THE Wembley Twin Towers presided over some classic rugby league before being razed to the ground at the end of the last century.

That old arena was steeped with a proud history of rugby league combat; magic and memorable moments provided by the likes of Tom van Vollenhoven, Alex Murphy, Billy Boston, Martin Offiah and Don Fox.

The fancy new stadium has plenty to commend it, a great view and no cascading waterfalls down the stairwells, but had yet to be truly christened with a dramatic modern classic – up until now.

Although the bitter disappointment of England’s World Cup campaign exit in the most heart-breaking of fashions was hard to stomach, the over-riding sentiment of the 67,545 fans leaving the ground afterwards was a feeling that they had witnessed something special.

Two quality sides had gone at it hammer and tongs for 80 minutes, two halves of committed rugby, full of bone-crunching tackles and some sublime pieces of skill.

And that skill was there for all to see when James Graham – the man with the shirt of a front rower but the hands of a six – produced the deftest of touches to lay the ball off for front row colleague Sam Burgess to crash on to, with his out of the tackle pass sending Sean O’Loughlin over.

And with Kevin Sinfield adding two goals, so began a game of cat and mouse, with a brace from Kiwi wing Roger Tuivasa-Scheck pushing the holders into a 14-8 lead.

But with James Roby proving a real box of tricks at dummy half, tries from Kallum Watkins and Sam Burgess pushed England into an 18-14 lead with 13 to play.

And for 12 minutes and 40 seconds they held that lead, with the thin white line repelling wave after wave of Kiwi attack.

But a tired high tackle from George Burgess on Sonny Bill Williams gifted the holders one more set in the last minute.

Even then you would have backed England’s resolve to hold firm – but on the fourth tackle Sinfield sensed that the Kiwis long, looping pass from dummy half had given him time to nail Kiwi scrum half Shaun Johnson.

Alas, the converted back rower wearing the England number seven did not get there in time leaving a clear path for Johnson to step and dash to the line.

Unfortunately for England, there was to be no Don Fox moment for the Kiwi half back with the ball sailing between the sticks to send the men in white out of the competition at the semi stages for the third tournament in a row.