4 nations game 7 - 4 nations final - ENG V AUS

[maccattack]

I'm tellin ya now. England will NEVER win a 4N tournament. Not in my lifetime anyway and probably not ever. They are just not good enough.

Not fit enough, commited enough, determined enough or smart enough.

I know this thread will never come back to haunt me either. Not in my lifetime.

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

England cheated and still got smashed. Very, very disappointing.

 

[innsaneink]

So close you can smell it?

Like all the other times.this time feels so different its untrue....

previous times its all been about how awesome the aussies are......this time its been all about england....the fact that its lockyers last game has been "out media'd" by the england PR team who have pushed the fact that its mozza's 50TH test...we've had jamie peacock proclaiming that "they'll never hammer us again" in the national papers...theres been no negativity whatsoever about england which makes a change.....even garry schofield has kept his gob shut...:lol:

theres a real sense of self belief that i've never seen before....and i'm normally the cornerstone of belief when it comes to england RL :lol:

Bad luck champ

Geez setting yourself up again for heartbreak.

nope........not this time


anyway this thread is'nt here for you....your lot ain't good enough

Yeowwwch!!

Bad luck champ.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke too......

 

[innsaneink]

The long *sigghhhs* at the end of every one of eddies comments during the final ten minutes

LMFAO!

 

[Pierced Soul]

england actually remind me of souths - promise so much at the start and even during the comp but then their true shit is exposed

i could almost taste the tears of anguish and bitterness of the commentators :lol:

 

[RedVee]

Very disappointed with Englands effort today.

I was surprised that Heighninton was left out. I know our British based correspondants had called for it but it seemed that the whole strategy was to run the same 17 ever game possible right from the France game. Which they did, until the final?

Stupid errors letting pressure off just killed them. I thought Yeahman and Briscoe were shown up. I'm not going after Timpkins, even Lockyer had a game like that once. The penalty for stripping right at the start just gifted us field position. The stupid pass from Jamie JB to Briscoe from the restart.... dumb play, granted that Briscoe was entitled to catch it.

Just so disappointed, was really looking forward to a great game. Really sorry for our British friends watching that.

Q: Who got MOM? I dont think the C9 display included that. I'm guessing Thurston?

 

[wibble]

IMHO England have a very good competition in the Super League, and they have been more than competitive in WCC matches. In the past (90's, certainly) I'd have said the Australian competition is so much better that it gives the Australian side a real advantage, but I don't think that is really the case any more.

England's problem is the same as NSW's (and we don't talk about the poor structure in NSW competitions- though some bring up the red herrings of "passion" or "stability" for QLDs dominance over NSW): Slater, Thurston, Lockyer, Smith (+ Cronk and Inglis are handy), who are comfortably the most lethal spine I've ever seen.

I think before we get too carried away boasting about the Australian "system" we should think about the Australian cricket team, which was also supposedly the best through a superior system, but now seems to have been the best because they actually had arguably the best all rounder (Gilchrist) and spinner (Warne) of all time, and two of the best of the modern era in Ponting and McGrath. With three of those players retired and the other looking old and out of form, the Australian team are a shambles, but our state competition doesn't seem particularly worse.

Lockyer is gone, and it is not certain that Cronk and Thurston will form the same threat as a partnership (sure they'll be good, but will they be that good?). England were as good as Australia in many areas throughout the tournament, but lacked the super classy touches under pressure that the Australian spine had. If England find another star in the halves, hopefully with a great kicking game (Widdop might get there in a few years), Roby and Tomkins look the goods at international level. I think England can keep competing for a long time.

 

[Mr Angry]

Thiaday Gallen or Thurston M o M. i reckon.

This game also showed how dissappointing the kiwis were

 

[Raiderdave]

the english kicking game was horrid
Sinfield had a shocker , Chase was quiet as was young Tomkins
the forwards ineffective for long periods , battling to go give their halves any room

this morning wasn't a patch on that breezy enthusiastic peformance in London
& it needed to be every bit , n then some for England to have any chance of winning

Thiaday was superb , as was Gallen for Australia
a pretty good performance of the aussies , & thats all tht was needed.

