Peacock demands international plan to aid England’s World Cup ambition

ENGLAND captain Jamie Peacock has urged the Rugby Football League to make sure a suitable international itinerary is put in place for 2012 to ensure they do not fall further behind Australia.

The Leeds Rhinos prop was left hurting once more after they suffered a 30-8 Gillette Four Nations final defeat against the Kangaroos at Elland Road on Saturday.

As is so often the case, gallant England had battled for almost an hour to match their old nemesis only to falter badly in the last quarter as the ruthless tourists punished their every mistake.

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Undoubtedly, there have been signs of progress throughout the tournament – the 28-6 triumph over world champions New Zealand their most convincing performance of recent years – but ultimately the final was another disappointing let-down.

With the World Cup to be held here in 2013, as yet there are no England matches confirmed for next year when there will be no Four Nations competition.

The Australian NRL have already said they want their players to have a 12-month rest before the World Cup and the national side have agreed but, frankly, given they are in a position of such strength, they can afford to do that.

England, on the other hand, must build on what momentum they have gained from this competition and it is imperative their squad spends more playing time together.

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“I think we do need it. We need Tests to play at that type of intensity,” said Peacock. “I know the Australians have an agreement with the NRL clubs not to play but we need to get our team together again.

“Hopefully we’ll have the Exiles game once more, which should be good.

“But there are quite a few NRL players in the team who won’t be involved in that, so hopefully we can do something at the end of the year too.”

The June fixture against the newly-formed Exiles proved a success when the collection of Super League overseas stars actually defeated England at Headingley Carnegie.

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It gave them the sort of tough examination previous mid-season opponents France had never provided and the RFL plan to extend it into a two-game series next year.

However, the likes of Australia-based Gareth Ellis, Sam Burgess, Gareth Widdop and, now that he has moved to Canterbury Bulldogs, James Graham are all unlikely to be released.

But it is more at the end of the season where Peacock admits England will require some extra involvement.

As it stands, the most likely scenario is a South Seas Islands tour incorporating Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea which, while hardly the most taxing of appointments, will at least give Steve McNamara’s squad some much-needed preparation.

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The inquest will now inevitably begin as to why England failed again – as they have done on every occasion in the last 39 years – to overcome the Australians in a tournament final or series.

Going back even further, they have not won a series against the Kangaroos on home shores since 1959, but sweeping changes are not needed.

As always, England’s forwards were commanding, the robust Ben Westwood, Ellis, Graham and Peacock all matching the Kangaroos up front, Garreth Carvell having an impact off the bench and justifying McNamara’s decision to drop Chris Heighington.

There was simply not enough cutting edge on the back of their efforts with a largely ineffective kicking game and distinct lack of expansive football.

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It has been a traditional complaint of England’s squad that their backs are not up to sufficient standard.

In the past, that has been true but during this tournament the likes of winger Ryan Hall – whose score on Saturday was his fourth try in as many games – Tom Briscoe and Brisbane centre Jack Reed have all added new-found strike threat while also generally improving the nation’s defence out wide.

Kevin Sinfield and Rangi Chase had also formed a credible half-back partnership while, at full-back, Sam Tomkins has proven to be a world-class operator but, frustratingly, none of these players produced anywhere near their finest displays on Saturday evening.

They are good enough though. The supremely-professional performance against New Zealand proved that and if England could have replicated such a polished display in Leeds, they could certainly have overcome an Australia team who endured plenty of their own problems.

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But, put simply, they just failed to do so on the big occasion and produced their scratchiest performance of the campaign for the one when it mattered most.

“It is an opportunity missed,” admitted Peacock, who has lost three such finals to the Kangaroos and will be 35 by the time the 2013 World Cup arrives. “It hurts a lot. From my perspective, there’s not many of these left, but on a positive note I think we’ve done fantastically well in the tournament. We were third favourites going into it and we reached the final.

“We didn’t play as well as we’d have liked, but with 20 minutes left we were still in it and it was there to be taken.

“Some of the performances from the young lads have been exceptional, they’ve really stood up on the big stage.

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“Sam Tomkins, Ryan Hall – these type of people – and it looks well for the future.”

But Peacock accepted they only had themselves to blame for the defeat.

“We made a couple of mistakes and you need to be error-free when you’re playing the Aussies,” he said.

“If we had executed better it would have been a different story.

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“It was a gutsy effort to stay with them, the way we were playing.

“We probably weren’t executing as well as we’d have liked or finishing our sets like we wanted and that means you have to expend a lot of energy.

“That certainly then told in the last 20 minutes when we just dropped off, running on empty because of some of the things we did in the first 60.”