Boyd passed well, but had a bad miss on the kick for the Reed try, and was short in defence a few times before moving to fullback. He is a fine player, but you notice the class drop off from Slater to Boyd.
Uate did have limited opportunity, but blew the ones he had. I think he was the best NSW outside back in Origin by a mile, so I have a lot of time for him, it just wasn't his day. He made "easy" metres today on the end of wide sweeping movements, but at his best he makes a lot of hard metres from the first and second hit ups to help out the forwards.
I haven't seen Yeaman in the Super League, but he handled Lawrence all right today, nothing spectacular. Lawrence missed every second tackle he attempted (or so it seemed) and looked poor, IMHO. And I think he has had a great year (when not injured) and is a future star, but today was not good.
Pommy forwards were much tougher than I anticipated- normally they are hyped up (Peacock has apparently been the best forward in the world for years if you listen to the Pommy commentators, but today he was good, on one leg), but they lived up to the hype.
Sinfield and Chase (and Roby, though he is fine, but just not a "half in a 9 jersey" like Smith) were really good at times, but the difference really was their "clutch" options compared to Lockyer and Thurston (as Mr Angry aptly said). But Lockyer and Thurston have been in supreme form together for years, as NSW has discovered, and are as good at controlling a game as any halves combo I've seen. Give an England spine a few years together (hopefully with Widdop there too) and they'll be better, and Lockyer will be gone (but Cronk is brilliant too- it will be interesting to see how Cronk and Thurston go at rep. level as a consistent combination...)
And about the ref...
I complain as much as anyone when I feel my team gets a dud call, but please...a send off for Williams? Not in any match for years has a tackle like that been worthy of a send off, and sin binning is not in the rules for high shots. The ref did the appropriate thing. Williams did not have a closed fist (despite some people saying he did), and did bounce off the shoulder (despite the complaints that he didn't). His timing in the tackle was off because Westwood juggled the ball before straightening. It was high, it was dangerous, it deserves a suspension, but it just wasn't send off material (it wasn't malicious, intentional, or wildly reckless).
The "no try" ruling was the correct call, in my opinion, but I did see it as close. I think it could have gone to the video ref if the grounding of the ball was the issue, but we always curse referees for not making a decision. The ball carrying arm definitely did not touch the ground, but a referee has to decide if a player's progress has stopped, and in this case I think it had, and then the player made a second movement, a lunge forward. The main concern was if the defender was still hanging on in the tackle. But the pass could have been called forward just before then (another close call, I'm not convinced it was forward) and the try was bombed from an easy dive to the corner, so it wasn't all the ref's fault.
The Lawrence try was completely different, as the player was still moving. It definitely would have been a double movement before the "momentum" rule. The issue is not if a player reaches forward after the ball is grounded (as Lawrence definitely did) but if the arm is taken off the ground by the player or if it bounces off the ground from the "momentum" of the tackle. I think it was the latter, and therefore a try.
