“How do I feel? Deflated, gone, disappointed but not in the team. The team dug deep, as deep as hell.”
Jermaine McGillvary has been one of the undisputed stars of the 2017 Rugby League World, a try-scoring and tackle-busting menace, but that came as no consolation to him after losing the final. The England winger has burst on the international stage but couldn’t prevent a close 6-0 defeat to Australia in Brisbane.
McGillvary was in a reflective mood after the gripping final, which saw England push the Kangaroos harder than any other team has in years.
“We were defending for a lot of that game, especially on our own try-line,” he told The Sportsman.
“They threw everything at is and only scored six points, which obviously won them the game. But we can take a lot of credit from it. But hopefully we build on this in the future and it makes us go one step further. It’s pretty hard to take at the moment but hopefully looking back at the next couple of months we can be proud of some of the stuff we’ve done. It’s pretty heart-breaking to lose how we did, in a tight game like that.”
England were only behind by Boyd Cordner’s try at half-time after some desperate and brave defence. McGillvary said the message from coach Wayne Bennett at half-time was clear.
“We should take a lot of confidence in keeping them to six points. Go out second half and try execute with good ball. Keep doing what we’re doing defensively. I thought our defence was awesome today. Just the attack and the execution in good ball let us down.”
Despite throwing everything at the Kangaroos in the final 20 minutes, England couldn’t find the vital try it needed to tie the game up.
“We had chances but credit to Australia, they’re a world-class outfit,” the Huddersfield outside back said.
“I don’t think our quick-ball attack was too great, we made too many errors. Me included, I messed up in the first half. But against any other normal team they’d have leaked points easily. They work hard from the inside. They’re a really good, fit team. It was really hard.”
England may have lost the final but they have won respect and admiration from around the world with their gritty display. The performance in the final can be a shot in the arm for the sport in the UK and for Super League.
“I’ve heard in the past the [English] backs aren’t good enough, they can’t catch, they’re weak,” McGillvary said.
“I don’t think there’s too many differences [to Australia] across the park, they just execute a lot better than us. It’s not something we can’t fix. Maybe it’s a little bit of a Super League mentality, we like to thrown the ball about too much when we should grind out. But we’re learning. We’re closing the gap. The gap’s still there but we’re closing it. Hopefully, the next generation of boys who will be in the next World Cup will close that a little more and hopefully try and win it for us.”
