26 12 up with only 7 mins left.

Good sign for upcoming test series.

New Zealand’s victory against Australia has made our series against the Kiwis more appealing.

Australia look very beatable with the changing of the guard, a shame we’re not playing them this year. Looking forward to Tonga v Australia next week, Tonga have a great side, when was the last time Australia lost back to back games?

Nearly put the lockers in that!

26 to 24 a kiwi victory but proves that you have to play the full 80 mins against the Aussies.

Mental weakness in the kiwis?

Like us can they hold leads in tight games.

We will soon see.

A good overall performance from the kiwis, they have a very strong pack and some real world class in Johnson and Manu and DWZ. On paper, they should be too good for England over 3 matches but as we saw towards the end there, they are prone to switching off and have some mental weaknesses when under real pressure.

I can't wait for the series. England will need to be creative to score points since Marsters and Manu are excellent defensive centres. I think Tomkins needs to be at 1, he has the guile to undo them out wide from the back of a block, I think Ratchford would be eaten up by their edge defence quite easily.

Also, this could be the start of something good with the new-look aussie team getting turned over at the first time of asking. There will be some question marks on them now from the aussie media and a bit of pressure. If we can catch them on a downward curve and prevent this group gaining the invincibility complex their predecessors had, it might level the playing field internationally between the top 3 teams.

Given the players we have missing, NZ are definitely big favourites for our series.
I worry about our lack of physicality in the backs, and we don't have any controlling HBs in the squad.

Top 3. Is that Australia, Tonga and England or Australia, Tonga and New Zealand?

Tonga don't come into the equation at all.

Already beaten NZ in the WC, desperately close against England and a real chance against Aus next week. Let's see what you're saying this time next week.

I’d put my mortgage on Australia beating Tonga a couple of good results in the World Cup doesn’t mean anything there the fourth best team in the world same as Fiji were a few years back

Make some money if your that confident Australia are 1/3 with Ladbrokes. Fiji beat New Zealand too, however they aren’t quite as good as Tonga IMO.

Before we get carried away, this was probably the weakest Australia side I’ve seen in a long term and definitely the worst half back combination in history

Regards

King James

NZ pretty good at home but in recent times haven't done as well on their travels. should still be a close series

How can a team boasting Joseph Manu, Dallin Watene-Zelesniak, Shaun Johnson, Esarn Marsters, Brandon Smith, Jordan Rapana, Joseph Liu, Martin Tapau, Jesse Bromwich, and Jared Warea-Hargreaves possibly be beaten by an England team that will be without Samuel Burgess, Ryan Hall, and Kallum Watkins?

This series should be a 3-0 cake walk for the Kiwis.

England are also without their best player, 2017 NRL Dally M half back of the year, Gareth Widdop.

The battle between Manu and Mitchell was a joy to watch. Those 2 have thee potential to be all time greats. Sadly, we don't have any fit centres anywhere near their level.

If you missed the junior test yesterday you should view this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a65e6XBgZsM BTW The video ref allowed the try, the offload wasn't a forward pass

If you missed the junior test yesterday you should view this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a65e6XBgZsM BTW The video ref allowed the try, the offload wasn't a forward pass