2017 RLWC - QF4 - ENG 36-6 PNG @ Melbourne

[Timmah]

1. Gareth Widdop 2. Jermaine McGillvary 3. Kallum Watkins 4. John Bateman 5. Ryan Hall
6. Kevin Brown 7. Luke Gale
8. Chris Hill 9. Josh Hodgson 10. James Graham 11. Sam Burgess 12. Elliot Whitehead 13. Sean O'Loughlin

Interchange: 14. Alex Walmsley 15. Thomas Burgess 16. Ben Currie 17. James Roby
18. Chris Heighington 19. Mark Percival 20. Stefan Ratchford 21. George Williams

1. David Mead 2. Justin Olam 3. Kato Ottio 4. Nene Macdonald 5. Garry Lo
6. Ase Boas 7. Watson Boas
8. Moses Meninga 9. James Segeyaro 10. Luke Page 11. Rhyse Martin 12. Willie Minoga 13. Paul Aiton

Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste 15. Stargroth Amean 16. Stanton Albert 17. Rod Griffin
18. Enoch Maki 19. Wartovo Puara 20. Thompson Teteh 21. Lachlan Lam


Match Officials
Referee: James Child
Sideline Officials: Mark Craven, Chris Butler
Video Referee: Steve Chiddy​

 

[Burns]

PNG will be found out here. Have had everything that possibly go in their favour the past 3 weeks with the home conditions.

England by 12+

 

[Chip Kick]

Oh yeah, so looking forward to this game.
This is the true test for the Kumuls

 

[SBD82]

England should win, but I think they're lucky to be playing in Melbourne. Put this game in Port Moresby and I think it's even money.

 

[The Partisan]

Reckon this could be where Poms play their way back into form. PNG will be primed but the loss of the home crowd support might just bring them back a peg or two. If it mirrors the 2008 RLWC game it will be a good 'un !

 

[Timmah]

PNG will be found out here. Have had everything that possibly go in their favour the past 3 weeks with the home conditions.

England by 12+

Ever visited Melbourne? It's not *always* cold and rainy down here.

While it won't be tropical like Port Moresby, Sunday still looks likely to be quite warm, high 20s low 30s and won't be too bad for the Kumuls.

England have been below par much of the tournament, and could get found out here IMO

 

[Billythekid]

England really haven't looked that great this tournament. I think they'll win but it won't be a walkover. Still think they'll end up with a comfortable winning margin.

Hopefully PNG show up. The future of PNG RL is looking bright. I feel like over the next 10 years they're going to close the gap with the big 3 significantly.

 

[Clifferd]

England really haven't looked that great this tournament. I think they'll win but it won't be a walkover. Still think they'll end up with a comfortable winning margin.

Hopefully PNG show up. The future of PNG RL is looking bright. I feel like over the next 10 years they're going to close the gap with the big 3 significantly.

England seem very inconsistent. For example the first 20 mins last night they look world class then the rest of the game they were kinda meh.

If they string a full 80 together I’m confident they can match Aus and NZ but as it stands I feel they lag just a tad behind them

 

[Billythekid]

England seem very inconsistent. For example the first 20 mins last night they look world class then the rest of the game they were kinda meh.

If they string a full 80 together I’m confident they can match Aus and NZ but as it stands I feel they lag just a tad behind them

I feel that's been there MO for the last 10 years or more. How many times have we seen them come oh so close to winning a tournament only to blow it at the last hurdle. They've definitely had teams capable of winning the WC and 4 nations but just can't get over the line.

This year isn't their strongest team but i still think if they can play their best for 80 minutes they could beat anyone in the comp.

The France match is hard to read. It was basically over after 10 minutes and I feel they kind of shut off a bit.

Really looking forward to how they go in the finals. I think the day England breakthrough and win a WC will be a great day for rugby league.

 

[roughyedspud]

Still waiting for Luke gale to do something...

So far his highlights have been doing a kickflip dropgoal and doing a Mick Morgan impression..IN TRAINING!

 

[Canard]

Just got my tickets. PAX 8700

 

[Rhyno]

England by 8

 

[ed-grimley]

PNG will be found out here. Have had everything that possibly go in their favour the past 3 weeks with the home conditions.

England by 12+

Agree. They got a cricket score against the hapless Seppos but could have been done by the Irish.

 

[roughyedspud]

England by 26+

 

[Rory]

Bennett gives me a headache. Can we bring back Brian Noble?

 

[Pommy]

Bennett gives me a headache. Can we bring back Brian Noble?

He is busy in toronto and seems to be doing a good job. Probably best we leave him alone.

 

[Saxon]

Match Officials
Referee: James Child
​

I note that the screams of offended Englishpersons about a non-neutral ref for this game are strangely silent.

Oh wait, I've just worked it out. The tinfoil hat brigade are going to say that Australia let England have their own ref for this game to justify an Aussie ref for the final. ROFL

 

[roughyedspud]

We will get a Aussie ref for the semi & final..Tony archer ain't daft,a Oz ref for Oz v eng in the opener..gives England English refs for every game after just so we can't whinge like tony Smith did in 2008..archer has even give Australia English refs just to cover his arse..

We've driven the neutral ref issue for years,we want neutral refs! But Australia's attitude has always been "we want the best and most experienced ref...as long as he's australian"

 

[Timmah]

Ugh.

This neutral ref issue is completely bogus.

The referees have to come from somewhere. If (as seems likely) it's AUS v ENG in the final, then the reality is that the referee will be from one of those two nations. Old mate Perenara isn't good enough to be the final ref.

I don't understand allegations or perceptions of bias - these referees deal with most of these players on a weekly basis at club level and that doesn't incline them to supposed bias, one way or another.

I do enjoy the fact that even when the referees are assigned the way you want them, you instead accuse the hierarchy of "covering their arse".

 

[roughyedspud]

Ugh.

This neutral ref issue is completely bogus.

The referees have to come from somewhere. If (as seems likely) it's AUS v ENG in the final, then the reality is that the referee will be from one of those two nations. Old mate Perenara isn't good enough to be the final ref..

Like I said.. australians want the best and most experienced..as long as he's a Aussie lol

We'll see won't we