't think australia played with anywhere near the intensity of many matches over recent years. If england had made a few better reads in defence australia might not have scored so many!

I think people are getting carried away because a fe tries were scored. I didn't think australia played with anywhere near the intensity of many matches over recent years. If england had a better Reed in defence australia might not have scored so many!