Well done England. Need to step it up tho the aussies have warmed up now

Yes he offers absolutely nothing in attack, but decent defender at least.

Brown shouldn't be playing at this level, his long kicking game isn't good enough, not taken a kick yet I don't think... not a threat with ball in hand, and Cordner just ran through him for Australia try.

Id have a guess its his dinner lol.

Nah too skinny

Brown should have been subbed at half time, just ran over him all night, and hasn't done anything but ship the ball on in attack.

Attendance 40,033

I don't think I have ever seen anyone drop the ball 3 times on consecutive carries, take a bow Tom Burgess.

Our long kicking game was excellent, good performance defensively, just hopeless whenever we got near Australia line.

Currie needs to work on his defence, way too much shirt grabbing.

Yes, we could have probably should have won, yes Bateman is not a cenyte and Brown isn't internatioal class but goodness that was epic, high tension sporting drama.

If that was the England RU team or the England football team the sunday newspapers would already be preparing the HEROES banners for the front pages.

In terma of an 80 minute RL game, I'm gutted but in terms of a providing entertainment and nail biting theatre to the neutrals, that was a priceless spectacle.

Btw, the Chris Hill imposter has gone, the real one is back.

Spot on! Heartbroken at the ankle tap as they were on the ropes by then!

One good thing. There are no injuries to any Warrington players.

Great game, exciting (nail biting) until the end. We should have earnt a lot of respect from the aussies in that 80 minutes, IMO origin standard.

I feel we lost it in the halves not having patience, 3 times we had sets of 6 starting deep in their half and every time we put a hopeful kick through on 2nd tackle, thats just not good enough, we should have completed and tested for a repeat set. We should have had 15 chances for someone to find the elusive gap and 3 kick chances to test for a try or repeat set, instead we had 3 attempts at a gap and 3 hopeful kicks. The fourth similar chance we had the ball was dropped on the first, can't fault the effort, the aussies looked shot on 60 mins but I feel a few daft plays cost us there.

Hall, Watkins, mcgilvary, whitehead and Hill in particular were immense I thought every forward was brilliant today, in fact everyone. Bateman looked like Hughes for us last season, everytime he got the ball you knew the move was over but he has acquitted himself well all world cup it's not his fault he isn't a centre. Great effort from the boys, very proud of their efforts this morning, the reality is the aussies are still a score better than us.

So disappointed in the result, I don't know how people thought that it would be an Australian walk over by 20/30 Australia are marginally better than us at present and the last few score lines demonstrates that.


Hopefully we can continue to improve and next time get the win.

Aussies could have weakened sooner if Gale had of stuck to WB system of complete every 6/7 plays. He was kicking on 3/4 plays.

We were equally as brilliant and frustrating.

Absolutely gutted!

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

Enjoyed the game, very physical and tense. In the end lack of composure and attacking flair in their 30m meant we couldn't score either with or without Brown.

In terms of our chaps - Hill was back to his best, Currie anonymous and Brown subbed.

I thought it was a very entertaining game, but spoiled by poorly being staged in the heat & humidity of Brisbane. Both teams were out on their feet at the hour mark & any grandstand finish was out of the window. However, well done to all concerned.

I’m glad we saw the real Hill at last... I just hope he can find that form for us for the upcoming season.

Currie wasnt anonymous, we just didn’t see his attacking skill as the game plan was attrition, typically Bennett. There were lots of skilled attackers on the field but really only saw one clean break when Watkins was ankle tapped, after we targeted Dugans left centre channel (one of the few weaker Aussie areas).

Brown didn’t do anything wrong per se, but it was right to move Widdop to half-back as he added a bit more to taking on the line. Gale did no better than Brown.

Either way, let’s hope all four of our World Cup players have a short rest then get motivated for our season ahead. I’m cautiously optimistic, not expecting top four but hoping for top six and a good cup run to show we are building towards something better.

Disappointed Ratchford wasn't on the bench at least. He was the only man in the team with the x factor.
I'd have liked him to have gone right centre for that game.

What x factor does Ratchford have? I have always thought Ratchford was going to be a really good player but he just never seems to push on.

Maybe this season will be a big year for him but he seems to lack that clinical decision making you need against good defences, he is too indecisive and looks like a headless chicken at times.

Widdop made some errors in the final but to me, he seems like the player I was hoping Ratchford would become... but maybe lacks the brain/ability whatever you want to call it.

I think Ratchford has suffered for being shoe horned into the full back position & looked on as a utility player. Maybe a more hands on attacking position would suit him better ,but to me he seems reluctant to pass the ball at times although he is good at creating gaps. Maybe the new set up will make better use of Stef.

I see that a certain Mr Tony Smith has described the 6-0 scoreline as flattering for England.

Sounds like a bitter man.

Not really what he says is true

we match them in the solders but their generals are better than ours and until we can correct that it will be tough to beat Australia, although they have been fortunate to have had slater cronk and smith in the team and also playing their club rugby together almost certainly makes a significant difference when they retire it will be down to trying to find the right combo.

One thing that struck me is smith was referring to English rugby as our so I don't think he is bitter just can see that maybe we're not as close as the 6-0 scoreline may suggest.

We say it after every tournament, it's something to build on I just have no faith in the rfl to do anything to use this as a play form to really focus on the next world cup and set up some tours in the meantime to build a squad spirit leading into the world cup. And at the same time use this to raise awareness of the team and how close they are to becoming the best team in the world!!!!

Tony Smith talks about intelligence and its true they make the right decisions the majority of the time in big games. Possibly because they have more big games there's nrl playoffs soo and also international tests we have the cc playoffs and final with international rugby too. Game count maybe similar but the intensity of the games are on a different level. Representative rugby maybe the key is it not feasible to run a home nations style tournament alongside the sl season, it will benefit all teams maybe one sided but on a selfish level that will help confidance and experience Cameron Smith has over 100 representatives between test series World Cup games and soo Roby has 34!!!!!, that's just a huge gulf in international games played and one that has to be addressed!!

People always tend to say we match them in the forwards... that old saying must be wrong that forwards win the game, and backs decide by how much, because I cannot remember the last time England beat Australia?

I think there forwards tend to look fitter, make less errors in both attack and defence, and dominate field position.

Silly penalties and knock ons from forwards cost us just us much as wayward passes and kicks from the backs in the final.

I don't really get that.

Apart from the disallowed effort in the 2nd half Australia didn't really have many scoring opportunities, and full credit should go to the England defence for nullifying a potentially potent and usually free scoring attack.