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I thought I was watching the NRL when England scored the opening try of the World Cup game against Australia.
Very sharp shifts of the ball behind not one, not two, but three decoy runners and then a clever long ball that took advantage of a defence that had tightened inwards and the Poms were over through winger Ryan Hall.
Then they scored again to lead 10-0, tempting me to think that maybe, just maybe, we were in for a tremendous contest in which the Aussies were going to be pushed to the limit.
Only problem was the game was just midway through the first half and the Aussies hadn’t gotten into gear yet.
There was plenty of time left for them to reel England in and then go past them – way more time than was necessary, in the end.
It was good to see the Poms be competitive, but I think that is as competitive as they can hope to get against Australia in this tournament.
If the two teams end up playing again, Australia will win by more like 20 points than the 28-20 they won by this time.
There are some terrific players in the England side, but not nearly enough.
It is the same problem they have faced for decades now, and one which they just can’t seem to solve.
The Aussies, with the greater concentration of genuine matchwinners, are inevitably going to pick them apart eventually, and that is what happened again.
Australia were rusty early on, and it showed. They were right down on England’s line just after the start, but didn’t take advantage because they didn’t choose the right options.
But that wasn’t going to keep happening, and when the Aussies did start firing it was champions Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater who led the way.
Three tries later and Australia led 18-10 at halftime.
All of a sudden, the memory of that great start by the Poms seemed distant.
To their credit, the Poms stuck at it in the second half, but the Aussies were always able to keep them at arm’s length or longer.
A high shot by Sam Burgess on Sam Thaiday was critical, because it allowed the Aussies to extend their lead to eight points with a penalty goal midway through the second half.
Burgess keeps coming up with these costly plays, whether it’s in the NRL or at international level.
Considering how the Aussies were off their game early on and the Poms were on theirs, there must be more improvement in the Aussies from this point.
The big advantage New Zealand have over England in trying to beat Australia in an event like this is the fact all their players are playing in the NRL.
Only a minority of the English players are doing the same.
The best thing for the Poms at this level would be if their best 25 players were all over here playing in the NRL.
We’ve seen what the experience has done for so many English players over decades, and most recently for players like Adrian Morley, Gareth Ellis and the Burgess brothers.
But it would be unrealistic to expect something like that to happen, for two reasons.
One, it would obviously be very damaging to the English Super League. And two, how many of the top 25 Poms would actually get regular first-grade football in the NRL?
England should make the semi-finals of the World Cup. It is near impossible for them not to, the way the event is set up.
But that should be as far as they go.
Australia and New Zealand should fight out the final, with the Aussies understandable favourites but the Kiwis a chance of an upset again.
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