Dismay for England but Rugby League World Cup semi-final epics provide one key lesson

The two semi-finals, decided by a total of three points, will have been watched by television viewers who don’t normally tune into the sport and surely left them hungry for more.

Australia’s 16-14 defeat of New Zealand was a classic, packed with skill and intensity. The best match of all time, according to some observers.

England’s extra-time loss to Samoa may not have been of the same quality, but had even more drama. So when can new converts to the code expect more of the same? The problem is, nobody really knows.

England are likely to have a game against France next April and maybe New Zealand can be persuaded to tour in the autumn, but at the moment, they don’t have a confirmed fixture on the books.

International rugby is what attracts attention from non-committed fans - and the media - and rugby league doesn’t have enough of it. Just one high-profile clash between England and another leading nation has far more value to the code than Leeds Rhinos facing Castleford Tigers five times in a season.

Test rugby has to be front and centre, rather than an afterthought. That has been taken on board by the RFL’s new partners IMG. It’s obvious to everybody Super League’s stars play too many domestic games and not enough at representative level. The only way for rugby league to expand is by grasping the nettle and putting Test matches first.

It feels like we will never find out what England’s men winning the World Cup would do for the sport, though Samoa’s appearance in the final proves rugby league isn’t played in only three countries.

The men’s tournament ended for England the way many pundits expected it to begin, with a defeat to Samoa. Instead of losing to the Pacific nation in the first game, England did it in their last, meaning - at best - their campaign just about broke even.

Before a ball was kicked, a semi-final spot was the minimum requirement from the host nation, but there were fears - with Samoa up first and defeat then potentially meaning a quarter-final against Tonga - England wouldn’t even get that far.

As it turned out, England thrashed Samoa 60-6 in round one and went on to cruise serenely through their next three matches, raising expectations and making defeat in the last-four even more painful.

That’s typical of England/Great Britain in major tournament rugby. The semi-final loss came 50 years and one day after their (they were Great Britain in those days) previous World Cup triumph and they haven’t won a Test series against Australia since 1970.

More often than not, England camps are riddled with calamity: players misbehaving or falling out with the coach, poor performances, injuries, disputes with the media…but there was none of that this time.

Bitter experience suggested it was bound to go spectacularly wrong at some point and so it proved as England fell on their faces at the penultimate hurdle. Samoa were as good as had been expected four weeks earlier and England produced by far their poorest performance of the campaign. They showed lots of spirit to get back into the game on a couple of occasions, but lacked composure and weren’t clinical.

Some selection decisions throughout the tournament were questionable, but justified because England were getting results - such as selecting Michael McIlorum as a lone specialist hooker in the 17.

When it really mattered, that failed; McIlorum - not that he was to blame for the loss - didn’t make an impact and there was nobody to come off the bench and turn things around.

Dom Young’s inexperience was exposed, though it would have been hard to drop him after an outstanding campaign and other players - Kallum Watkins, Sam Tomkins and Victor Randley among them - made the sort of mistakes they had avoided in all four previous games.

All that said, there were positive signs. Some rookies - most particularly Young and Herbie Farnworth, but also including Jack Welsby - show signs of becoming outstanding talents at Test level and there’s more coming through who could be ready in three years’ time, when the next World Cup is staged in France.

For example Leeds’ Harry Newman, Cameron Smith, Morgan Gannon and Mikolaj Oledzki, who should have got more than one brief appearance off the bench. Both Young and Farnworth play for NRL clubs and it is obvious the England team needs its players to face rugby of a higher intensity on a more regular basis. That’s where Samoa had the edge.