Fair enough maybe a little harsh on Briscoe, but I think its fair to say that this has come a year too soon for him, needs a full year of Super League behind him where he scores 15-20 tries and has some confidence imo. Fox must be wondering what he has to do to get a go.

Justification?
Crabtree was one of, if not the best England player on the pitch. McGuire was by far and away the worst.

Be better than Tom Briscoe ?

Front row didnt do a lot today. Probably the best of a bad bunch. Burgess and Tomkins are the only ones who stood out today for me. Thought Lee Smith was shocking.

briscoe did absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever, made yards and looked harder to tackle than pretty much anyone else on the couple of occasions he touched the ball. taking him off at half time was a f****** disgusting decision. scapegoating a 19 year old winger who was left defending half the width of the pitch against 3 or 4 of the top players in the world is bang out of order, and thats exactly what tony smith did today!

smith made that decision with the sole intention of taking the heat of his leeds darlings inside briscoe who were nowhere to be found whenever more than 1 pass went in their direction.


ratings wise... its not worth bothering for anyone other than burgess and ellis. everyone else was completely and utterly out of their depth and wouldn't even get a score. the second half is irrelevet to me, australia completely stopped. infact i reckon they were deliberately sliding into touch and not finding touch with pens to get some defensive practice.

Look love it or Hate it Rugby League in this country is a third teir game whilst in Oz it just about there national sport. here is a fact for a in team of 17 there was over a quater of the team was born in and around Cas a very small town in Yorkshire so that telling you how small our game is.

If I'm judging each players performance set against their relative roles and resposibilities then I'd go with this.

S Briscoe - 5 Looked slow in the 1st half and did'nt lay any kind of foundation for a good set by returning the ball with interest. 2nd half was much more involved going forward and was'nt asked too many questions in defence.

T Briscoe - 5 Was left exposed by poor defensive decision making on his inside, did well when bringing the ball away without ever looking like breaking through. Unfortunate to get hauled off by T Smith who can't see past his nose.

L Smith - 3 Absolutely awefull display of defence and petulance. Out of position on a number of occasions and at fault for three tries in the first 20 mins. Lucky to stay on after half time and still managed to get out of position defensively almost allowing Inglis another gifted free run to the line. on a par with Karl Pratt and Paul Sykes in terms of incompetance.

M Shenton - 6 Starved of the ball again and could have slipped to another anonymous performance had he not shown up well in defence. Had one tilt at the Ausie line and went for it with confidence getting tackled 5 yards short.

R Hall - 5 Was asked too do very little with the ball in hand but he ran hard without making any busts but neither did he make any mistakes. Tackled well and was in Haynes face throughout.

D McGuire - 4 Poor! Only marginaly better than Smith, terrible in defence and jumped out of the line on a few occasions poor decision to go for an intercept. A non entity in attack. pushed passes, poor execution, playing team mates into trouble etc

S Tomkins - 7 Did he play for the first half hour? to Australias frustration he was deceptively solid in defence even though they kept testing him out. Came alive in the second half and worried the Ausies with a mix of good link play, short kicking game and taking on the line.

A Morley - 5 Solid in defence but never really imposed himself. Took the ball up hard, regular and strong but did'nt worry the Ausies in either defence or attack. Would like to see more of the enforcer from Moz.

J Roby - 6 Busy display which was blunted by too many consecutive minutes on the field. Where is the Roby of 3 years ago that looked strong, broke tackles and refused to die with the ball? Defended well but needs to be more explosive frm dummy half as he used to be.

J Graham - 7 Consistant and solid, play a game of attrition and his work took its toll on Australia as the game wore on. Would like to see him punching through the line a little more instead of looking for the ground and a quick PTB.

J Peacock - 5 Worked hard and kept going but this was his most least effective international performance for many years. Maybe it's because he was in the 2nd row but despite not doing anything wrong he also failed to have any impact on the game.

G Ellis - 8 Looked solid from the first to last minute, he threatened to bust the line on a number of occasions and was impeneratrable in defence.

