Rugby League World Cup: Shaun Wane reflects on England's semi-final defeat to Samoa

It was a heartbreaking end to the tournament for England, as they lost 27-26 on golden point at the Emirates Stadium, following Stephen Crichton’s winning drop-goal.

Wane states his side didn’t deliver the same the standards which helped them on their way to the semis.

He said: “It wasn’t good enough, they were the better team. All credit to our players for what we have done in this tournament, it’s been outstanding what we have delivered, but we didn’t do those small details against Samoa and it has cost us dearly.

"They had better composure. Just not good enough on the biggest stage you can imagine.

"We needed to do things that worked for us more consistently, we went away from that a bit, that’s down to me and the staff, so the first people we will look at is ourselves.

"We’ve got an honest group of players, we will get in this position again, and we will be better.

"What has worked for us in competition, we didn’t deliver to the same standards.

“I can’t for one minute doubt my players’ effort, they tried hard and are absolutely devastated, I’m wounded for them.

"To make any excuses would be unfair to Samoa, they were better than us today.”

Samoa will now head to the final at Old Trafford next week, where they will face Australia, who beat New Zealand on Friday night.