Kiwis v England Match Thread

[Desert Qlder]

Best (non playing) bits for me:

1. Jerseys, how nice to see RL shirts not looking like advertising hoardings!
2. 20k crowd, well done Wellington
3. Ticket organisers, well done for making sure the fans were packed into the areas cameras would show
4. Haka, Luke is mad!
5. Anthems, well sung and no techincal hitches to make the game look like amateur hour

As much as I loved this tonight (and I mean the unconditional, head-over-heels kind of love), I'm wondering how this was allowed to happen. Considering how much sway sponsors have, even Heritage strips are tarnished with their marketing graffiti.

Was quite incredible to watch, I was just taking the images in.

 

[chefman21]

James Graham is the second best forward in the world as far as I'm concerned. God I hope the Roosters can get him. He's the missing metre eater we need.

 

[Jeffles]

England too slow at marker and struggle to defend against inside passes and angle running. NZ with Luke could've racked up a lot more points. When England composed themselves, they were in with a shot. Do the basics right. Backline a real problem.


Excellent crowd. Another NZRL attendance exceeding what was budgeted for. Good for the bottom line and good for the image of the code.

 

[Evil Homer]

England looked best when roby was attacking from dummy-half. Shenton should come to the NRL. Liked the look of him last yr, looks even better this yr. Brown was found out in D, and Widdop didn't look up to it.

NZ were pretty poor tonight - need to improve alot to take the whole thing out.

Shenton has just signed for St Helens, so should see some improvement. For the person who asked about Ryan Hall, he's injured otherwise he would have been on the wing in place of Goulding.

They really missed Keith Senior I think....

Is this a joke?

 

[Fast Eddie]

Yes.

 

[NRLMad]

They really missed Keith Senior I think....

I was hoping we'd see him go.. I think England have gone for a younger side to help them at the WC. Senior was a good defensive centre, but eh was too slow.. well past it... Raynor around? or does he stick to the wing?

The problem is below.. There are too many hopeless players / over the hill players and NZers playing in the centres. Kirk Yeaman was said to be a great player.. What's happened to him?

Bradford
3.Sykes (3)
4.Nero (4) > why is he here, he's a fringe NRL player at best.

Castleford
3.Shenton (3)
4.Evans (4) - OK player, about 5 years ago.

Crusaders
3.Dyer (14) > why is he here, he's a fringe NRL player at best.
4.Mellars (4) - NZer

Catalans
3. Sa - NZer
4. Raguin - French

Harlequins
3. Tony Clubb
4. David Howell > why is he here, he's a fringe NRL player at best.

Huddersfield
3. Lawrence (19)
4. Paul Whatuira - NZer

Hull
3.Hall (24)
4.Yeaman (4)

Hull KR
3.Welham (3)
4.Webster (4) - NZer & xWinger in the NRL

Leeds
3. Watkins (23)
4. Senior (4) > too old surely; retire

Salford
3.Gibson (5)
4.Talau (4) > too old surely; retire

St Helens
3.Gidley (3) > too old surely; retire
4.Soliola (4)

Wakefield
3.Gleeson (3)
4.Millard (4) > why is he here, he's a fringe NRL player at best.

Warrington
3.Atkins (23)
4.Bridge (4)

Wigan
3.Gleeson (3) > He's OK, but he has brain explosions..
4.Carmont (4) - NZer

 

[ozbash]

NZ were pretty poor tonight - need to improve alot to take the whole thing out.

haha, no they wernt, they did enough, never really extended themselves, never had to.

 

[Evil Homer]

A couple of those players are moving on or retiring. Next year we'd be looking at:

Bradford:
3.Royston
4.Walker

Castleford
3.Arundel
4.Owen

Catalans:
3.Baile
4.Raguin

Huddersfield:
3.Lawrence
4.Cudjoe

Hull:
3.Yeaman
4.Turner/Whiting

Salford:
3.Gleeson
4.Gibson

St Helens:
3.Shenton
4.Soliola/Wheeler

Wakefield:
3.Murphy
4.Parker

 

[The 18th Man]

A forgettable game. Woeful at times. NZ will need to improve on that to take on the Australians. England, well they will need to improve to take on the Kumuls. I do expect Australia to be just as scratchy however today in the wet vs PNG.

