Slater injured but Kangaroos still get the jump on England

They are if you take the NRL players out of NSW and QLD Cup (not the very fringe ones but the guys who are in and out of first grade).

Australia were the better side, but the scoreline didn't do England justice for a committed performance without 2 key forwards for half the match. The rules say Williams should have walked for that high shot, but you see those go on report every week, so expect a one match ban and he'll be back for the final. Whoever gets through to play Australia will have had a tough match, so the final should be good.

Kiwis will win the final now, no worries. I would love the poms to reach the final to spice things up a bit but this is unlikely v a very well drilled Kiwi mob.

Well, what a surprise, the Poms knew they had to play their heart out to beat the Oz's and they had the Oz's rattled for most of the game, were very good on defending and showed good signs in their attack. A bit of bad refereeing for both sides, but in all i enjoyed the game, it had a bit of everythink in it, the only way to stop a big winger is to cut his legs from under him, not try to shoulder charge like Slater did and go high like the replacement fullback did, wasted effort. The Poms will beat the Kiwi's i have no doubt, from what i saw the other morning, the Kiwi's are not a match, forget what they did to Wales, it will be a Pom v Oz final and the Ozy boys had better be on their metal.

not quite the 60K some pundits in league forums were talknig of, but good to see RL return to london nonetheless.

That should be 150k living in London...

Why is everyone bagging the ref with regards to the disallowed try? It was pretty clear to me that his hands touched the ground while darius was grabbing his shirt at the same time. To me that's a completed tackle. Besides that both games were very entertaining with some brutal hits n great tries. Loved the atmosphere inside wembley even though it was half full. Will definitely be purchasing more league tickets at wembley in the future and I hope the league wc final will be played there....

England, in which Rugby league is not a major national sport only lost to Australia, in which Rugby League is a major sport -one of the few sports in which Australia still leads a relatively small portion of the world, because of dubious refereeing decisions by an antipodean referee. That's about the long and short of it.

England were robbed by a biased ref and an Australian pack that bends the rules. Australia's forwards were getting slaughtered until they started holding the ball-carrier down in the play-the-ball. You won't see TIm Sheens whinging about that. There were many times when the markers would make a second and third effort at the ball-carrier's feet to prevent him from playing the ball quickly. I recall Australia's right center getting penalised towards the end of the game for doing it, but the forwards got away with it all night. So no, I dont' think Australia deserved to win. They resorted to foul tactics when England's dummy-half, forward pack and halves were creating second-phase play and keeping them on the backfoot with quick play-the-balls. Williams' high shot on Westwood should have resulted in an automatic send-off. What he did was no better than the high shot that got Morley sent off during the last Ashes series. Australia were pathetic when you consider England were down a few men during the second half. Peacock was playing on one leg, Graham didnt' play at all and Ellis was off with a rib or back injury. Imagine how poor the Aussies would have been if Burgess was there? Jon Wilkins showed some pretty impressive skill in the long-distance try that England scored just before half-time. Tompkins has all the skills. Bring him to the NRL. I reckon he has the potential to win the Dally M. His evasiveness and ability to offload out of nowhere is freakish.

for sure Brendon and gareth ellis was struggling yesterday and had to sit out a half time. England problem is depth, if they could field a full strength 17 man team, and had bad luck yesterday with the ref 50/50 calls, they could beat Australia in England at least. Kiwis are also under strength this 4 nations as it is clear Australia have more depth than any other team in rugby league. NZ at full strength man for man are as good i believe especially next year when locker leaves, but as soon as injuries hit the kiwis or palms then they ar ein trouble vs the aussies at least.

I was surprised there weren't more than 40k for a double header. There are 150k Australians and Kiwis living in NZ and Cardiff is only 2.5 hrs drive from London. Despite that the atmosphere was incredible.

Wont be surprised to see him handed a very light and pathetic one game ban against Wales so he can be back ready for the Final. Thats usually how Australia sets themselves up isnt it.

Agreed, they would both be in the top 5 2RF's in the game and make a great combination. Pretty hard to beat AUS at the moment though with the quality they have in the team across the park. Maybe they need a bit of aggression, a little niggle. Someone like Michael Ennis perhaps?

Rangi Chase had a Paul Carige like moment when he failed to kick to touch the moment England regain the ball at the restart it put unnecessary pressure on them and one of the reasons of there undoing, they play pretty well just need to cut out the errors. England vs NZ can go either way.

So oikee are you saying French division 1 league is as high a standard as QLD or NSW cup, wow id love to hear some more about this statement you made that is a big call mate, but it may be true as Catalyn dragons in the english super league have certainly raised prossional standards in front and interest or at least awareness in rugby league in the south of france eg toulouse, bordeux, and catalyn part of France. And i hear junior participation for rugby league in france is up to so that is good news. 40 years ago France were as good as aussies and England and beat Australia many times.

Yes, next weeks game will probably be bigger than the Wembley game. Both will be desparate to make the final. France are not as bad as some people think. Their local league games are as good as our local games , i watched their final this year, it was a cracker.

Agreed Oikee that was a cracking game of footy. That game had everything, controversy, drama and 10 brilliant tries in front of over 40 thousand fans. Who said international rugby league was dead. The kiwis v england game next week will be a beauty to set up what will be another thrilling four nations final the following week. Wales have also been very galant. They just need to capatalise on their chances. I think it is time to expand it to a 5 nations. I think France would have been a great addition. These minnow teams will only get better if they keep playing the big boys every year. Think Sri Lanka in the cricket they used to get walloped but now look at them. The same will happen with France and Wales it is only a matter of time.

Tony williams had a great game i have not seen allayer like him as powerful since jonah loom, and that includes Manu Vatuvai. I remember last year Manly V Warriors, big manna and T-rex williams were marking up on each other and caused huge hype. Tony williams put 2 tries on big Manu. But now he has moved to forwards and improved attitude he is a handful, be great Tony williams in origin next year look at QLD.And double trouble if they put th eothe brig man jamal iris in the NSW side. But wow if ever there wa splayed lucky to stay on the park it was last night Tony williams 47th minute. I have not seen a more ucky player to stay on the park since terry Lamb's hit on Ellery Hanley wow, if anyone watched the match last night ro replay today Tony williams was lucky to tay on the park, and only have the ref put it on report. If that was in the NRL and john Hopoate or Paul Galle did that he would get 8-10 weeks

B.S, nobody gave Wales much hope to get with-in 50 of NZ. So your embarressing statement is just that. England had a crack, ? what are you blind, their improved strength right across the park is also obvious. The only reason why England have been poor is their halves, now they have got a good pairing, they will continue to build. Same as Wales, they need to find a pair of good halves to replace Briers, once they get someone who can take charge , they will get better. Nothing wrong with their forwards, they performed really well. The guy who hit Mackendry and broke his jaw had a blinder. They are big and strong, they just need creativity. Maybe they need to import a halfback like England have done with Chase. Why not, most teams should look into the 3 year rule. You want to improve nations, improve their halfbacks and five-eigths, that seems to be the key.

Oikee the wales nz game was embarrassing in fact it was shocking, I'm glad England had a crack but sadly they are just poor very disappointing all-round. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.