Aussies Break English Hearts England simply needed to avoid defeat to make it through to next Sunday's Four Nations Final where they would again meet today's opponents, Australia. Any thoughts that Australia would field a weakened side were crushed when they announced their strongest line-up, the Aussies determined to make it a clean sweep of victories in the group stage. Wayne Bennett rang the changes for England with Kevin Brown, James Graham, and John Bateman all in the starting line up with George Williams moved to the bench after his starring role last week. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Aussies Break English Hearts England simply needed to avoid defeat to make it through to next Sunday's Four Nations Final where they would again meet today's opponents, Australia. Any thoughts that Australia would field a weakened side were crushed when they announced their strongest line-up, the Aussies determined to make it a clean sweep of victories in the group stage. Wayne Bennett rang the changes for England with Kevin Brown, James Graham, and John Bateman all in the starting line up with George Williams moved to the bench after his starring role last week. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Australia had too much quality all over the park

Callum Watkins has had a bad season with Leeds and has carried it on into the test series. He has done virtually nothing. Surely Dan Sarginson would have been better after Watkins' lack lustre performances in the previous weeks. Aussies still too good for us though.

Can't agree with that, Sarginson is even worse at this level.

Our pack, supposed to be England's strength was completely out played and we already knew that they would be better in every other position.
Hall and McGilvery both went well though.
Williams should have started, with Clarke on the bench.
Brown offered nothing extra and the bench was weaker by having Williams on there.

Hall and McGillvary both did better than I thought they'd do considering they've been e this year.

Hopefully this myth about our pack being better than the Aussies will now be seen as such.

Picking Pinhead proved pitifully pointless.

And if Watkins played at any other club, he'd be nowhere near the England setup full stop.

I remember years ago in some palatial room Andy Farrell etc being interviewed after another defeat by the Aussies, and how we had to learn from them blah blah blah......I also remember most people carrying the argument that it would benefit the national team if more players played in the NRL, which quite a few have recently, and in the likes of Ellis, Burgess, Graham have done very successfully, so when are we going to see some improved performances at international level?!! Also, what worries me personally is, I actually enjoyed watching Scotland v Australia at union yesterday, and thought some of the skill levels in that game were better than in today's game??

Brown was dire, waste of a squad position. The attitude towards the back end was poor, you can't ruffle an Aussie team they see it week in week out. How Burgess stayed on after a cheap shot like that only Hicks knows

What a laugh when when commentators said that Watkins was a world class centre pity he is not in the same class as GI or Dugan

How you can pick Watkins out of that first out of everybody suggests you're clueless about rugby and just go on club basis.

And the fact that you are defending him, make you the same.
The point was spot on.
Had Watkins played for a less fashionable club, and they'd finished bottom 4, he would not have been selected.

The Bennett experience has failed and been no improvement on his predecessor......he is the tinker man of RL and doesn't know his best England team bringing in Brown for such an important game.



Brown was out of his depth and offered very little.....Williams should have started and Clarke should have been on the bench. As for the outside backs they lack world class quality apart from Hall and Mcgillvary who appeared a constant threat with ball in hand.

Don't think Bateman is either big enough, strong enough or quick enough at this level for second row and is another weak link. They should have given Gareth Ellis one last shot.

International RL has become a pretty boring spectacle with the continued complete domination of the game by Australia.

Lomax is not an international standard fullback either

Seen Bennetts post match interview where it is all about the players not believing for the loss....what about the coach? This sums it up...Get an English coach in! www.hulldailymail.co.uk/england- ... story.html

Seen Bennetts post match interview where it is all about the players not believing for the loss....what about the coach? This sums it up...Get an English coach in! www.hulldailymail.co.uk/england- ... story.html

Thought after last week's excellent performance Williams would have been an automatic choice. He made a lovely try towards the end. I usually like Brown for the way he can dominate the game and dictate the play, but a great disappointment today. Watkins was a one season wander and is still dining out on that season plus the fact that he plays for Leeds so had to be included. England have a helluva lot of catching up to do.

like to see Clarke and Houghton both in, they bring pace to the ruck area, worth a try imo, shaul should have been tried also, again got pace to burn but we will never know how he would have fared

Quote ="asmadasa"Seen Bennetts post match interview where it is all about the players not believing for the loss....what about the coach? This sums it up...Get an English coach in! www.hulldailymail.co.uk/england- ... story.html'" As far as English coaches go, we have either Powell or Wane and if they dont want the gig, who else would you go for ?

Quote ="asmadasa"Seen Bennetts post match interview where it is all about the players not believing for the loss....what about the coach? This sums it up...Get an English coach in! www.hulldailymail.co.uk/england- ... story.html'" As far as English coaches go, we have either Powell or Wane and if they dont want the gig, who else would you go for ?

A lot of players get into squad from who they play for and what they have done in the past and not on present form regardless of who they play for

Such a surprise one of the "Watkins can do no wrong" brigade turns up.

I really like Houghton but gotta say that Hodgson was one of our only bright spots so no complaints from me that he gets the gig.

Not as surprising that Small Club Chip on the Shoulder Little Neighbour Wakefield fans immediately pointing the finger at a Leeds player.

Went to the effort to sign in just to address the Bateman point. What tosh. Bateman was one of the best layers on the field. His defence and work off the ball was immense. If only the rest of the chumps had his aggression and heart.

In turn not as surprising as an arrogant Leeds fans wearing blue and amber specs crying over any criticism of his precious Watkins.

And FWIW no one scapegoated Watkins (look up the definition), people just think he hasn't shown anything to deserve playing for England, and he really hasn't.

I thought Watkins did okay today. We are just as far behind as ever, that's all, and I can't see what Bennett has brought to the party at all. Three games and three different half-back partnerships, and even Widdop played in a different position. Sometimes it's just about heart. Australia didn't even need to win and they still did it with some ease.

At times, we were dumb. Widdop has probably outlived his "he plays in the NRL so he must be the best half-back we have". Williams should have started.

Graham doesn't seem the prop he was when he was over here, where his game seemed to much more about distribution close to the line. Now, he just runs it in.

I think it's been a poor series, on the whole. England have been poor in all three games, and Australia will slaughter New Zealand next week.