 

[The Engineers Room]

I think Atkins has suffered from not being outside a quality playmaker in Briers. The Huddersfield guy at 6 was terrible and never seems to do anything and Tomkins only plays well as a second receiver fullback. I think that is where they struggled. They looked better when the 14 played halfback.

On Shenton, what did he actually do apart from run fast?

Graham and Westwood were their best options, Westwood should start and Roby did some creative things. They will get towelled against Australia unless they look to play the more expansive game they did in the second half and even then they will struggle.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

NZ are f*cked without me imo

Think about it- end of year internationals

2004 TN- No Vatuvei- last
2005 TN- Vatuvei- win
2006 TN- Vatuvei- Lose final in golden point
2007 Tour- No Vatuvei- Humiliated
2008 World Cup- Vatuvei- World Champs
2009 4N- No Vatuvei- Missed the final

You do the math

 

[ozbash]

he'll be back, fracture or not.

mal meninga, ruben wiki, stacey jones all played in plaster casts..

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I actually think he's a bigger loss for us than Morley for England. I'm deadly serious tbh. Without him our backline (assuming Perret comes in) really starts to look devoid of size and speed.

 

[The 18th Man]

I actually think he's a bigger loss for us than Morley for England. I'm deadly serious tbh. Without him our backline (assuming Perret comes in) really starts to look devoid of size and speed.

Again, lay off the kava.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Again, lay off the kava.

?

I'm right btw

 

[Iafeta]

Pretty ordinary game. I don't know what Tony Archer's interpretation of 'move' is, but when he calls and the Poms lie there, rub their pecs on another Kiwi in some sort of homo love in, and then turn to look at the ref with their arms out in an airplane position before ever so slowly getting off the player... I don't think a lot of that slow ruck rubbish would have been allowed in the NRL, and it would have allowed the likes of Luke and Marshall to carve them up more. I was happy though Harrigan and the other dude got the Kevin Brown no try right, I was bemused that the commentators initially couldn't see big-ears push Eastwood over the touch in goal line.

The one thing the Kiwis have to get right ,and it could be great if they do, is the Marshall-SKD combo. There was a few times in the Samoan match and again last night where Benji goes for his 30m dash across field and SKD isn't too sure whether he's going to straighten up, bring him back on the outside, or wants him to play on an out ball, and there were a couple of turnovers from them as a result of it when England's defence had gaping holes waiting to be taken apart.

Australia will put 30 on the Poms.

 

[Billythekid]

So many things wrong with England. The main one is they don't even look like they have been coached. Their defense was a rabble and they had basically no set plays. When play broke down they had no idea what to do. They got onto the kiwis line many times and than just capitulated as they didn't know how to attack the line.

There were other problems though. Their 5/8 was terrible he was slow and ineffective. You can't win a game with a player that bad. He also made things hard for tomkins. Tomkins looked superb but i think he would have been better playing 5/8 than halfback.

Their forward back didn't show up. Have a look at the difference in metres gained between the 2 sides. I have seen some total floggings in the NRL but the metres difference is never that bad. Some of those forwards need to have a good hard look at themselves.

Their outside backs were shocking (okay that one centre, Shenton? was it made a few breaks). They all look like stick figures and the worst part is they don't even look fast. What are they supposed to be good at? It sure isn't defense. In fact that is where England lost the game.

 

[ucantseeme]

The ESL should just reduce the import quota again and again til they are consistantly competitive at Test level. Winning the odd Test game in the Wigan during winter is nice but not enough.

 

[adamkungl]

Yet another incompetent English performance.
Had absolutely no idea how to defend Marshall's wide arcing run. The exact same play carved them up time and time again.
In attack, they ALWAYS take the highest risk option. They have no idea how to grind or build pressure. Sometimes it comes off, like when they scored from their own 20, but mostly they just drop it. I counted 2 or 3 times where on the last tackle 5 metres out from the tryline they went blindside to the wing instead of putting it up and trying to get a lucky try or at least a repeat set.

Pretty talented side but no f**king clue how to win a Rugby League match. I hope PNG beat them.

 

[kia ora storm]

NZ are f*cked without me imo

Think about it- end of year internationals

2004 TN- No Vatuvei- last
2005 TN- Vatuvei- win
2006 TN- Vatuvei- Lose final in golden point
2007 Tour- No Vatuvei- Humiliated
2008 World Cup- Vatuvei- World Champs
2009 4N- No Vatuvei- Missed the final

You do the math

How did you type with a broken arm ??...nice effort.