A LOT has been said and written in the aftermath of England's defeat to Australia, but I felt they only had themselves to blame for blowing their chance of victory.
Okay, so the disputed Ryan Hall try has taken most of the headlines, but for me it was the substitutions made by Steve McNamara which killed their hopes of winning.
Having started the first half well with Josh Hodgson at hooker, I thought McNamara would adopt the same approach to the second 40 minutes. Daryl Clark had come on and caused havoc for the tiring Aussie defence when replacing Hodgson after 20 minutes.
Had England chosen to do the same in the second half, they could well have had the win in the bag long before the Hall incident ever arose.
For me, the officials were right not to give the try. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I would have been furious to see Australia awarded a try in that manner. So, I have no complaints on that front.
Fundamentally, I believe the reason why we lost is because the Aussies know how to get over the winning line in the tightest of situations. Unfortunately, we do not. Our players are not used to games of that intensity every week.
Perhaps that is to do with the fact the NRL is a more intense competition every week, whereas Super League is not. You can't afford to have an off week in the NRL, but you can over here because some of the games are a given.
When it came to the crunch, big-name players like Cameron Smith and Greg Inglis stood up and got their side over the winning line. And that's because they know how to do that even if their side is not playing at its best.
Looking back on the game, I'm sure McNamara will regret his decision to start with Clark for the second half. Australia may have targeted Hodgson when he was winded after a big tackle, but he was still causing them real problems, paving the way for Clark to do likewise when he came on.
I'm certain a similar approach would have brought rewards, but we will never know now.
However, I am still confident we can beat New Zealand on Saturday and secure our place in the final.