K Sinfield - 4 I'm not disappointed in his poor showing because I knew he was'nt up to the job! He has been tasked, by T Smith, with the role of tactical kicker and organiser and in those two depertments he was terrible. His poor kicking game made it easy for Australias back three to return the ball and set up attacking sets for the Ausies. He pushed passes that wer'nt on, played his runners into waiting defenders and failed to offer anything with ball in hand. 2nd half was better but he was lucky that we had no one else to replace him cos he'd have been the first er..2nd player dragged off at half time.


E Crabtree - 8 Did exactly what he was tasked to do! came off the bench and ran hard and often, he won the collision and forced a few quick PTBs allowing England to make ground in the next play. Got a few trademark offloads away and was generally a handfull for Australia. He has'nt played for weeks and has just had an op so we can expect even better next week.

B Westwood - 7 Grafted hard and played [iAhem! [/iinteligently. Tackled very well and ran strong, he was part of the reason we stemmed Australias threequarter line in the 2nd half.

K Eastmond - 6 Never really broke the Ausies but he carried a threat to their line when he had the ball in hand. Somehow aided the fluency of our handling movements by being available and in position all the time. His defence was good.

S Burgess - 7 Not the blockbusting Burgess we will no doubt eventualy see but he still managed a few hits and did very well to get the ball down for his try. I'd have liked to see him run further out wide where he could have been more effective at making busts or offloading.

Pretty fair assessment, I would give Sinfield a 6 he improved in the second half and was better than McQuires rating. Also give Eastmond a 7, he gave the team more threat and a better balance when going to half back.

I'd give McGuire and Smith a combined rating of minus 26.

Apart from Tomkins who i would have judged a 6 and thats generous then i agree

This thread proves that most of you know nothing about Rugby League.

Tomkins was largely anonymous and didn't have a good game until the last 15 minutes and yet most of you rate him higher than Crabtree who did nothing but cause the Aussies problems every time he got the ball. Some of you even rate him higher than Burgess who was a class above the English team and a lot of the Aussie team.

Isn't it funny how people see the same game so differently.

said the samething but he good second half put it this way i am glad played instead of your old boy the most over rated player ever mr mylor.

Briscoe - 6
Briscoe - 5
Smith - 5
Shenton - 6
Hall - 5
Tomkins - 7 - Gonna be some player. Needs to bulk up a bit.
McGuire - 4 - Awful
Morley - 6
Roby - 5
Graham - 7
Ellis - 8
Peacock - 6
Sinfield - 8 - 2nd half looked a class act.

Burgess - 8
Crabtree - 9
Eastmond - 7
Westwood - 6

First half we were minging. 4 of the Aussie tries came from our mistakes. Nice to see we saw some passion in the second half. Cut out the errors and we might have a chance next week.
IMO we need to start with Sinfield, McGuire (one bad game doesnt make him a terrible player. Ask Sean Long who apart from one game was permantley shocking for England / GB). Eastmond and Tomkins. Between them four we actually looked like creating something.

Myler should be nowhere near the England team.

Firstly I would say I am an Englishman living in Australia for just over a year... so I have seen limited Superleague and loads of NRL... so here are my views:

1) I thought Tompkins (first time I have seen him) was head and shoulders a better player than Myler (who looked very limited in the game against France) he needs to take more responsiblity, as, when he did he caused the Aussie defence problems...

2) Eastmond was also instrumental in uping the tempo of the game for the English... he looks a much more rounded player than I expected although I worry his pace is not electric enough to compensate for his lack of size.

3) Crabtree showed what type of player he could be (this guy needs NRL intensity to take his game to the next level)

4) Sam Burgess looks as if he could make something, has all the raw materiels

5) Gareth Ellis showed his experience and did some subtle things which grew his teammates confidence.

5) The three quaters and full back positions... none of these players are top level international class, or even have the raw materiels to make it!

6) Hooker is a real problem, the Aussies showed with a top class guy you have organisation and shape... put on a lower class of player (as they did after taking the comfortable lead) and you lose shape... I didn't see anything in the england hookers.

