Absolutely, or even just kicks it a metre further to the left.

Forward pass already been called 2 passes earlier so wouldn’t have made any difference

Every player probably played to the best of their ability in that game. All of them gave everything. Bottom line, as Millward noted, is that in the halves, Brown and Gale’s best just isn’t as good as Cronk’s.

The decision-making in the Aussie twenty - which in the absence of SOL fell solely on the halves - was the difference.

Absolutely gutted. Great match, but it’ll take a while to recover. Losing by 20 would have been easier.

Danny McGuire may have produced the difference given his past performances in recent GF's.

Oh, missed that, I clearly got over excited.

Thought it looked a clear forward pass at the time but didn't realise it had been called. Would've been worst then had we managed to go over and then got called back.

I was thinking the exact same. Also crying out for a kicking game like Sneyds. Can't knock the effort though, probably only brown who wasn't up to scratch.

Before I sign out, just wanted to say something I forgot earlier. We looked a far better side without Hodgson! Roby was brilliant again

Why are we so obsessed with kicking on the third tackle when we finally get on their line to build pressure

In every decisive moment we came up with an error or bad decision.
Tom Burgess’ knock-ons.
Brown’s pass to Hall when he was marked up and had no chance of even staying in the field of play.
Gale’s decision to kick on the second tackle - you just don’t gamble possession in the second tackle in those circumstances.
Watkins not passing to McGilvary to put him one on one with Slater on the line.
Widdop passing to the touch-judge.

We could ave so easily won that with one or two smarter decisions at crucial moments.

We lack the Aussies dogged composure and aren't patient enough.BUT, what an effort, talk about leaving everything on the pitch.
In previous games, I dont recall seeing the Aussies out on their feet against England, they were gassed and credit to them for sticking with England.
Composure, composure, composure.

I think the coach got it wrong with Heighington, when did he come on, pretty late, Taylor would have been a better option

Well done by your blokes. You're a good halfback away from being the best in the world.

Whilst I wouldn't have picked Heighinton, he was solid enough in the grand schemes of the game i can't see what differences Taylor would've made.

Yawn. Sick to death of English fans using that as an excuse.
Anyway, if you had a "[ineutral[/i" ref - one who wasn't concerned about the look of the thing - you would have been playing with 12 from the 9th minute. Calling the ref "you f***ing cheating c***" is a send off every day of the year. Sutton [imight[/i have missed a high tackle on Widdop (although I thought it came up off the shoulder), but he took the cowards way out by not marching the ear-biting serial bully Graham.

One thing nobody else seems to have mentioned is our decision not to take the 2 points when they were offered. I know field position is a paramount, but we weren't struggling for yards, and it would have perhaps settled some of the nerves, especially when we had the ball in an attacking position

I heard that but couldn't see who that was directed too. Could've easily been said to an Aussie player.

Gutted but happy with the effort. On the plus side Cronk, Slater & Smith won't be there next time round, they will find someone but will be pushed to find as good. To me the Ausie spine had all the advantages with a couple of hundred games playing in the same side. I just wish we had centre in Batemans place (he would be great at 11 or 12 not out there I felt for Hall as he got no service at all. Taylor would have been a better change player than Highington as well. But happy with the effort if not the score line. How we missed our captain.

He was looking straight at Sutton when he said it.

Edit: sorry, wasn't Sutton it was the touchie.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was aimed at Slater. They've got history and seemed to have a little run in later in the game.

We were equally as brilliant and frustrating.

Absolutely gutted!

Not clinical enough despite being seemingly fitter, more attractive and expansive than Aus.

If Zak Hardaker hadn’t been such a tool, Widdop could have played stand off and got this hands on the ball more. Saying that, had Thurston played it could have been 12-18 points instead of 6.

[*
As Great Britain coach?

I'm as gutted about the result as anyone, but our expectations of the squad need to be relative . Would any of our 17 get in the Aus squad, Jerry at a push maybe? Therefore credit to the team for their endeavour, but while ever our game is a third class sport in this country, and SL is as dire as the last 2 seasons, we'll always be rank underdogs who'll win 1-2 games out of 10 against the best and I'm sure that'll happen in the coming years through sheer weight of odds rather than depth of quality. All things being equal, Aus should be disappointed at not winning far more convincingly.

Had Aus come up with an uncharacteristic howler and England scraped a win it wouldn't have changed the fact that the infrastructure needs massive improvements for us to sustain a challenge at the very top (however nice the feeling would have been)

Graham and Burgess would.