Must say I thought that closing sequence from the BBC was great.

Well, that was a great demonstration of rugby with some outstanding skill. Perhaps NZ left everything behind last week.

It's been a great tournament, as good as any sport can do.

Australia were in top gear nearly all game, what are you talking about? Hence the result and unforgettable performance we've just witnessed.

Not a great final
Australia where outstanding but New Zealand could have give us a better spectacle.

Great World Cup

Bring on more international rugby league

I think that the Kiwi halves were virtually non existent today. Dut to be fair to them they didn't have much to work with behind a beaten pack.

At least there was one consolation. Wigan was represented in the winning circle with the presence of David Furner (Assistant Coach of Australia).

How appropriate for the greatest rugby league club that the northern hemisphere has ever produced.

What do you say? Flawless performance by the boys.
I thought NZ were disappointing, but honestly they were under pressure from the first dropped ball by Bromwich. Would England have done any better? We'll never know - I think they might, but no-one was going to beat the Roos today.

Good tournament with some decent crowds, memorable moments, and an apparent £5 million profit expected. Apparently the final was the biggest ever attendance for a game of international RL. Not bad, to say the host nation were not playing.

We need to build on this. The sport desperately needs a 4th 'major' team, by the time the next tournament comes round. It is worrying that France appear to have gone backwards.

Not the game anyone wanted to see but an absolute pleasure to watch a team of such talented players at the peak of their power and skill. Could be the best team performance I've seen in a game of that magnitude.

We need to have a 4th major team. That is definitely true.

However France only [iappears[/i to have gone backwards. That is because Australia, New Zealand and England have all improved, while France has stood still.

We need to move France forward. France stands still because it relies on a single French Super League club. France can only move forward with the creation of more French Super League clubs.

Unfortunately Nigel Wood, with his roots in the Championship (Halifax) is tone deaf to the calls for improving France by means of the minimal starting effort of licensing a 2nd French Super League club in Toulouse.

Without drifting this thread, Toulouse were given opportunity to build from the Championship, they failed miserably both on and off the pitch

However yes I agree, another SL club is probably what is needed, but with the ending of licencing, there can be no immunity from relegation , ultimatley it is up to the French to build themselves

I know nothing of Nigel Wood. But he looks and sounds like a pie 'n peas up 'n under Yorkshireman. He has followed on from Richard Lewis, who was a good administrator, but had the charisma of a newt.

We, as a sport, need to start thinking radical. Bin London (they seemingly might not even make the start line in 2014), get a second French team from 2015 onwards.

Amazing that the only tries the Aussies conceded the whole tournament were from Ryan Hall, Leroy Cudjoe, George Burgess & Josh Charnley.

Maybe we are not as e as we think.

Just got back from the game and must say that New Zealand were very disappointing despite the majority of the crowd appearing to support them. You should have heard the boos for the roos across the ground when they came onto the pitch. It's a shame that the final couldn't emulate the England v NZ semi which was the game of the tournament. With England in the final the atmosphere would have been electric which it seemed to lack today.

NZ pack got absolutely mullered and they had not go forward with the Aus defence outstanding and when they did have a chance their passing seemed to let them down either behind the player or a cut out pass needed. Their chances though were few due to massive 3 man tackling. Did SBW play? .. Ineffective to say the least.

I think our England pack may have given them more of a game but no surprise on paper the Aussies are the best in the world and they also now proved it on the pitch.

What?

You're kidding right?

About which bit?

A poor end?

Or the Aussies ' cruising ' ?

The Aussies have an awesome system which has paid off since1982 with just a few glitches.
No one else has anything near.
The World Cup has been a success and should be a catalyst for improvement world wide and an improvement in standards at all levels.
The SL clubs signing of overseas players again shows the way.
England to win the next World Cup?
Under the current systems it is doubtful but then so many predicted England winning this one.
The Emperors New Clothes is still evident sadly.

Go on the fax board and you will find out a bit more.

The aussies were in top gear from the first second. Look at the ferocity of the first 3 hit ups from them. The reason it was one sided was because australia put in a damn near perfect performance and gave them no room to breathe. The execution in attack was breathtaking.

40 metres out, cam smith puts a kick to the corner, it holds up in a 5 metre in goal and australia force a drop out. From 40 metres out!! You just can't compensate for that type of ruthless and relentless play. I thought NZ were better than last week. Australia were that good.

To bad that total knob managed to invade the pitch we done to the stewards for tackling him so quickly, and I hope he is banned from all other RL for life but I suspise that he will never go to another game and has never been to a game previously, and what was the steward doing running across the pitch whilst NZ where defending.

And shame on those who cheered him RL does not need that kind of crap, I to was abit disappointed with the end to a great tournament no real intensity compared to eng v NZ semi final, Australia where just to good and I don't think under any major threat they did enough aided by some slack defence, they where scary good 2 ptbs or 2 quick passes and they where past frightening at times especially for Morris's 2 tries.

I agree with everything you say except the bit i underlined.
I think England did a good job on them and tbh i think they were still hurting and thats why the scoreline was as big as it was

Thurston ran the show today for my money. He pulled all the strings. Rightful MOM for me. Slater was a close 2nd. NZ froze. Disappointing final after all that has gone before.

Thaiday and Bird were great in the Aussie pack

I assume you mean regarding the in-goals and runoff areas?

In Australia we have something called 'Workplace Health and Safety'. Ever heard of it? It applies to sportsmen too.
After the Luke Lewis incident and near disasters with Morris and Vatuvai, I would say it's been shown to be a legitimate safety concern rather than a whinge.

Just got back. That's the best I've een Australia play for quite a few years (since the great Green Machine broke!). An outstanding display of controlled rugby league and an example of briiliant coaching and execution. They nullified the much over-hyped NZ pack and effectively beat them in the first three tackles of the match. Thereafter the display was stunning. I loved their game plan, which seemed to be old fashioned RL common-sense - run hard, tackle hard and don't drop the ball. Allied that to probably the best kicker (Thurston) in RL history and a superb game plan of making every line break count (kicking every time there was no immediate support) and executing almost flawlessly and they were a joy to watch. They utterly dominated from start to finish but made it look simple and basic - demonstrating enormous skill and ability. They showed one again that RL is a team game and not one for posers. There have been players in this tournament who have been grossly overhyped and in both cases they should have learned that RL is a team game and no matter how good they think they are international RL will find them out if them out if they are not team players.

All in all the tournament ended perfectly for the English fans - the natural order was restored with Australia showing their dominance, we went out "heroically" and we avoided the ritual humiliation of conceding a mass of points to Australia in the final and we can go away deludedly thinking what might have been.

Best performance I've seen in this country from Australia for many a year.

I don't take the view NZ were poor.

Players of the tournament:

Sam Burgess
All the Australian team
Just about no one else came close.

It's the same here. I am pretty sure there is an old legal case involving Rochdale Hornets RLFC.