Pulsating stuff from Melbourne this morning, something to get you crunching the cornflakes as England battled brilliantly against reigning champions Australia but just came up short.

Game one of the Rugby League World Cup ignited with an explosive encounter, setting the tone we hope for the rest of the competition to come.

Join us again next week, for England versus Lebanon at 08:00 GMT.

Until then, thanks for being here this morning. Have a great weekend.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

There's loads more rugby league across the BBC to come over the next couple of days.

Tomorrow at 0600 BST, Wales take on Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby. That's on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.

Highlights of that, plus New Zealand v Samoa and Fiji v USA on BBC One, Saturday, 13:15 BST.

You can see the best of Sunday's games, Ireland v Italy, Scotland v Tonga and France v Lebanon in the highlights on BBC Two, Sunday from 17:00 GMT, 23:00 in Wales, Mon, 30 October 01:30 in Scotland.

Still not sated? Those with a rugby league appetite for more, will enjoy this little bit of long reading.

Clive Sullivan MBE was the man who brought the World Cup to Great Britain in 1972 with his sideline tracking length of the field special against Australia in Lyon.

Here's a feature dedicated to his story...

Kevin Sinfield
Former England and Leeds captain on BBC Two

England only have to beat Australia once. We lost the battle today, but we certainly have not lost the war. It is all to play for.

We have two games where the coaching staff might decide to rotate one or two and let people fight for selection when we hit quarter-final time.

Personally Martin, it was the references to a certain chicken restaurant that got on my pip. But the seagulls were up there.

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Iestyn Harris
Former Great Britain and Wales international on RED BUTTON

It's difficult to diagnose an injury so close to the game like that, it's probably going to be the next 48 hours which will be key. Whether it swells up, whether it is really sore and when he can start his rehab. It's really difficult to put a time frame on it.

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England assistant coach Denis Betts: "That was a real Test match, I can't remember as good a game to start this tournament off with as that.

"Sam Burgess will be out for about three or four weeks, he's done his medial ligament. We've got good medical people, so we're helpful we can get him back for the semi-finals.

"He wanted to be strapped up and get back on, but this is a tournament. We're looking to get him back for the back end of the tournament. We're fine with Sam, he'll play a big part in this tournament."

Kevin Sinfield
Former England and Leeds captain on BBC Red Button

I loved playing alongside James Roby. He has almost got a sixth sense of what to do, he has a calmness about him. He understands when there is space outside him even when the ruck is quick, he is a machine, he just tackles and tackles, he never stops running. And on top of that he is brilliant around the squad.

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England hooker James Roby: "Ultimately, the whole game, we did very well and we will not let our heads go down.

"We defended our lines for numerous sets and I thought we were unlucky with the penalty at the end.

"I was itching to get on the field, to do my thing and try to lift the team.

"To lose a player of Sam Burgess' calibre of obviously going to effect us but I thought we managed to get on with the game."

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Well the initial prognosis for Sam Burgess was initially slightly optimistic, we were told it was a tweak of the knee but it would seem from Daily Mirror and People rugby league journalist Gareth Walker that coach Wayne Bennett believes it could be more serious...

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England winger Jermaine McGillvary: "It is always nice to score tries but it is not fun when you're on the back of a defeat.

"That was a massive improvement on the Four Nations performance (lost 38-16 at the London Stadium) - but this is World Cup is a journey and we have a lot to build on.

"At half-time Wayne Bennett was saying that we were beating ourselves, throwing the ball when it wasn't needed and trying to push it when we didn't need to.

"If we get them in the final we can take a lot from today."

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Dan TL: Sir Kev, a lot has been made about the NRL based English lads but for me the Super League players showed their class. Thoughts.

Matt Lewis: Same old story, we talk about how many positives we can take but we’ve still lost #bbcrl, external

Revelation H&F: Great game, breath taking at times but not the result England wanted

Justin Holbrook
St Helens head coach on BBC Red Button

I loved the way James Roby and Josh Hodgson played with Sean O'Loughlin. I thought Roby was outstanding, the way he had England rolling down the field. He is fantastic to work with so easy to work with, whatever you want him to do, he does it. He is a pleasure to coach.

Kevin Sinfield
Former England and Leeds captain on BBC Two

"We can play, we can ask questions,

"Think back to the 2000 World Cup when Wales went close, they played football. When New Zealand have beaten them in the past they've played football.

"We need to do that. But it's a balancing act. You need a fair share of possession, and the risk of playing that way can be high. We need to get a balance.

"We haven't beaten them in 12 attempts, so we've got to brave, we have to do something different."

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andy: Good to see the respect both teams show for each other at end of match. Supporters also. Far removed from the likes of Football

Shaun Dennison: 3 questionable penalties to the Aussies in 80min. One lead to a try the other 2pts. Nothing to England. Why? Cecchin awful.

Justin Holbrook
St Helens head coach on BBC Two

"For any England fan going to work this morning seeing the score they'll think 'Oh, Australia dominated', which wasn't the case.

"I think Wayne Bennett was trying to take pressure off the players, they needed to play and they did."

Australia's Tyson Frizell: "It was really enjoyable, we knew England would be tough and they were. They pushed us right to the end but luckily enough we were able to come away with the win.

"I don't think the whole performance from us was up to scratch. We will look to be a lot better."

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Kevin Sinfield
Former England and Leeds captain on BBC Two

England have got to play - that second half showed us what are strengths are in the Super League.

We offload the ball, ask questions and move the ball side to side. The NRL game is very different. We need to play to our strengths.

That second half is exactly where we need to be. If we try to beat Australia set-to-set in an arm wrestle game we will lose.

The game might be over but BBC Sport's coverage continues with the Red Button Forum which you can watch on TV by pressing the red button or online by clicking the link in the banner above. Switch over from 12:15 BST

Get in touch with the panel with your questions and thoughts using #bbcrl

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England hooker Josh Hodgson: "I thought we were patchy in certain areas of the field and had to do a lot of defending off the back of that.

"We need to grow from that and know we are a better team than what we showed.

"We need to iron out the little errors. We will always put effort in but need to be better with our execution. We will get more games under our belts and keep progressing."