Where is "pocket 4's".
At the start of this thread I was slated for posting this game as a "foregone conclusion"
Aussie should have beaten us by 40+ tonight, bar some refs calls.
Yes, Ryan Hall was "hit" by Thurston and Graham copped some high stuff, but Briscoe, Sinfield and worst of all Chase were exposed as second rate.
Once again, the Green and Gold machine has done us over with plenty to spare.
Why didnt we get in their faces and see what they have to give and why play second string NZ players that ran scared.
I'd rather see, Brough, Robinson, Myler at HB and not the man from Cas.
Having said all that. we were never going to beat Aussie, so what next.

Tomkins ok in super league ,world stage ,bottled it.utter rubbish tonight.a lesson in rugby league tonight by the green and golds.

Absolute tosh! With the squad the kiwis had, they were capable of playing some footy, bit they were too busy playing big man rugby and there main form of attack was stopping the oppositions attack, and that is rubbish!
I never claimed that throwing kids in was the solution, just that wothout getting regular match time they will never develop.
SL wil never compete with the intensity of the NRL and SoS, but we could do ourselves a favour by dumping the average overseas players in favour of our own.
Until the RFL see this and force clubs happy with mediocre players from overseas and a national coach happy to pick players who dont know the words to the national anthem, pointless will be our pursuit of the antipodeans.

Damn right man, bring British youngsters through in front of second rate/ journeyman Aussies.
Although it takes time, surely that is why we have the franchise system !!!

Sorry but you're wrong. Yes the Kiwis got their tactics very wrong but if they had there first choice team out they'd have beaten us anyway. And as you say they were still capable of playing some footy but didn't. Just goes to show the strength in depth they have now. Three teams reaching grand finals last year. If thats going backwards then i'll have some of it thanks.
As for the kids yes they deserve a chance but only when they are ready. If they aren't up to the task then they'll not develop no matter how much game time they get. As I said in my first post, it comes down to coaching. The Aussies & Kiwis get there chances earlier in life because they are ready earlier, purely down to the higher standards of junior development.
The average overseas players can go yes, the sooner the better. But the sad state of affairs is that right now those players are better than a lot of the english players and to kick them out would actually lower the standard of SL. If the kids are not yet ready then i'm afraid they'll be staying until they are. Invest in the kids and in ten years we may get to where we want to be but to right now theres no chance of it changing anytime soon.

a rather enjoyable evening watching Oz in the second half

England should of mixed it at the start of the second half as they was given an opportunity to stay close score wise and a bit of claret wouldn't of gone a miss, what happened a whimper



in fact the lads in front of us was more entertained flicking elastic bands at one miserable camera man that couldn't take a joke and made it worse by complaining to the stewards the wuss



the after match celebrations and the walk around two of our Stanley players had each received Gregg Igliss's boot

and another that was a mascot got Thurston's boots and a picture

I know its not only me complaining but the RFL should pull they head out of the sand and take the smack on the chin as they are just clueless

That was a depressing spectacle; our pack did plenty of hard work, but the backs bottled it big time - Tomkins was like a rabbit in the headlights, Chase was totally ineffectual and Sinfield kicked like a pub footballer. Just awful.

Hopes were raised by a competent performance against a sub-par and ill-disciplined Kiwi side; we should have known better.

Totaly out played and out classed as for the decisions hers my take

The disallowed first Aussie try should have been awareded Ian Smith should hang his head in shame if we have to make decisions like that to compete with the best.

Ryan Halls penalty try I am sure others will have a differing view but when he copped it from Thurston he still had control of the ball and then dropped it over the line a penalty for me not a penalty try Smith again bottled it.

The second Aussie try I thought it was a try all day long in slow motion and a fantastic effort. Sky claime dhis shirt touched the line for me benefit of the doubt.

As for the team clear out those that are not born in England and clear out the old boys network and ensure the coach clears off no where near good enough.

The pivot of Westwood Chase and Sinfield were laughable compared to the other side who totaly dominated. I dont think the Aussies hit top gear.

I noticed a loan Morley walking around at the end of the game looking quite dejected,

on his 50th appearance he had high hopes of ending a barren run of defeats I now wonder if he is pondering retirement from the international scene now? as it did look like the engine is starting to slow down

for me he will be always be able to hold his head high and say he tried for the cause

I'm afraid it's a sad indictment on the English game that Morley and Peacock have actually been involved in the four nations. Both have been excellent players in the past but neither are international standard. It just shows how woefully short of class props we are in this country.

Another thing, Sinfield never was and never will be a stand off - he can't make a break and in any case is too slow. Chase is out of his depth.

I'm afraid we're still light years behind the Aussies. They play RL with purpose, speed and skill. Thay have power and on attack they all move forward as a unit - we don't and the difference is very evident. To compete we have to step up big style and it won't be done overnight.

a rather enjoyable evening watching Oz in the second half




Sorry, are you actually English?

