Jon Wilkin, who played 461 career games and won a Super League title, has been left disappointed over his nation's failure to overcome a strong Samoa team in the semi-final of the Rugby League World Cup.
The host nation went crashing out of the tournament in a tense and exhilarating semi-final, ultimately losing to an 83rd minute field goal from Penrith Panthers star Stephen Crichton.
The decorated Samoa outfit featured the likes back-to-back premiership winners, Brian To'o, Jarome Luai, Taylan May, Stephen Crichton and Spencer Leniu.
Despite the players' accolades and overall quality of the Samoan team, they stuttered to a 60-6 flogging at the hands of the English side in Round 1.
The hosts provided the St. James' Park crowd with a double-figure try-scoring clinic. Newcastle Knights star Dominic Young, and Canberra Raiders star Elliot Whitehead bagged a brace each.
Wilkin described the two sides second game of the tournament in a stark fashion, labelling England's World Cup exit as “rubbish” and called the team “overhyped” speaking with Sky Sports.
Wilkin has attributed a potential reason for their failure to the pre-match Siva Tau, which is a traditional war dance done by Samoan sporting teams prior to a match.
“Whenever I faced the haka or any of the cultural dance, I took it for what it is which is a beautiful insight into someone's else culture. It's not a threat, it's not intimidating, and I thought England took it in the wrong way.”
Wilkin claims two main factors compounded England to their semi-final loss.
“For me, it was overstimulated, overhyped and it translated into a sloppy performance," he said, before lamenting bringing in Ant Middleton (a former Royal Marines Commando and co-host of SAS: Who Dares Wins) as a guest speaker.
Coach Shaun Wane speaking in his post-match press conference concluded “We needed a bit more composure.”
England captain Sam Tomkins said the game was an example of “Effort alone not being enough”.
“We will get into the reasons why another day”, Tomkins told the press in response to potential reasons they lost the game.
