DOWN BLUNDER
Error-strewn England stumble to semis and coach admits ‘it’s ugly’
In the history of sport, there cannot be too many quarter-final wins at a World Cup that will have left the coach of the victorious team quite as frustrated as this one.
Another week, another errorstrewn broken record of a performance from Wayne Bennett’s men, who somehow find themselves one win from the final.
The needle is stuck on the ballad of dropped balls and forward passes — and the Queenslander needs to find a way to reset if this England team are going to have any chance of lifting the trophy for the first time since 1972.
Forget likely final opponents Australia on December 2 — a repeat of this display and England will struggle to get past Tonga in Auckland next weekend.
It is incredibly frustrating. Bennett’s men have pace, power and no little skill. But their logic-defying lack of respect for the ball will hurt them if it is not rectified rapidly. Eighteen errors was criminal and had Bennett thinking of outlaws.
‘That was the good, the bad and the ugly,’ he said. ‘We had some good defence, some nice build-up but the bad was the lack of discipline with the footy.’
And the ugly? ‘Watching it,’ he added. ‘That was ugly to watch.’ Assistant coach Denis Betts was a little more upbeat. ‘I’m very satisfied,’ he said. ‘They scored six and we scored 36 on the back of a 50 per cent completion rate.’
When he had removed his tongue from his cheek, Betts added: ‘All we have to do is get that up. We know we have to get better. The priority was to get to Auckland — we fly to Auckland tomorrow.’
Betts is right. If England can rid themselves of the errors, few will remember these fixtures.
Here, with the recovered Sam Burgess back in the side, a double from Jermaine McGillvary, player of the tournament so far, got them started before Alex Walmsley crashed over to make it 14-0 at the break.
But, before the game was 25 minutes old, England’s error count was at five. By the time the hooter went it was up to 12.
A new half saw old habits, with the mistake ticker declaring at 18. But the positives, like the errors, remained.
When they were not dropping the ball, England’s relentless defence and hard running brought the Kumuls to their knees.
An eye- catching try from Warrington’s Ben Currie, a double for Leeds centre Kallum Watkins and a late score for his club-mate Ryan Hall ensured Garry Lo’s response meant little. England owe the tournament organisers a schooner of Victoria Bitter. played matches — Papua on and home won new territory — Guinea all of in front their had of raucous, packed houses in Port Moresby. This was a different proposition. Melbourne’s AAMI Park was half empty, a sad sight for a World Cup quarter-final, with those present almost exclusively in the red and white of England. Had it not been for the loyalty of England’s followers, this may well have been an embarrassing spectacle. When PnG ran out of gas, there was no lift from the stands as there would have been at home. and And a so date to Auckland with surprise on Saturday package Tonga, who just squeezed past Lebanon 24-22 in their thrilling quarter-final and who will have considerable and noisy support behind them. Hopefully England can muster a different tune.