If a picture truly does paint a thousand words, then the sight of Shaun Wane fighting back tears as he tried to analyse where it had gone wrong for England at the World Cup was the latest chapter in a book no English rugby league supporter will be keen to read any time soon.
The circumstances were heartbreakingly familiar, with Stephen Crichton’s extra-time drop goal for Samoa denying the hosts a place in the final. But this one is tougher to take than England’s other near-misses of the past, not least because the four weeks that preceded Saturday’s semi-final defeat had offered so much promise and optimism.