7) I have been watching the NRL and been quite critical of the refereeing here... however I thought the performance of Ganson was bordering on incompetent. His position was poor to make calls, his calls were inconsistent - from incident to incident AND from team to team... I fall just short of calling his performance bias, but it was damn close.

he allowed to much laying on and hands in for me. gallen and possibly hannent? were masters at it and i mean that as a compliment not a criticism. other than that i thought he did ok, it cant be easy when the aussies play at such a quick tempo

pretty much nailed it there although i might give eastmond a 7.

Just shows England are getting better....we still seem to rely on those players from Leeds and Saints who lets be honest are good in those teams with world class players against them....but individually aren't that hot. Hey, we're getting to learn that....hopefully we can get indiviudally better players in future and properly get involved!!

The whole side was defensively out of balance for three tries, the forwards were so keen to 'shield' Tomkins in the first half that the right side were left hopelessly exposed. Playing Peacock at right side second row didn't help as his instinct is to move more centrally in the defensive line, which is exactly what he did. Slater's second try was simply an issue of not numbering up and leaving the blind side short. Smith and McGuire didn't help themselves by constantly swapping places with each other in the defensive line either.

Silly individual errors costed us two tries aswell, Burgess' knock on for Inglis' try and then McGuire attempting an intercept on our own line leaving us hopelessly exposed down his channel for Morris' try. Credit to the coach and the players for sorting themselves out and improving in the second half, but you have to wonder what might have been had we not been so weak in the first half.

S Briscoe - Any full-back would be a dead man walking against Australia when they break, their support play is magnificent. I had called for a more attacking threat from this position and I still think it is necessary for next week. He didn't do much, if anything, wrong but carries no attacking threat whatsoever and his kick return is poor. 5

T Briscoe - Got no ball, confidence looked shot in defence although the way the game panned out that's perfectly understandable for a young kid. Hope it hasn't affected him mentally as he's a good player. 5

Smith - Had a torrid afternoon but was an unarmed man trying to keep Inglis quiet in the first half, he's made a mug of far better players than Smith. Didn't do himself any favours either though, he never got a shoulder into anyone and was grabbing at everything all game. Much better on the wing in the second half, and a quality finish for his try, wouldn't want him in the centre next week though. 4

Shenton - Looked like a bag of bones up against Hodges but had the edge over him overall I thought. Very strong in defence and carried what ball he received well. Would like us to get the ball out to him more as he carries an attacking threat. 6

Hall - Similar to Shenton but got even less ball than his centre. Coped with Hayne quite easily, but the left side defence was so good that his opposite number never got a chance to have a go at him. 5

McGuire - 80 minutes of panic from someone who has enough experience to know better. He was poor in everything he did, really disappointing when you consider what kind of damage he can do. Should be fearing for his place for next week. 4

Tomkins - The game completely passed him by in the first half, he backed up almost every hit-up without success but apart from that looked lost. He more than made up for it in the second half though, gained in confidence and got us on the front foot. His left foot step is awesome. Only complaint about the second half is that he stopped backing up, he would have made a few breaks if he had got on Crabtree's shoulder. Promising. 7

Morley - He was outshined by the other props but that's not to say he was bad, a solid performance. 5

Roby - He performed pretty much as he always does but there's a lack of variation in his game which doesn't help him. With the way the Aussie pack tired he would have had a field day in the second half if he was brought on for impact. 5

Graham - A good display, ran his blood to water. Won the collision more often than not and his quick PTB's caused the Aussies problems. 7

Ellis - One of our best, put on some massive hits and carried the ball strongly. His footwork at the point of contact is very good aswell, should come into consideration for the centre spot next week as I don't see anyone else in the squad who can play there. 8

Peacock - Similar to Morley really, not as effective as you would expect him to be but nothing to be critical of. Was well looked after by the Aussies though it has to be said, he took some heavy shots. 5

Sinfield - Got through a mountain of defensive work in the first half, and in the second half he attracted numerous defenders and offloaded well in a confident display. I was cringing at him having to change his arms to pass left-to-right though. 6

