I am actually at loss as to how that was not given. Would have been the luckiest try I've ever seen, but Hall played for the ball and he had his fingers on the ball in the in goal area - that's a try...

It REALLY irks me that they would go to the video ref to make use of the slow motion technology and then make a decision based on it at full speed...

The downward pressure rule has already become farcical and if that had been given we might as well take it out of the rules. There is no way on gods earth he got downward pressure on that, and only the most one-eyed Englishman would say he did.

But it should have been irrelevant. England were tactically abysmal in the second half and all our key players went AWOL.

We are out imo.
No way will we be at NZ after that game and them having a day extra rest.

Well played the England lads, but McNamara get a taxi, out thought by a coach with no big ammunition.
Why take Clark off the goon?

His finger is bent on the ball, it's a try.

Anyone but an Aussie gives that.

Blatant cheating.

That was a try. The replay clearly showed that. Downward pressure applied. We need to play for 80 mins next week or the kiwis will do the same as what's happened today.
Elliott Whitehead for Joel Tomkins surely. I'd go with Joe Burgess instead of charnley as well. Charnley offers nothing at this level. Hall shows that a world class winger can create something out of nothing.

He had his finger on the ball in the in goal area. Either he played for the ball and touched it in the in goal - try, or he didn't play for it and knocked it out after Inglis had knocked it back- drop out.

They gave no try AND 20m restart.

No not drop out.
It's either a try or a knock on from Hall.
They called it as a knock on effectively.

I didn't think Smiths kicking game was that bad. Just didn't have enough possession and field position in the 2nd half

Regardless of whether it was a try or not, England failed to beat a THIRD string Australia side. That's what annoys me.

X2

As they say in the NRL.

"Skin on ball on grass, its a try".

People talking about control, it doesn't matter as long as its skin on ball on grass with downward pressure even from a pinky. If that would have been Inglis it would have been a try, he would have meant it and he's a genius for being able to score tries like that but with all due respect this ref wasn't as biased as usual but he didn't do us many favours, the flip penalty before the Hunt try was a load of cack and when Burgess knocked on/had it stripped they didn't show a replay, hmmmm???!!!

Can you hear that noise? It's the excuses barrel being scraped. Blame the ref, the Hall "try", the awful Aussie kit whatever, you're just deluding yourselves.

We had the players to beat them, we played well enough in the first half but we didn't show up in the second - I don't know what our "coach" said at half-time, but the second half tactics were non-existent. It was like being back in the Anderson-Plange era.

Tactically naive, a coach who selects a squad then plays the same 19 every match, makes substitutions by numbers and when the tide turns sits there like Nero with a laptop instead of a fiddle.

This.

Utilising your opinion to overide fact is the action of an narcissist.

Thought Australia were the better team in the first ten minutes of the game and the last forty. So overall they deserved to win.

Our kicking game and two of our second rowers were poor. The best back rower in SL last season was nowhere to be seen (Whitehead) when JTomkins and Ferres were completely amonymous throughout the season and have not justified being in the team. and in this game they were awful! Charnley did nothing and neither did Hodgson. You cannot have four players contributing so little to a game against Australia. That's not good enough.

However, that was a try in the final minute. BBC Sport showed a super zoom of it and it was 100% nailed on a try! Nobody had ever heard of the video ref, not even Millward an Aussie! Where did they pluck him from?some Melbourne back street pub and say "here you go pal, you're the video ref for the Australia v England game!"...disgraceful decision!

But I don't think we even deserved to win. Poor game management, no leadership, no direction, poor tactics, poor kicking game...Australia's worst team for decades were still better than our best team for decades.

Joel Tomkins inclusion in this side baffled me but didn't surprise me, when you have a 1st team coach 11 and a half thousand miles away running the team!!!

JT was the England replacement for Hock or Westwood, take your pick.
That is a MASSIVE drop in back rower talent, I would have even been satisfied with Ablett.
There was even Cooper in that squad he could have selected before him, and from McNamara's own back garden, raving it up!!!

Okay I know there are excuses for not selecting two of them but please! Charnley showed more skill before kick off with his finger up his nose!
JT perhaps 10 SL games? No preseason conditioning, a flop in Union not getting game time.

Would the Aussies put up with such an farce of a coaching set up as ours with McNanara?
And I hope the donuts on here who backed him on another thread and told me to shut it revise their thoughts!

Basically, we did a Chelsea. Get a lead, then shut up shop. Chelsea, more often than not, manage to see the game out.

That game was there for the taking, and due to non-existant attacking threat for 20 odd minutes, and then panic station for the last 10, we bottled it....against the weakest Aussie side I can ever remember.

MacNamara is now becoming a master in heroic failure, with no plan B

The ref was, quite frankly, out of his depth. EVERY time we had a kick, either Widdop or Smith was CLATTERED by the on running tackler(s), along side with two second late "flops" which happened umpteen times during the game.

Clark needs to realise that he has teammates, and needs to offload at the correct time. 2 or 3 times he bombed clear cut chances, when he could have taken the easier option of a pass.

Joel Tomkins is currently nowhere near international class, as is Josh Hodgson.

Hall superb. This fellow is a beast.
Hill superb.
Graham kept getting up after bad knocks.

I can see another heroic defeat next week. Shame, as the players deserve a better coach.

This

If ferris and JT is the best we can muster for Hock and Westwood then McNamara in charge down yonder clearly exhibits how well the appointment is working!!!

McNamara is too soft. Bad decisions go against his team and he just takes it. "oh, i'm not sure if it was a try or not".

If he wants to see how to go on a proper rant, he needs to check out Matt Parrish's recent interview regarding match officials.

Of course, the difference is Parrish doesn't have a job in the NRL, McNamara does and he's probably s**tting it because if he stirs anything up, he thinks he could lose his job.

Inglis grounded the ball before Hall did, so it should have been a drop out.



We had such a nothing second half, we woke up in the 78th minute and actually nearly scored. Very disappointing.

With respect to England's response to the VR decision Australian captian Cameron Smith said: "I think they were trying to bluff the referee, a lot of teams do that".

Well, I suppose he would know better than most!

Interesting comment from Wilkins in the highlight show to the effect that England look at their most dangerous when Hill and Clarke are on the pitch together.... the future is bright, the future is PnB!

Elliot Whitehead must have watched that game today and thought "what the is going on?!" I said on the last page, Whitehead was the best back rower in SL last season and he was nowhere to be seen.

Yet JTomkins, the turncoat Union , gets straight in the team after less than a dozen average games back in SL and he contributed absolutely nothing in two games in this Four Nations. Then you have Ferres, who hasn't impressed me in any game I've seen him play in for over a year gets in the team as a sub for these two games and contributes absolutely nothing as well.

Could be worse, the toffs are talking about where Sam Burgess will feature in their England squad before he has even played a minute of the sport. Embarrassing.

Whitehead can't defend

Ferris was on fire, last year. Sadly, that was last year. That's a bench spot taken up.
Tomkins J just nowhere near what's required
Westerman living on previous years' reputations
You never know if SO'L is going to be fit or not
Farrell is too "in and out" in his performances

So that's the scrum's back 3 covered, and it's not great. It's certainly not Test level.

This MUST give the likes of Currie and Laithwaite the fillip they need to reach Test level (even though they aren't there, atm). They can't do any worse than what's was out there, this morning.