After watching the Aussies dominant performance against a disappointing Kiwi side, i am more than a little concerned about our chances next week. 

Lets be honest, it was a very poor England performance against a crude (even if physical and enthusiastic) PNG side.  Our goal line defence was terrible and is by far my biggest concern.  We made Stanley Gene look like a world class half back - an old man playing out of position!  We made poor decisions in the first half and seemed to want to score on every set of 6.  We failed to build pressure, establish field position or gain repeat sets.  

I hate to say it but the Ozzies looked a class apart against NZ.  I can't remember seeing an Aussie side that is as big as this one in the backs (even when Meninga was about).  They played with a speed and skill level that may be too much for us.  I was particularly impressed with the centres - Keith Senior and Martin Gleeson cannot be isolated against those two!  The Aussies won the physical battle against NZ, winning most of the collisions and establishing a quicker play the ball.

It would be nice if we could surprise the Aussies and knock a bit of arrogance from their supporters.  However, must win the physical collisions early.  NZ managed to put some hits on the Aussies late - we need this at the start in the game.  I will be interested to see how our pack stands up in this one.  If we can slow their play the ball down and take it to them in the forwards, we may have a chance.  I would like to see McGuire come on earlier - he could be the X factor against an aging Lockyer.  It may even be an idea to push Pryce to centre and put another forward on the bench.

Even though i am an Aussie born and bred the thing that annoys me is the players that get to play for Australia even though we dominate the game so much.

Karmichael Hunt should never have played for Australia he is a Kiwi & at least Benji Marshall has the heart to play for his home nation it is a disgrace that he gets to choose, Brad Thorn was another one but there are others as well.

If the game is to expand there is no such thing as "choice"  the rules must be changed as most players want to prove themselves in the NRL and at times this may qualifiy them as able to play for Australia under the current format.

Breathe some life into the game and make it fair, i am a big UK Super League fan and find the game better to watch than the NRL a lot of the time and sorry to say would love to see the England side win to fire up the game just as when we lost the ashes sparked so much interest it would put some fire in the belly.

Just what i think & am interested in others thoughts.

I agree with much of the two posts above. I've only got to see highlights of the games so far, but it was the physical size of the Aussie team that struck me. Each Kangaroo side I see seems to be bigger than the last! That's not to say they weren't skilful; they were. The handling was slick and half-backs (I'll never get used to this five-eighth business!) were impressive. That said, the Kiwis were desparately disappointing and seemed to lack that "go forward" attitude I've been used to seeing from the likes of Reuben Wiki and Lesley Vainikolo in the past.

I certainly think it can be argued that Superleague, if not objectively "better", is more entertaining a spectacle than the ARL. Whether that means England can turn over the Aussies; well, I can't be that confident.  Certainly I think we can put on a better show against them than the Kiwis managed. And hopefully, NZ will improve, too.

AUS V ENG- AUS+12

Aus 32 Vs Eng 18

I honestly believe that England needs to go in as Great Britain to have a chance of knocking off Australia.

 

If the Kangaroos are on their game the score could be in the 40 - 6 region imho.

But, lets hope thats not the case and we get a great game with a close finish!

ChookFan:

I honestly believe that England needs to go in as Great Britain to have a chance of knocking off Australia.

Why?   I cannot think of too many players fro the Scottish, Irish and Welsh teams who'd be able to improve the current English side.  In fact, I cannot think of any.

ChookFan:

If the Kangaroos are on their game the score could be in the 40 - 6 region imho.

But, lets hope thats not the case and we get a great game with a close finish!

And if England are at their best then we could see them win by 20 or so points.   I doubt it'll happen, but it most definitely could.  The only reason I don't think it'll happen is because England's defence is a bit frail at the moment.  Their excellent attack will score plenty of points, but their brittle defence will concede a fair few.

In conclusion, I think it'll be a great match. It'll certainly be more entertaining than the England vs Australia match from the 2007 RUWC.

Really none..? Ahhh ok then fair enough.

 

Heres to hoping both sides play great footy and we're in for a cracker! :D

ChookFan:

Really none..? Ahhh ok then fair enough.

 

Heres to hoping both sides play great footy and we're in for a cracker! :D

Brough is a good player but he's not better than Burrow and Pryce.  The Australian-born players who are in the Scottish, Irish and Welsh squads might make it on the bench, but we wouldn't want them as they're not true Englishmen.  If we included them and won then we'd be laughed at.  We only watch proper Englishmen in our side.

I'm angered by the fact we have a Samoan there.  He should be playing for Samoa.

iid be getting al the help i could get.

 so your telling me that you wouldnt want michael robertson the hatrick scoring nrl premiership winner

??

or pat Richards. you guys absolutely worship him over there hes the only goal kicker that can kick goals. 

Well I guess thats been answered tonight! England are flying home.

jack:

or pat Richards. you guys absolutely worship him over there hes the only goal kicker that can kick goals. 

 

Eh? Richards' goal kicking in this tournament was rubbish. His general play was OK, though.