Clear no try given as a try because ref called try and evidence allegedly unclear.

Evidence unclear if you ignore the fact the ball wasn't on the ground! What do these people actually see?

For all we lambast England for being poor I'm sure we'd have made a better fist of this than NZ.

Similar situation to the 2013 World Cup where im sure England had more left in the tank had they made the final. But England only have themselves to blame for bombing a winnable game at Huddersfield.

I'm not for a moment suggesting NZ don't deserve to be there. England really should have beaten the Kiwis but couldn't get over the line.
Given how a lot of people like to put England down I just wanted to make the point that they wouldn't have been this bad imo.

You can't be sure of that though. Just like someone couldn't be sure England would be worse.

Imagine nz kicking their goals and this try ruled correctly it would be 22-12 with 10 to play. Can't seriously persist with non-neutral officials.

I love it. Realists are now classed as doom and gloom merchant.

The reality is that there is nothing exciting about international rugby league - aside a few moments of brilliance from individual players such as Johnson and rare upsets e.g Scotland drawing against NZ. That's the best we can come up with.

40k crowd, a very good effort considering England didnt make it. In 2011 England - Australia got 34k for the final.

Worth taking an England game there next time round

No wonder NZ have gone off the boil they've had former kr defence coach involved in the back room staff.

I thought that's who I saw.

How on earth has he got that gig?

Why? Because Austrailia won, what rubbish. They have won quite a lot over the last 20 years, and there was still over 40,000 for a game England weren't playing in.

International rugby league is in the strongest position it's been in for a long time, despite Austrailia's dominance.

And yet 35k at the olympic stadium was , got a final on the doorstep and 40k is seen as fantastic?
I wouldn't go to Anfield on principle, the whole thing about the club and their fans, I won't say anymore but please god never again at that hole, would rather it be at Elland Rd if the attendance is going to be 40k but anywhere aside from Anfield for future England games.

Yep. All this talk of international rugby league being dead outside of the world cup is not being a realist at all.

It's pure OTT doom and gloom because Australia have been superb in this 4 nations tournament.

I'd say Australia were very good this tournament. Very clinical. They also seem to have reaquired that ruthless streak.

Both England and NZ underperformed. Both have some work to do for next years World Cup.

Scotland were perhaps slightly better than expected.

It's hard to comment on the health of international RL outside of this because there aren't enough games, though the Pacific tests looked a good spectacle and Wales went OK in their World Cup qualifiers.

The interesting thing for me is the noise from the likes of Mal and Cam smith about wanting to make the green and gold jersey the pinnacle of Australian RL again. If there's any truth to that, we might finally start to see Internationals in general get some serious traction again. Of course it would also require people on this side of the hemisphere getting their act together also.

He was paid to do it by Australia and it worked

Wonder if Leigh & Salford did the same?

Kiwi defence was all over the place today.
They seemed to get their numbers wrong far too often and as others have said, Aussie are just clinical if they are given a chance.
They (NZ) needed to stir things up early in the game, which may have rattled the Aussies and help get the crowd going.
2nd best across the park and credit to Aus for being ruthless.

Apart from the slight lack of leg room, Anfield was a magnificent stadium, would certainly go again to watch RL

Obsessed.

Your post speaks volumes.

I really liked anfield, great historical ground and good crowd. That crowd is the highest of any tri-nations or four nations final so people that are criticising it need to go away. Definitely take some more games there!

I see you have found out

he was the worse assistance coach we have ever had

I thought 40k was a good crowd for a non-England final tbh.

Even as a Leeds United fan I would say no more games at Elland Road though. The big East stand is far too cramped to be comfortable and West can be even worse. Only issue with Anfield for me was the short pitch.

40k was decent for a non-England final I thought.
It's something to build on and worthy of an England game there in future and a WC QF or SF in 2021.


As for the other stadiums/attendances, they were a bit of a mixed bag;

5,300 at Craven Park and 6,600 at Workington - not great. I'd have liked to have seen the Scotland games actually in Scotland to see how they did.

24k sell out at Huddersfeild was great, maybe a larger stadium next time.

21k at the double-header in Coventry. Not bad considering it was played in Cov, but it'd have sold more tickets elsewhere IMO

35,500 in London, pretty good I think for a group game and vital we have visibility in the capital.


As always, there was a lack of marketing and it took an age for the dates/venues to be released. Both aspects need to improve, but we say that every time it seems.

I enjoyed Anfield yesterday. Better than Elland Rd IMO and great venue for future internationals.