Roby; poor. Eastmond; fantastic.

Despite what Wiganers may sat about Tomkins, England looked compete when Eastmond was at first/secondr eceiver.

Complete shy te more like. England are terrible. The coach is an idiot and the players were terrible. We are so far behind them it's not funny, they were humouring us in the second half, you could see them falling about laughing at half time, no need for a gee up or a technical team talk, we're no more than a bunch of easy beats to them.

If Australia had a reason to play at 100% against us, they would probably get three figures.

Usually, your posts are despondant to the point of satire.

Tonight, however, I can't disagree. Aussie RL has developed into a virtually different sport to Super League on today's evidence.

The gap has never been wider.

The RFL, hopefully, will now be ashamed of what they've done this season.

We've had to endure a horrifically dull and boring season in the interests of 'competitiveness' and the only justification would have been to compete better with the Aussies. If the gap was closing I could understand.

Unfortunately it's not, so if we're going to get lashed by them in the internationals anyway, can we just have our free-flowing explosive rugby league back on a weekly basis please?

2nd November 2008 Australia 52 England 4.
Today was an improvement.

I disagree. If Australia had been humouring us in the second half then why all the petulance from some of their players? They were rattled. They even dropped ball. (My God! Australia, drop ball?!?) Thurston was a pain in the backside and deserved his yellow. And had they had the chance they would have tonked us, just like they did in the world cup. Australia won't just take a win; they'll take a big score if it is offered up to them. We offered it up to them in the first half but not in the second.

In the first half we were shocking. In the second half we looked like a team who wanted to win. Damn shame about Graham's forward pass as that could have been another try.

I actually thought that most of the team were a match for the Aussies. The majority were let down by some woeful positional play and tacking by Smith and Maguire. The coach must also take some criticism. Why did it take him 40 minutes to realise that there was a problem with the RHS defence and change things?

Spot on.

He should have pulled Briscoe off, stuck Lee Smith on the wing and brought on Eastmond after the second try, IMO, or at the latest the third try. Clearly the Aussies had sussed a weakness and exploited it.

Interesting that that was the only way they won any points. Had coach Smith been more astute, he would have sorted it in the first half and perhaps closed off a leak. Fans all around me were screaming for the change.

Please don't bury your head in the sand - if the Aussies hadn't put their cue on the rack at half time it would have been similar to the score you mentioned. They absolutely ripped us apart - on our own midden.

28th October 2006 Australia 12 - 23 GB - do you think the present lot would have done that?

You really think the Aussies would do that? Bollox, is what I say to that idea. If they could have tonked us they would have, just as they did a year ago and previously. In the second half they couldn't do us so instead they started getting petulant.

If coach Smith had plugged the leaky right wing in the first half instead of waiting for 26 points to build up first then who knows what this England team might have done?

You're right they ripped us apart in the first half, but seriously you know absolutely nothing at all about Australian rugby league if you think they deliberately didn't play in the second half. Their whole ethos is to win, and win by as large a margin as they possibly can. If you know anything at all about Jarryd Hayne, Justin Hodges, Billy Slater etc you will know in the second half they were clearly frustrated and were by no means sitting back chuckling and letting England play.

It was absoutley shocking that it took coach Tony Smith 40 minutes to change the right hand flank as the Australians were running through like a knife threw butter. But it wasnt just the god awful defending on that side what let us down. When we did have the ball we didnt control it properly at all and to be quite honest it was a complete and utter disgraceful first 40 minutes.

However...

In the Second Half we showed fight and belief. A great second half performance by Sam Burgess who was outstanding. Kyle Eastmond has to start next week because he looked lively and dangerous when he had the ball in hand. Tomkins certainly showed some great promise at International level when we had more of the ball in the 2nd Half. I certainly dont believe the Aussies took the foot of the gas and they were certainly rattled without doubt. Personally I feel Jamie Peacock had a poor game and really needs to step up to the plate next week. For sure he is a World Class forward but today he didnt seem to rally the troops behind the sticks and got smashed everytime he took the ball up especially in the first half. Talk is cheap action is what is required now.

