Representing your country means that you bring it each and every time, or at least try your darnest to. If you are the best rugby league team in the world/ranked numero uno like the Kiwis are then you are expected to win and you are expected to handle your business, which is made that much harder when you've got that target on your back. 

Sunday morning saw the Kiwis lose their series decider against England. The Kiwis gave away too many penalties, lacked a classy half to control the game and were unable to find repeat sets, thus building pressure as they did in the second Test. The English once again showed the vast improvements they have made under Steve McNamara's leadership and as we saw in the Rugby League World Cup and the Four Nations last year, you don't have to be too far off the pace to fall victim to England.

There were a few inspired selections which tilted the decider in England's favour. Had George Williams been playing at halfback instead of Matty Smith - who made his first appearance of the series in the decider - England may have lacked the polish to beat the Kiwis. Jermaine McGillvary also made his first appearance of the series on the wing and while he didn't influence the game like Smith did, McGillvary gave England a touch of x-factor and earned penalties purely thanks to his enthusiasm.

In all honesty, besides Kallum Watkins, every England player did their job and executed their roles to near perfection. This wasn't the complete opposite to the Kiwis, yet it was a different story with the Kiwis who lacked penetration and went sideline to sideline without the efficiency and ruthlessness that we as fans would expect. The forwards made metres up the guts and then recklessly popped offloads out, more often than not resulting in an error. Combine this with a lack of discipline at the ruck where they tried too hard to slow England down and it felt like England were always gifted with an easy passage into Kiwis' territory.

This was far from the fluent/slick attack that we have become accustomed to with the Kiwis. This also wasn't really the right time or place to roll out the same game plan that we have become accustomed to with the Kiwis. England presents a vastly different challenge than playing in Brisbane or in Aotearoa at this time of year and the Kiwis simply didn't adapt to the wet conditions or other typically English factors like small in-goals. 

Throughout Sunday's game the likelihood of a muddled finish to a set of six was matched by the likelihood of an error by the Kiwis coming out of their own territory. An over-arching thought about the tour of England would be that the Kiwis looked like they were trying to play the same way in England as they would in Australia/Aotearoa. You can only be the best team in the world if you can consistently win around the world and if the right lessons have been learned, then this tour should ensure that the Kiwis have more strings to their bow than power and speed.

If the lessons are learned, then this tour can't be a failure. Not when a group of young players were included in this Kiwis squad, young players who were effectively dropped in the deep end and weren't capable of leading the Kiwis to victory. You might be one of those folks who believes that Benji Marshall should have been selected and that Stephen Kearney is a silly bugger, a fair viewpoint to have. A more experienced half would have certainly helped the Kiwis as they lacked organisation and the ability to kick accurately, I am however willing to lose the battle in pursuit of greater depth in the future. 

The Kiwis worked their way to the top of the rugby league world playing a certain way with some of the world's best players on their roster. Many of those players; a halves pairing, the skipper, a Premiership winning lock and our best winger weren't on this tour and left a big hole for other players to fill. There will come a time when players are unavailable for Kiwis selection for whatever reason and the benefits of tour will come to fruition. 

Be bummed, be gutted and kick up a fuss. We expect our Kiwis to win. But we should also be smug and content as we have many more tricks up our sleeves.

Jason's got lots of tricks...