Monday 14 November 2016 11:34, UK
Captain Sam Burgess rounded on referee Robert Hicks as England bowed meekly out of the Ladbrokes Four Nations Series but admits he needs to brush up on his own act.
A 36-18 defeat by Australia brought England's involvement in the tournament to a sudden but predictable end, although Burgess strongly rebuffed a suggestion that the side have gone backwards under new coach Wayne Bennett.
Bennett told the post-match press conference at London Stadium that his main focus was always on the 2017 World Cup and that he had learned a great deal about his team during the tournament and warm-up game against France.
The Australian believes England's biggest problem is their inability to maintain pressure and even Burgess was not exempt from his criticism as he made it clear the South Sydney forward "needs to change" his habit of giving away
penalties for club and country, a fact the 27-year-old agreed with himself.
"I agree," Burgess said. "I did give two away at the end of the first half. One led to two points and I was disappointed with that. The last thing I want to do is let my team-mates down. That's something I've got to improve on.
"The one before was extremely questionable. You all saw the game and saw some of the calls, I just don't think it's good enough, I don't think he (Hicks) was good enough at all. You've got to put the whistle away at some point.
"I'm not blaming that on the result. They're a good team but it's international football. There were 13 or 14 penalties in the first half."
Burgess even suggested the referee was influenced by Australia captain Cameron Smith during the first half.
"There was a time there where he was made aware of the penalty count and made sure it was even at half-time," Burgess said. "I don't know what agenda he has got there."
England threatened to pull off their first win over Australia for more than a decade when winger Jermaine McGillvary scored the game's first try to put them 6-2 ahead, but the Kangaroos drew level four minutes before half-time through Blake Ferguson and Johnathan Thurston kicked them into a 10-6 interval lead.
It was largely one-way traffic in the second half as Australia pulled away with further tries through Greg Inglis, Matt Scott, Matt Gillett, Josh Dugan and Valentine Holmes, rendering late England efforts from Gareth Widdop and Ryan
Hall nothing more than consolation scores.
Failure to reach next Sunday's final, which will be contested by Australia and New Zealand, on home soil comes just 12 months after Steve McNamara's England gained a 2-1 Test series win over the world number one ranked Kiwis but Burgess bristled at the suggestion that they have failed to make progress.
"The Kiwi team last year was not the Kiwi team that came to this tournament," he said. "We're missing a few players. I'm not making excuses but we've improved. I don't think the scoreline reflects who we are as a team.
"The boys are disappointed but we've improved as a team, there's no doubt about that. The challenge now is to keep on improving and getting better at the small things in the game."
Meanwhile, Burgess welcomed Bennett's plans, revealed at the post-match press conference, for England to play an international against Samoa in Sydney next May to help prepare them for the end-of-season World Cup.
"It's a long time between drinks, 12 months, so that can only be good for us, to get together and play," Burgess said.
