Tommy Makinson hits out at those slamming England’s RL World Cup ‘failure’

TOMMY Makinson has a bone to pick with critics slagging off England’s Rugby League World Cup campaign – even though he concedes not reaching the final was a ‘failure.’

Thursday, February 16 is the day national boss Shaun Wane finds out his fate after a much-heralded review into the tournament.

Shaun Wane will find out if he will stay as England coach on February 16SWPIX.COM

Listen to some and everything should be ripped up. The game here is not good enough, the coach should be sacked, certain players should be nowhere near a Test shirt again.

The review and the Rugby Football League board meeting on the opening day of Super League’s season will swing opinions after the 27-26 extra-time semi-final heartbreak to Samoa but former national chief Tony Smith told SunSport he should not be ‘run out of town.’

And while St Helens winger Makinson – who set an international record with five tries in a 30-point haul as the hosts smashed Papua New Guinea 46-6 in the quarter final – can see why the campaign is being criticised, he would like to know why it is being in such terms.

He said: “I find it disappointing to see, I’d like to know why it is.

“I know the reasons why they’re saying it’s a failure. Ultimately, we failed, of course we did

“Our goal was to win a World Cup final on home soil. I can’t argue the fact but it’s the manner in which it’s being spoken about.

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“I can see why people are saying it but we played really well and in the group games we were great.

“Shaun had us playing some good rugby but as lads, though, we just didn’t perform against Samoa in the semi-final and ultimately, that’s what cost us.

“If you don’t perform, you don’t get to the big games and that’s how it was.

“We had a lot of chances in that game to, we should’ve won – it’s one I’ll always look back on and think, ‘We should’ve been in the World Cup final.’”

After going close in a World Cup that saw him notch 68 points, Makinson has aims at home and abroad for 2023 – helping St Helens to a fifth straight Super League title and becoming World Club champion with February 18’s clash at Aussie champs Penrith.

Tommy Makinson has hit out at those who are tearing into EnglandAFP

All that will be fired by the disappointment of the World Cup as the 31-year-old added: “From a personal stance, it was really positive.

“The only thing I look back on with disappointment is the last game. We didn’t quite perform how we wanted to, we didn’t perform how we knew we could, which ultimately led to us not getting to a World Cup final.

“We thought, ‘We’re going to be there, we deserve to be there.’ That’s where we wanted to be and it was quite hard to get over.

“We had a chance to play Australia, who weren’t playing amazingly at the time. It’s disappointing but you have to move on.”