Well ,i've said it before & i'll say it again, that England team was much more effective in defence & attack when Hill & Westwood were on the field together & i believe that if they had been left on till the end England would have been going to Old Trafford.

...but for Burgess' brainfart in the last minute.

Cross between gutted and fuming, atm

But what a fabulous game of rugby and a great advert for the game. I was quite critical of the build up to the World Cup and thought it would turn out to be an embarrassment - but how wrong can you be.

Why didn't Tomkins play?

I’m a bit down after being so close but when it’s played like that ours is the greatest show on earth! Well done to all those lads today, what a game the Wire boys gave everything they had. Blood to water!

A wonderful advert, but a terrible shame.

George Burgess is a superb player and it's a shame his penalty ultimately led to the try at the death, though Sinfield charging out of the line was the hammer that struck the final nail in the coffin.

It was a great advert for rugby league & tbh i thought Tomkins probably had his best game i've ever seen & i think Widdop being selected over Chase was vindicated massively. Burrow as replacement hooker in this game seemed to be ineffective whereas i know he is good for Leeds ,but i think he would have been better utilised at half back. Lockers was a very steadying influence & i was pleased for the young back line who stepped up to the mark. By the way, that James Graham looks a promising player.

Widdop quality, how it took this long for McNamara to realise god knows, hopefully that was Mac's last game in charge

In agreement

Hill is good but Westwood is class both a credit to your club. Westwood is a real tough bar steward too.

McNamara has signed a new 4 year deal to take us into the next World Cup in 2017; will be announced on Monday

One of the very best games I've ever seen for intensity, brute force and skill.

Can't praise the players highly enough.

I don't think anyone had a 'bad' game.

Sam B was unbelievable.
Graham was outstanding.

NZ showed individual brilliance that got them over (that 1st NZ try.... wow) but as a team England deserved better and played better.

Nobody mentioned it, but did Ablett even get on?

Tomkins, Widdop, Sinfield, Graham, both Burgesses, Hill, Westwood, O'Loughlin - all had great games. New Zealand just had that little extra. Brilliant game. Final should be a cracker too.

I thought England played very well today. We are just short of a bit of quality in the outside backs and halves but you can't fault the effort and I thought our structure looked good too, it made the most of our strengths so I'm happy with McNamara as coach. Games like that are won and lost on fractions, if Hall's interception had stuck he would have gone the length and game over.

Chris Hill deserves huge credit because he is playing alongside some top class forwards but he doesn't look overshadowed. I was at the game with some RU fans today and had been going on about how great the Burgesses were but they were massively impressed with Hill.

Westwood we have known for a while you can rely on him at whatever level he is playing to step up and deliver.

I look forward to seeing how England can try and improve in the coming years, my main Warrington hope is Ratchford if he can really develop his game he could be the man to bring some quality to our halves (although Widdop was good today it has to be said).

Before the tournament I feared we would go down by 40+ points in the semis but I came away from today thinking tbh we were a better side than NZ, so I am very impressed.

Well said Sally, and very simply summed up. Me to very impressed with commitment, skill level, intensity,desire. Anybody from the dark side watching that must have wondered where RL can unearth prop forwards with the skill package that we displayed today. Of course the answer is simple really on the amateur fields of Wigan, Liversedge and St Helens

I can remember when we signed Hill saying on here and elsewhere that he would play for England in the RLWC, most laughed at me.

If only Westwoood had managed to get across the whitewash towards the end and seal the win, it would have been incredible. Don't think I have ever been so gutted about losing a game, but what an amazing spectacle from start to finish. It is easy to go on about the missed conversion or kick down field, but to criticise individual performances or moments in the game would do the game and sport a huge disservice.

Sat next to me were a few blokes from Watford who had only watched one game prior to yesterday. They were completely blown away by everything about it. Probably the best test match we have seen since Sydney Football Stadium test back in 2006.

A few random, disjointed thoughts;

That was a fantastic advertisement for RL, both on TV (wonder what the audience was ?) and at Wembly.

You don't realise how much talent we are losing to Oz until you see all our players on the pitch. Burgess was outstanding and Graham was excellent. Add to that a very good Widdop and the loss of Tomkins. Is it one of the factors in the declining interest in our 'regular' games as well ?

I didn't realise just how poor Chase was until I saw him 'not play'. I think he would have crabbed around for 15 minutes, got splattered, and then become an anonymous bystander for the rest of the match. Widdop was direct and gave Sinfield much needed time and space.

Problem for me will be returning to SL next year and watching low intensity matches, with loads of mistakes, and wishing I was watching the Eng / NZ match again.

The TV audience peaked with 2.83m/27.3% at 2.50pm. Money couldn't buy an advert for the game like that.

Agreed, Widdop was excellent and I hope this is the end of Chase's England career.

The answer to your problem is to subscribe to Premier Sports... the intensity of the NRL has gripped me much more than Super League does (still religiously follow the Wire though). Roll on 2014!

If only Ben Westwood's arm was 2 inches longer! I was convinced he was going to score....

I feel sorry for Ben that we didn't progress yesterday, England's current pack is immense and he's a vital part of that (Farrell wouldn't offer the same, IMO), but he's the wrong side of 30 now and international caps may be limited in the future. If we do kick on from yesterday and challenge Aus / NZ, Benny is unlikely to be part of that.

I think that might be his last cap. He's not going to be around in four years time, so we might as well promote a younger player into the England setup now.

Agree.
It's time for Sinfield, Burrow, Westwood and O'Loughlin to say goodbye.

Both were magnificent but I think the whole England team were in all fairness, it was just very, very unlucky in the end. The England pack is in my opinion the best in the world, Widdop had a great game and should be better in 4 years and Sinfield had his best game as a half in an England shirt (the charge out at the end was silly though). I can't really fault any of them, sure there are ifs, buts and maybes about some decisions but that's sport and we have to credit New Zealand for their efforts too. What a fantastic advertisement for Rugby League to be put out on the BBC surely that must have won over some new fans.

The most promising thing for me is that most of the key players on the pitch were all young enough to be in at their peak in 2017, Charnley, 3 Burgesses, Watkins, Tomkins, Hall, Widdop, Hill, Graham and more all played well and will be way better for the experience and hopefully Jack Reed will be fit next time too. The only real exceptions are Benny and O'Loughlin.

I never thought I would be saying this before the tournament but I would back McNamara to have another crack at it next time round and I genuinely think that if we have a good run with injuries and can get our strongest team out we have a great chance of winning it it's a long time to wait though.

Chris Hill & Super Ben did Warrington proud, in fact England were very very good especially Hill, Westwood, Graham & S Burgess!