To be fair to Hall he kopt a couple of knees to the chin after the high shot, he did well to hold the ball at all. The other decisions were baffling to say the least, they were at least 40 points better than us.

The only way we will beat the Aussies is if we can find and develop more local talent. The current size of the superleague competition is not big enough to do this. The Aussies could put out three teams that would beat us,shame but true we will always be second best.

Kevin Sinfield, the worst stand off in international rugby. Say no more ! I saw comparisons of him and Tommy Lee for us last season. 100% clueless

My thoughts on the game (apart from being gutted):

The English pack were fantastic.
The English backs were 'average'
The English half-backs were woeful.
The English kicking game was dreadful.
The Aussies had no weaknesses!

Having said all that - if Gareth catches that ball and we score 6, we're right back in it! Gareth drops the ball - opportunity & game lost!

Chase was dreadful and clearly raised his game to play against his 'home' nation. Sinfield was a shadow of the player we saw at Hull and his kicking game went to pieces.

I don't know if it was the 3rd game running scenario, but there was no rythm at all to our play and I suspect that the game plan was overly conservative - 'no mistake' rugby, which means when you make mistakes, as we did regularly, you have no where to go!

The pairing of Yeaman and Briscoe were asleep for most of the game!

Genuinely believe we 'CAN' beat them, but not playing like that.

TBF - I don't think anyone should underestimate the desire of the Aussie's not not to let Lockyer down on his last appearance - that would mean a lot to them!

Oh well, I suppose it means I'm guaranteed to go next time as, having seen us lose on so many occassions, I couldn't bear to miss the one time we do end up winning!

We did fail miserably in total not just the half backs, the Aussies are pure class. They have set the standard for all. What a great send off for a great Aussie player Darren Lockyer the king of half backs.

I was privelidged to be there to see Lockyers last game and kick

Gutted about the result but you can not argue about who were the better team irrespective of the odd dubious decision (back to the drawing board again... I must have said that for around 30 years every time we play the Aussies

)

Just wish I'd had the chance to see the game wether we were crap or not. Got in my seat in the West Stand at 5.15, keeled over in agony at 5.30 and at 6pm was in an ambulance from the ground to Jimmy's.

Turns out I've got kidney stones, not sure what is the most painful, the kidney stones or the defeat. £40 for the ticket and saw sweet FA.

Well same old again on the penalty tey Hall still had control of the ball and it was disslodged by the aussie players knee as he went to ground it.Penalty for the head high by Thurston on report or send off.To award a penalty try meant that Thurston should have been sent off as intent to tackle head high was found.Sinfield is not and never will be an international class stand off.As for Chase well he aint worthy of seven as proven by not being in the Kiwi side.As the Aussie players in the English side same as Chase.Morley past his prime Peacock a good club player but not international standard and past his prime.The only ones of this squad that would get a look in from now would be Westwood,Graham,Roby,Hall and Tomkins.It shows how far behind we are when Roby makes a break and spends what looks like an eternity looking for a player backing up.I never rated Ellery Handley as a great creative player but what made him stand out from the rest in this country was he was always in support of the man with the ball.No matter who made the break they would know he was with them.Thats one area we need to improve do as they do back up in numbers.Another is we wont get any nearer playing it down the middle all the time this was shown at Wembly when the ball was thrown about and they were troubled then we reverted to type driving it up the middle.I think Brough out on that field would have raised his game and gave them something to think about.It needs a big shake up and having Macbanana as coach wont help.

Being realistic, how would you rate our performance in the comp, bearing in mind that we started as 3rd favourites and finished second.
Aussie could have won by 40, however a feature of each of Englands 3 matches against Aussie (twice) and the Kiwis, was the refs reluctance to pinish deliberate high shots.
I agree that we were miles behind the winners, but it would have been a whole lot closer had we used SL refs.
7 1/2 out of 10 for me.

through and through mate but I can appreciate a good side

having been following the lad now for the last 5 years in junior rugby I can see that the problem lies beneath the professional game in the youth.
the quality is just not there in volume

believe me it hurt to lose again

so that's why we was late getting into the ground, only just made it for the first pint



hope your ok bud rest up and see you soon

Sorry to hear that old lad

Get well soon - FWIW the last 20 minutes of the game left me feeling pretty sick, but I wouldn't swap!

On the bright side, the Aussies were only better than us in four areas - they were faster, stronger, sharper and (crucially) much much more intelligent. You have to question whether the emphasis in our game is weighted towards fitness too early instead of skills and tactics. Whenever an Aussie looked for an off-load, there was someone available. On too many occasions the same wasn't true for England. When the Aussie backs ran the ball, passes went perfectly to hand so that they could be run onto without breaking stride. When England passed, the receiver too often had to bend/jump/slow down or even stop to catch it.

The Aussies, quite simply, looked as though they were born running with a ball in their hand and, although it pains me to say this, they were an absolute joy to behold!

Further to that, apart from a 10-15 minute spell when England put them under decent pressure, they spent most of the game cruising; they always looked like they had extra gears but didn't really need them.