England captain Sam Tomkins has admitted it will take the players a long time to get over the crippling disappointment of their World Cup semi-final defeat.
Samoa made history by becoming the first ever ‘tier two’ nation to reach a World Cup final, securing a thrilling and deserved 27-26 win over the hosts in golden-point extra time at the Emirates Stadium.
It means that just six weeks after a humiliating 60-6 loss to England in the opening game of the tournament, Samoa will face Australia at Old Trafford for the biggest prize in world rugby league.
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For England, the harsh reality of defeat means another failed tournament on home soil, the third successive home World Cup in which they have bowed out in the last four.
Tomkins turns 34 in March and knows his own dream of leading England to glory is now over. The Catalans Dragons full-back cut a devastated figure as he reflected on the heartbreaking setback.
“There was a lot of effort and I feel like that was an example of effort alone not being enough,” he said.
“We will get into the reasons why another day. We will talk about the errors and the mistakes that we made which put us under pressure.
“There were a lot of disappointed men in that dressing room and that disappointment won’t go quickly I can promise you that.”
Having produced an outstanding level of performance in romping through the group stage and dumping a dangerous Papua New Guinea out in the quarter-final, England were inexplicably edgy and error-strewn in London.
Here's the story of the game, with some exclusive behind the scenes shots you might not have seen.
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Yet still the hosts could and should have rescued their poor performance, salvaging the extra period with a thrilling late fightback, only to implode in sudden death.
Both Tomkins and half-back Jack Welsby came up with huge uncharacteristic, unforced handling errors to gift their opponents the field position for Stephen Crichton’s winning drop goal.
“We played against a very good Samoa side and I think a team like that you can’t give opportunities to, and I felt like we did that both with the ball and without the ball,” Tomkins added.
“We gave opportunities and they have got good players who will get you in the end.”
Samoa lost hulking captain Junior Paulo for ten minutes in the sin bin for a dangerous tackle but England were unable to take advantage, and Paulo has since been cleared to lead his side out against the Aussies in Manchester.
Despite his dejection, Tomkins was full of praise for what the Pacific Island have done in this tournament, and believes that if they could upset the Kangaroos next weekend it would be a watershed moment for international rugby league.
“It would be brilliant, and that Australia against New Zealand semi-final was probably the best game of rugby I have seen in a long long time.
“Australia will go into the final as strong favourites and deservedly so. But what Tonga and Samoa have done in recent years with players wanting to play for their homelands rather than the bigger nations has really opened up international rugby and I think it can only be a positive.”
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