I think Sam Burgess would have added a lot to this England side
but so would half a dozen Aussie players who were missing from our side for varying reasons
the next international tournament we have is in 2 years ... the 2013 World Cup , England have a mountain of work to do to reach the final of that NZ had a host of players missing this campaign too & when at full strength will be darn hard to keep out of the decider of this tournament

Interesting times ahead

 

[Sam_the_man]

Not entirely what it is that England are missing. Fitness perhapes? Gone are the days of 50 and 60 point hidings but 20 point loses aren't good enough either. Can't help but wonder if Enlgand could do with the Bennet touch?

 

[wibble]

Thiaday Gallen or Thurston M o M. i reckon.

This game also showed how dissappointing the kiwis were

I can't really judge without bias on this. I think Gallen has been consistently the best player at rep level for 2 years, and is almost always one of the best 2 or 3 on the field, and today was no exception.

He made a bucket load of tackles, and his tackles really stopped the English from gaining any momentum. When the game was tied he had a very important offload on the line that put the English defence on the back foot and allowed a quick play the ball for the crucial try that put Australia in front. He then was heavily involved with a great run and offload to give Australia the next try that crushed England's spirit.

Thaiday was great, he always works hard, but Gallen usually does more, and has classier touches, and again I think this happened. Thurston, Lockyer and Smith were their usual brilliant selves, with Thurston highly involved in most of the important plays, Lockyer taking Tomkins out of the game with a frighteningly good kicking game, and Smith involved in virtually every good decision that lead to a line break or try. For mine, Thurston was probably MoM, and Gallen the best for the series

 

[Red Bear]

My TV stuffed something up because the recording cut out at half time so I only watched the first.

For all the refereeing errors against the Australians I thought
- Tomkins was taken out after dropping the ball, not giving him the opportunity to recover or stop the players, probably should've been a try and definately shouldnt have been an offside call though.
- Penalty try was fair enough, even if given for the wrong reason. The Thurston high tackle should've just been a penalty but Luke Lewis knee to the head of the winger, a clear penalty, was what caused him to drop it.

We must've converted our opportunities second half I guess!

England have a good forward pack but lack polish in doing the little things right, which Australia does do (and when NZ play well they also do, unlike this internaitonal season).

 

[Brutus]

Well I live one hour from Leeds, and over the last month at work, not one person has mentioned the four nations. Half of them wouldn't even know there were 2 rugby codes. It's never on TV, never advertised, out of sight apart from a small demographic in a few cities.
But what would I know....
It's big in a few cities, but that's all.

Well these people you work with obviously don't listen to Yorkshire Radio. Plenty of passion came through during the coverage, including some very pissed off fans.

It would be the same living in Sydney. Nobody talks about the AFL or A League.

Living in Melbourne. Nobody talks about the NRL or RU.

 

[Brutus]

Briscoe run with flippers on.

Unfortunately for the Poms any quality half coming through the ranks is likely to be snapped up by RU.

 

[Special K]

Sinfield is horrible. Before every series he gets talked up and every series he looks like a nsw cup player.

What happened to the pryce brothers? Weren't they going to be the english answer to GI?

 

[drake40]

some of these pommies have got to be kidding now i agree the reffing in first eng oz game was bad ie the no try. but ian smith video ref wow just plain old fashion cheating some horrible horrible calls were so bad they were funny and the ref well he was himself average. the positives for england they were competitive. just lacking a couple of matchwinners in the halves. i thought england had a good tournement.. and paul gallen what a super player another big game. oh eddie and steveo stop whine grow a spine .

 

[TommyGun]

what happened to England's world class forward pack?

 

[skeepe]

you obviously don't watch Super League do you? :lol:

Irrelevant. He has been nothing but distinctly average whenever he's come up against NRL players.

 

[Chook Norris]

england just looked hopeless again. An inability to maintain intensity for crucial periods of time. Very weak defensive structures outwide that collapse with any second man spread of the ball. They looked very nervous and tense which seemed to prevent any sort of innovative 2nd phase play which we saw in the previous game v Australia. Unfortunately for them, everything they do we can do better. They need a coach like Bennett