Crabtree - Really impressive, played the impact role to perfection. The Aussies didn't know what had hit them. 8

Burgess - As above, brought some great impact from the bench. Perfect guy to being on after the early exchanges, his strength and mobility is a lethal combination. Couple of silly errors though. 7

Westwood - His contribution was just as important as the other two forwards, he improved our defensive shape and carried the ball with real aggression. Possible starter next week. 7

Eastmond - Involved himself at the right times in attack without ever having enough space to isolate their defenders, he was full of confidence and his footwork almost created some opportunities. 6

S Briscoe - 6-
T briscoe- 6-
Smith - 4-
Shenton - 6-
mcguire - 4-
Tomkins -8- MoM
Graham -7-
Roby -6-
Mozza -6-
JP -6-
ellis -6-
sinfield -7-

eastmond-7-
crabtree-7-
westwood-7-
burgess-7-

I don't understand you all giving Peacock such high ratings.
Peacock was our problem in the first half.
He was playing as a backrower and should have been defending our right flank. He was missing, too far inside leaving McGuire and Smith to cover where he should have been.
As soon as Lockyer saw him out of position he put out the long pass to Inglis who had a ten yard gap in front of him. McGuire and Smith were left stranded.
Lockyer tried the long pass to his right but Ellis was in position and shifted to take the big men who supported by Tomkins, Shenton and Hall shut out the Aussies down their right, our left side.
T Briscoe being sub'd was the scapegoat and Smith wanted to leave his experienced players out there.
All this is about match ratings.
I'll just rate the two captains and coaches, Lockyer 9, Peacock 3.
Sheens 8, Smith 2.

Briscoe - 5. Solid if unspectacular. Looked rather slow when returning kicks or trying to chime into the line, but didn't make any memorable mistakes and never stood a chance when the Aussies broke.

Briscoe - 5. Got no service and was hung out to dry by the defenders in field from him.

Smith - 3. Seriously...where was he?

Shenton - 7. Looked comfortable against Hodges and might have been more effective in attack if someone could have given him the ball abit more.

Hall - 6. Similar to Shenton. Wasn't overly stretched in defence but got very limited possession.

McGuire - 2. Dross. He was dreadful on both sides of the ball. For the record, he did nothing against France either, so why was Myler the one dropped for the Australia game?

Tomkins - 6. Considering his inexperience and his lack of a competant half-back partner, he showed a great deal of promise.

Morley - 5. Somewhat disappointing.

Roby - 6. Needs to pick and choose his moments when to pass and when to run more carefully. He seems to do it at random rather than playing what is in front of him. He caused them some problems but his service out of dummy half could have been better.

Graham - 6. Arguably more effective than Morley but failed to make an early impact.

Peacock - 5. Why was he named in the 2nd row? After being named in the 2nd row, why did he play as an extra prop? Either way, it didn't work and we seemed short of numbers out wider on the right.

Ellis - 7. Solid as a rock.

Sinfield - 5. Garbage in the 1st half (nervy, slow, out of position and made a number of mistakes) but was more influential in the 2nd half as England dominated territory and possession.

-----

Eastmond - 6. Impressive cameo appearance. I'm not sure it's wise for him to be playing centre at this level (and would prefer to see him in the halves or at full-back) but he looked alot more assured than Lee Smith.

Westwood - 6. Surprisingly one of our best performers and worked hard to do something about the disappointing situation that he was thrown into.

Burgess - 7. Made a great impact off the bench, providing some of the no-nonsense physical play that Morley, Peacock and Graham "should" have introduced from the beginning. A couple of knock-ons spoilt an otherwise good display.

Crabtree - 8. England's MOTM in my opinion. Was a handful every time he carried the ball, was relatively error-free and put some of the bigger names in the England pack to shame.

good post, though in fairness smith plaed better out on the wing and should be given some credit for that.

And yet strangely, your post shows you know nothing about Rugby League either...just goes to show eh?