Rugby League World Cup- The 18th man: 'A terrible shame that so much of this tournament came down to two silly unforced errors'

Glynn Bradshaw

It was another great game on Saturday, but fair to say that we could have, and should have, won it, so it was a massive disappointment.

All credit to Samoa, but a few too many of our guys had a poor match and took the wrong options.

I thought George Williams had another good game, what a tournament he has had.

Lafai had a fine afternoon and Luai imposed himself at the right time.

Looking forward to this Saturday, you can’t write Samoa off, but can’t see beyond an Australian victory.

Darren Wrudd

As Saturday dawned full of expectation and the promise of a World Cup Grand Final, both Samoa and England would have been buzzing to get going.

So close and yet so far for one squad, which unfortunately turned out to be about us.

I cannot in any way fault the effort of the England players, they put in a real shift and it was testament to just how fit the Samoan players were.

We looked like we faded in energy towards the end of the first half and then started the second in a similar manner.

Little things like body language and the reaction to the odd missed tackle started to show possible gaps in our plan.

But then we rallied, as big teams do and managed to force that horrible adventure into golden point territory.

At this point momentum was ours, we even won the toss for first use of the ball and as the Samoans kicked off, we just needed to build a set and drive the ball in.

Really!

A silly dropped ball under no pressure, oh well never mind just one set to defend and that we did.

The charge down of their attempt was ace. OK, now steady as we go, we got this…….

Good grief, a forward pass - why not just gift it to them, which of course we just had.

A terrible shame that so much of this tournament came down to two silly unforced errors while in possession of the ball.

We had our chances too, a dropped ball over the line amongst several others should have given us the spoils but when it came down to it, we just could not cope with the pressure and the occasion.

Fatigue no doubt played its part and I have not named players as I don’t blame them, bottom line is that the better team won on the day and now I will support that very same Samoan squad to stuff the Aussies on Saturday.

They should have a good chance of it too if they can get a decent night's sleep beforehand.

Another disappointment came on Monday evening when the Women’s England squad faced up to a blistering New Zealand team.

These girls are not full time athletes as the Antipodeans are, but they stood up to them and never took a backwards step.

A couple of the opponents were simply huge and such a handful to stop, but our girls threw themselves into tackles almost acting as a speed bump to slow them enough for others to join in.

I could not be more proud of each and every one of them and they have certainly earned the respect of rugby league fans and players the world over.

More by chance than plan, I began a few weeks ago to watch some of the wheelchair rugby.

What have we been missing all this time?

These players are simply fantastic, and tough as old boots.

Of course England have made their final this Friday evening and by golly I wish I could have gone along.

Nevertheless I shall be watching on the BBC and I implore you to do the same if you have not already.

Fast, exciting, brutal and skilful does not come close to describing what you will see. Added to that, this is a World Cup final against the French, what better incentive is there to cheer on England.

As all three tournaments come to a head, I wish all the players the very best of luck and no doubt the best teams will win.

Robert Kenyon

It was a thrilling game and I thought we might just snatch it in the dying minutes.

With the fixture being in London, and it being such a good game, it may have been the catalyst we needed as a sport to have our 2005 Ashes or 2003 Union World Cup moment.

It’ll have to wait for another time.

The Samoa team is littered with superstars.

With Su’uali, Crighton,, To’o, Luai, Papali’i, Paulo and Su’a they stand a good chance of beating Australia, and I’ll be cheering them on.

I just hope that the semi-final wasn’t their final and they produce the goods at Old Trafford.

It was unfortunate that the women got beat against New Zealand, again a missed opportunity for the sport but the wheelchair side might be able to win a trophy for us.

The women’s game has opened my eyes this tournament and I think going forward I wouldn’t mind going to watch a few Wigan women’s games, it’s very entertaining.