Team for NZ

Briscoe
Smith
Eastmond
Shenton
Hall
McGuire
Tomkins
Morley
Moore
Peacock (capt)
Ellis
Burgess
Sinfield

Bench

Roby
Westwood
Graham
Crabtree

is right.

nobody seems to mention morley, very quite were, were the big hits and tackles .

No way am I defending Smiths incompetence
But he did actually make changes that worked when he brought Burgess on who defended down the right.
Before Burgess was on the Aussies simply ran through that side at will, after he came on the manner of the tries the Aussies scored was completely different - a balls up by Maguire basically giving them a full length interception (sort of) and the last try they scored which was a mix up and the ball just ended up in the right players hands.
When Smith also turned around the centres we looked much better in attack because of it.

Basically the threat of Inglis down our right was too much for the starting team to deal with - its not only the defenders, who were admittedly shocking - but NZ stopped this happening by the forwards giving the aussies a much harder time to stop this early shift of the ball out wide.

The second half team stood up to the Aussies much better and it reflected on the scoreboard.

Smiths problem was not being able to recognise and deal with the threat down the right from the start and having the right 13 on the field to deal with it.

But for all of the people who will think that because we did well in the second half that the team against NZ should be the same try and look at where the threats come from by NZ - it isnt by having a freak of nature in the centres - it is forward dominance and work round the middle of the ruck - this means that the team Smith picked yesterday should be the team to start against the Kimis with maybe one or 2 tweaks - the main problem we have is that there are no players to bring in - with the possible exception of carvell and Myler - we dont have a replacement Centre at all
Team for me would be
Briscoe
Smith
Eastmond
Ellis
Hall
Tomkins
Myler
Morley
Roby
Graham
Peacock (capt)
Burgess
Sinfield

Bench

Moore
Carvell
Crabtree
McGuire

Bittersweet is right.

A bitterly disappointing first half where the difference is sheer talent was evident. Some sweet moments in the second where England showed some spirit.

I'm not convinced the Aussies particularly eased back in the second half. The Aussies don't like to lose at ANYTHING, and they're now at the stage where everyone wants them to lose - the pressure is well and truly on for them, so any slip ups, any losses are trebly humiliating for them as it is for anyone else.

For me it wasn't so much the second half that was so much better. England started to show shape earlier than that. England kept Australia scoreless for FIFTY minutes. We seemed 'harder' when Burgess and Crabtree came on (though I wish Crabtree would show a but more aggression - he ambled into some of those drives yesterday), and our real improvement came with the introduction of Eastmond.

McGuire is overrated. He needs Rob Burrow at his side to look even remotely good, so he needs firing off. Tomkins was immense. He's not the quickest, but he's got a great step and defensively, he was magnificent. Nothing got past him. He MUST stay in, however he should play stand off, and I would throw Eastmond in at scrum half. Why not - what have we to lose? And they have both earned it.

I don't think the difference was sheer talent. Yes Inglis is very talented but if you give a player like that acres of room to play then he will score tries. The Aussies didn't have to use talent to create their tries they simply used talent to exploit England's shoddy defending down the right side. I think it is a shame that Smith didn't correct things sooner than he did because I would have liked to have seen how the Australian's would have coped with a dog fight. They were certainly rattled in the second half when the England forwards were making inroads putting them on the back foot. Had the game not run away from England the partisan crowd would also have put presser on the Aussies.

I am not burying my head in the sand suggesting that the Aussies are not more talented overall than England but I honestly believe they are not as far ahead as some people are suggesting. For sure they have the talent to exploit any weaknesses.

I think they are far ahead in the quality of player they produce. Some of their individuals just have the right rugby league DNA.

You are right though that they are not invincible. Take nothing away from England's efforts today but I think it is NZ that are proving this rather than us.

Very pleased with Crabtree's efforts, he played like a demon and seemed to be very proud to be wearing the England shirt. Never rated Eorl to be honest, but thought he was a gem yesterday.

40 minutes of rape down our right side was just ludicrous, why the hell was it allowed to go on for a full 40 minutes.

Bye bye Mc Guire your international number is up sir.

Morley has changed his game and is alot calmer version of the one of around 3 years ago plus. Still a fine Prop Forward and imo still one of the best in the world.