Yes, that the one I referred to.

Just read a NZ newspaper's match report which said "England's centres are sub-standard." who'd have thought?

It's goes through the posts. Just some have fallen for an optical illusion because of the white of the ball and white of the posts. 5/6 England guys are looking right at it as it goes through including Lomax who is right under the posts.....none of them bat an eyelid when it's awarded. Are we saying all of those guys didn't notice it go wide?

I wasn't that impressed with Kata and SKD if you measure them all up together.

One idea regarding team selection if he sticks with the Burgess twins that I actually thought we should do before the Kiwi game is to start one of them and have one of Hill and Graham on the bench.

Therefore instead of the leaders of Hill and Graham departing around the same time with the twins coming on we go for let's say Graham and G.Burgess to start and then Hill and T.Burgess on for them around 20-30 mins so you have a mix with at least one of Graham and Hill on the pitch all the time.

Personally having an Australian coaching an English team is just so wrong, he might have a fantastic record but I find him ignorant and rude his interview with Tanya was beyond the pail, England are just as good as New Zealand and Australia, but because we haven't won for forty odd years getting over the line is just getting harder and harder, we can change the team as a Saints supporter i would love Percy to be in the team, but it's all about belief.

Thought we were good in parts, but ultimately composure ( and Johnson) was the difference.
Thought both wingers played well but our centres are shockingly bad, and were pretty much anonymous, good job both wingers like to come in to get work or they would never have touched the ball!
Forwards trying to be too clever at times, especially Burgess in the last few minutes, and Wtf was the one man hit ups about on the last few plays?

Our back rows were sub par too
Whitehead especially

Is the depth of English RL that bad that a whopper like sarginson is considered starting centre for the national team?

Regards

King James

That's no optical illusion. If you pause the slow mo at the point the ball is behind the post it's as clear as day.

It's just not though. I've seen the pictures of it and the ball passes the post on the inside (kick was successful). People are getting fooled by the white on White of the ball and post.

If you've watched the replay then you'll see several England players in shot watching it go over right in perfect position......like I said are you honestly of the opinion none of them saw it apparently go wide and not bother complaining? That's very far fetched.

Was thinking this after watching Tanya interview with the arrogant sod.very poor saying the 8 nrl based players would pull the others up to their speed/standard.if anything it was just the opposite.Percival for Sarge. Williams for Widdop .Taylor instead of any Burgess and that is our best chance.the fact the coach is bemoaning our own top league and has no passion for our national team makes me wonder how he can inspire us to beat his Australian team?saying that Aus look a class above so it may be irrelevant who is in charge but Bennett got right up my nose .Also think on this season's form Shaul should be in ahead of Lomax although neither have Hardakers natural all round attributes. I didn't have much faith in mcnamara but at least he didn't disparage his players

Bennett is here for a two year pension top up and nothing more imo. Looks like he is hating every minute of being here right now but this is the hard bit of the deal for him...next year he gets paid by the RFL and gets to remain in OZ for the WC so it was probably worth while for him. May as well have stuck with Mac.

And when did Trent Hodkinson ever unlock a defence?

He's like Widdop, but without the attacking flair.

Shaun Johnson was the difference, forgetting the DG for a mo

He yet again was the Difference between NZ and England - He seriously is a top talent pure and simple

Don't agree. We had enough chances to win comfortably same old story in that the forwards more than matched up but backs couldn't/didn't take those chances Lomax and sarge were not of an international standard in their positions Widdop was a 6 out of 10 as always. Shouldn't be anywhere near our team

Thought exactly the same after the match. They're both the same kind of Props (unsurprisingly) and we did lose a bit of something when Hill and Graham both went off. Also agree on which way to do it, starting with Graham and George and replacing them with Hill and Tom. Or it could that he might try Taylor for one of the twins.

Agree and also said the same about England's prep against France, to Aus and NZ playing each other the other week. It''s literally night and day for a Test match at this level.

Agree on Johnson. He's superb. His kicking really took a lot of energy out of us.

I think a combination of Johnson forcing us back and our attack not able to get the ball to the centres were the reasons behind the loss.

Why is Bennett arrogant in suggesting that players from a clearly inferior competition need to get up to speed with NRL players? Its not about how individually talented they are (e.g. Watkins) but what they are used to playing against, and the structures Bennett is trying to get them to follow. Unless anybody seriously thinks that following the structures of Wigan or Warrington is somehow better than that of the Broncos?

Also, please spare me the little Englander cobblers. Should be a British coach. Nonsense - if we want to progress it should be the best coach available (an attitude thankfully taken by other sports), and there isn't a British coach anywhere near NRL head coach standard. Ironically the closest being McNamara, who at least has some experience coaching in the best competition in the world. Personally, after Bennett goes I'd love someone like Trent Robinson to have a go.

I don't think we have the cattle to beat Aus at their best. NZ we're not a million miles from, but unless we can unearth another halfback and full back (fingers crossed Tomkins and Hardaker come back really strong next year) of real quality I just can't see it, regardless of the coach.

Not sure I agree there. Why would he be bringing in things like the mid season training camp next year if he was just planning on going through the motions? Plus hasn't he got a point to prove after being turned down for the Kangaroos job?

The ball defintely DID NOT go through, there is no 'optical illusion'
Here you go, the ball does not cross behind, it's very clear in fact, the lines of the post are not broken at any point.

Except in the middle photo which you can see the curve at the bottom of the ball when it's bang in line with the post. Can't see the outline of any post at all. Can see one vertical line on the ball but that's just the logos on the ball.

Those photos also show just how perfectly placed some of the England defenders were to see it. So what are people going for? That these perfectly placed England players all missed it going wide or saw it miss but didn't complain? Both ludicrously far fetched.

So what?. I am pointing out that backline in 85 had more skill, nous and ability than whoever fills the shirts nowadays. It pretty obvious most points scored in S.L are off the back of poor,tiring defenses. Seems to me its all gym work and not enough skills work.

It's hard to compare eras. That 85 side was mainly semi pro, playing under a 5 yard rule.

You can compare results. That 85 side scraped a draw with the Kiwis. Not too dissimilar to now.

We could do with more flair in attack but we only lost by 1 point due to an interception try and a dodgy drop goal.

No need to over react.

But if I don't over react how am I supposed to use this as proof that player x from the club I don't like is rubbish and not international standard and we would win if only we replaced him with player y from my club which is what i've been saying all along!