General Zod blames him

I rest my case.

At this level of rugby any weak link or mistake is usually punished. In this case young Tom made the mistake of thinking that Mcguire & Smith can tackle anything bigger and faster than my gran.

Explain what the difference was then please?

I was at the game on Saturday, and for anyone to blame the tries on Tom Briscoe or to put down Englands 2nd half revival to him being substituted is a moron.

The first four Aussie tries came through the defensive line between the centre (Smith) and 2nd Row (Peacock). McGuire was inbetween the two, and to say they play at the same club, their cohesion and understanding was atrocious. Plenty of times there'd be 4/5 England players around the ruck leaving a 3 on 5 / 4 on 2 out wide. What could Tom have done, he was marking his man (Morris), who didn't get a sniff all half, except for his try where Tom was isolated - that said, the Aussies didn't really need to shift it as far as Morris.

Coaches say that defending at centre is the hardest position to defend in, and moving Smith to wing on Saturday, proved to me that Smith couldn't hack it there against the Aussies. I think both our centres lacked size and would rather we had a player of Gilmour or Senior's physicality there.

I just hope that this hasn't dented Tom's confidence.

Other points about the game: Sinfield I thought was brilliant, as was Crabtree and Burgess. Tomkins had a great 2nd half once the players realised what he could do. McGuire aweful, Peacock needs to improve, Shaun Briscoe I thought played well, especially in attack 2nd half. The changes I'd make for next week would be to take McGuire out and either Shenton/Smith for a bigger bloke. Hopefully Roby has taped the game and taken some pointers from Cameron Smith on how to play hooker.

I think you're wrong. We all saw that McGuire was having a mare. I must admit I hadn't picked up on the obvious weak link of having a prop out on the right as a second rower. Also, picking a winger as his inside centre just exposed Tom. These were tactical blunders by the coach that were exacerbated by McGuire's underperformance. However, Fox would have been in exactly the same situation - just turning around over and over to cover the failings of the men inside him. I wouldn't have had a go at Fox and I doubt that others who understand how rugby is played would have - I'd have been happy to see him in the team. This was England playing, not clubs. I even said I'f have preferred to see Cooke out there instead of McGuire. England comes first in this situation, then the city of Hull - imho of course.

Tony Smith on subbing Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html At least he isn't blaming Tom at all, unlike some other self-proclaimed experts on RLFans.

Tony Smith on subbing Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html At least he isn't blaming Tom at all, unlike some other self-proclaimed experts on RLFans.

Quote ="Kosh"Tony Smith on subbing Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html At least he isn't blaming Tom at all, unlike some other self-proclaimed experts on RLFans.'" Cant understand Why he took him off then if he isnt blaming him ? Should have been a straight swap, Eastmond for Smith !

Quote ="Kosh"Tony Smith on subbing Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html At least he isn't blaming Tom at all, unlike some other self-proclaimed experts on RLFans.'" Cant understand Why he took him off then if he isnt blaming him ? Should have been a straight swap, Eastmond for Smith !

I don't know what anyone else thought, but I reckon Australia are there for the taking by whoever wins between NZ and England. Both packs battererd the hell out of Oz and I don't think they will recover in time.

The clash between England and NZ's two sets of forwards next week will be fantastic - I'm really looking forward to it. I also think we will be more used to the quick ruck that the Kiwis did Australia with because of our hsitory of the quicker play the ball (admittedly not necessarily this season).

With better selection in the centres I'm hopeful we can win.

I thought the Aussies took their foot off the gas in the second half. In the first half I dont think they really got out of third gear. I think they have Plenty more left in them !
Also dont think we will get near the Kiwis at weekend.
When either of these teams are on song its men against boys im afraid !

I thought it was a combination of poor defence (the whole team as a unit) and high quality from the Australians. England new the main threat would come down their right hand side and yet they looked surprised when it happened. Australia set up the plays very well, sucking in the defence before spreading the ball wide with quality passes. It was nice to see a back line running from deep, something that seems to be missing from the European game at the moment.

This attitude towards the Aussies really winds me up! They're not super human, and quite beatable. 2nd half they were knackered and didn't look like scoring once, and most of their tries in the first have were opportunist.

Like I said, we dominated for the 2nd half after Smith had made changes to the defensive set up. We'll go into the NZ game with that extra bit of experience having learn't from the mistakes on Saturday.

Don't forget that the Aussies had a tough game to start the series last week, as well as the majority of the team playing an origin series and mid season international vs the world champs. Who have we played? France and Wales, hardly good preparation to take on Australia!

I'm confident, I think we can beat NZ next week and give the Aussies a bloody good game in the final. I don't doubt that they could have raised their intensity at times, but we had them rattled and they didn;t like it.

Amazed me him bringing Tom off, even if Smith wasn't Union bound!

Hey listen I hope your right. They arent unbeatable but IMO when on their game they are leagues ahead of ours. Im not sure if they were knackered in the second half or came out thinking it was job done. As you know when clubs do this and get caught it is very hard to swing momentum back in your favour.
I do agree our build up games werent hard enough to give us some true competition and preparation and I do agree the way to beat them is to get in their faces and get them rattled early on without giving away cheap penalties ala Smith.
We will see at the weekend I guess.

The problem is, who do we play as a warm up?

Maybe England v SL Select would be an idea, but I can't see clubs going for it.

We have to face the fact that SOO is head and shoulders above our international side, let alone the full Aussie international squad.

Sorry can't be ar*** to see if you have seen sense on the other pages, did you watch the game on Saturday? Or are you simply looking at this through those dobbin glasses of yours?!?!

Tom wasn't at fault for any of the try's, if you know anything about RL you would have recognised and acknowledged that!

What should have happened was Lee Smith (who shouldn't be in the team anyway) dropped at HT and Eastmond / Briscoe partnership. Don't let your daft petty opinions of Hull players cloud your judgement!

Interesting that the "mighty" Shaun Briscoe got a 6 in the player performances figures, and Tom got a 5, despite everything being Tom's fault

what did smith and mcguire get.

Noticed in the stat's published in the RL Express, Tom only missed the one tackle, however Smith and Maguire missed 8 between them.

Us as fans didnt help when we had lancashire v Yorkshire. the attendences were shocking

We need to get behind things like that . it will never be like the aussie SOO but a roses clash should be one of the first games on anyones calender and should be as intense a clash as any international for the players.

could you blame the fans!? especially with odsal being chosen as a venue in the past



rfl should bring back the roses clash, but should look to play the games at the dw stadium and the kc, set ticket prices at £10 adult £5 concession, am sure these two grounds would be pretty full

It needs to be better organised and mean something, a 3 game series.

What really needs to happen if for International RL to get some stature back, a series with touring sides playing domestic teams, like it used to be!

I agree about Odsal that game was embarressing.

At first we should have 1 at warrington and 1 at headingley. both grounds should be full and then if its a success move it to stadiums like DW and KC

But the fans really need to get behind it were ever its played

There were some cracking games against touring sides in the past.

As for the County games , at one point - probably nearer 30 years ago - they were seen by the players as part of the progression to full honours - but since that time their prestige declined.

I remember Keith Elwell of Widnes declining a county cap to continue with his long run of appearances for his club.

The Rodstock series attempted to fire the enthusiasm but ultimately failed and latterly the county coach selection seemed to have more to do with washed up ex-player rehabilitation than seeking excellence.

Good call. Don't forget that when origin started down under it wasn't successful but now it's massive. We need that level of intensity to pick up the international game and generate some media interest. Done properly, it could be huge.