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

[beave]

Englands kicking game was deplorable for the majority of the game, there were a few times they were putting up bombs on the halfway line or just over it, rubbish tactics IMO.

 

[Didgi]

Unfortunately that's seen in the SL as well, and I can only think that it spawns from union tactics. Works nicely for some teams but is a definite no go at international level.

 

[roughyedspud]

actually kev sinfield has a world class kicking game..........what he lacks,they all lack actually,is the mental ability to cope with the stress...


i've been saying it for year..the best thing the england managment could do is hire some sports psychologists

 

[LeedsStorm]

actually kev sinfield has a world class kicking game..........what he lacks,they all lack actually,is the mental ability to cope with the stress...


i've been saying it for year..the best thing the england managment could do is hire some sports psychologists

Judging by the number times Sinfield has kicked pressure kicks from sidelines in the closing minutes of games, I'm not sure he lacks mental toughness. He was playing his 42nd game of the season - some 10-15 more games than any Australian on the park. There's got to be something to this. Take two rep regulars - Lockyer and Keith Senior. Both made debuts in 1995. Lockyers first grade appearances are impressive at 355, but look rather weak in the face of Senior's 504. English players play way more games, yet dont have the week-by-week level of competition to hone their skills. What results is an England team that can compete in small doses, but the reality is they are often tired and underprepared at the higher level.

 

[dibviking]

went the game on saturday and to say i was devastated is an understatement, i really really did believe we could win it, just like the last time and the time before and the time before and so on! so i felt let down big time. Having not remembered much of the match and then reading the comments on ere i thought we mustve played shite and our nrl based players were our best, because some seem to think the answer is to get more english players in the nrl!
BUT, having watched the replay, and with BBC commentry not SKY, i could not believe my eyes! as the game i just watched was completely different to the ones you lot watched, this one was close enough to say england are not too far behind the convicts and i think with a better coach than mcnamara, someone with a good gameplan we would have won.
englands kickers were harrassed and put under constant pressure aussies werent.
big shock for me was to see mcnamara holdin the 2fingers up to tell sinfield to take the kick when england were makin massive dents in the aussie defence, they were all over the show and to take the 2points says it all really.
australias 1st try should never have been allowed due to the crossing in the previous play from lockyer!
Gareth Ellis was absolutely pathetic, possibly his worst performance ever but iv not heard anyone mention him, why is this? is it because he plays in the nrl? Yet jjb got a mention but he made alot of meters when he came on, he done alot of damage in the build up to sinfields penalty and he was englands best second rower!
what we need is a positive thinking coach, someone with some balls and a bit of nous, if we had that then we would of been champions im convinced.

 

[dibviking]

knew id forgot something, the penalty try, what does a player have to do to be sent to the bin in this tournament? Thurston knew exactly what he was doin and shouldve been binned at least, he knew hall was over and the only way to stop him was try rip his head off, if that wasnt enough lewis (i think) kneed him in the head! Still wasnt enough to stop him and the penalty try was the correct decision i think.

is there a better finisher than ryan hall in the four nations?? did he learn this in the nrl?

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Lol, your tears are so sweet.

 

[Pierced Soul]

knew id forgot something, the penalty try, what does a player have to do to be sent to the bin in this tournament? Thurston knew exactly what he was doin and shouldve been binned at least, he knew hall was over and the only way to stop him was try rip his head off, if that wasnt enough lewis (i think) kneed him in the head! Still wasnt enough to stop him and the penalty try was the correct decision i think.

is there a better finisher than ryan hall in the four nations?? did he learn this in the nrl?

firstly: you don't get sin binned for high tackles. Thurston makes a desperate lunge goes high. a little different from a deliberate swinging arm. as a bonus point thurston didnt stop hall attmepting to put the ball down or lose control

Secondly lewis didnt knee him, hall was spinning around and crashed into lewis's knee

thirdly the actual infringment (thurston) didnt stop the try. the try was stopped because hall's head hit lewis' knee which is not an infringment or penalty therefore it shouldnt actually have been a penalty try since the thurston high tackle didnt stop a ""certain" try

England hung in well for half the game but realistically Australia should have scored 4 tries in the first half alone with the linebreaks and opportunities they had. In 80 minutes of footy england came up with a penalty try and a penalty goal - thats not good enough.

I don't think it's all doom and gloom for england or their performance this year, but to give you another perspective - that was one of the weakest australian teams in a long time. we had no specialist right centre or left winger, an unfit left centre, 2 props who were lucky to even be in the squad in shillington and galloway let alone in the team, a bloke in tony williams who played 4 good games all year and we still racked up 30 points....

 

[Springs]

Luke Lewis led with the knees and caused Ryan Hall to drop the ball. To lead with the knees in the NRL usually ends up with an 8 point try.

To say Hall's head hit Lewis's knee as if it was Halls fault Lewis led with the knee is ridiculous. It's like saying Goodwins head hit Haynes knee in the prelim in 2009.

 

[adamkungl]

JJB is quality imo

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Luke Lewis led with the knees and caused Ryan Hall to drop the ball. To lead with the knees in the NRL usually ends up with an 8 point try.

To say Hall's head hit Lewis's knee as if it was Halls fault Lewis led with the knee is ridiculous. It's like saying Goodwins head hit Haynes knee in the prelim in 2009.

That's a load of crap. Lewis wasn't leading with the knees, he was kneeling down to make the tackle. Hall hitting himself on the knees is an accident on Halls behalf. The Hayne situation was different as Goodwin had stopped moving and Hayne was the one who came in and slid with the knees.

Stop being bitter, England were lucky to score one try because it should not have been a penalty try, it was a penalty.

 

[Joker's Wild]

That's a load of crap. Lewis wasn't leading with the knees, he was kneeling down to make the tackle. Hall hitting himself on the knees is an accident on Halls behalf. The Hayne situation was different as Goodwin had stopped moving and Hayne was the one who came in and slid with the knees.

Stop being bitter, England were lucky to score one try because it should not have been a penalty try, it was a penalty.

The English side failed again, plain and simple. They had a penalty try given that wasnt, a fair and square Aussie try disallowed and yet they still got their proverbials handed to them due to a massive fade out in the last 20 min.

They are mentally rooted. Put a black and white jersey in front of them and they play like beasts, replace it with a green and gold one and they go all to piss

 

[Bobby DIGital]

That Ian Smith is a f*ckin biased crook.

 

[LeedsStorm]

I think part of the reason Australia have been successfull is that when they get a harsh call, unlike their fans, they don't moan about the referee and get on with the game. Having watched Leeds play at headingley for years and then watching a couple of seasons of the Storm in Melbourne, I'm amazed that Aussies feel it neccessary to call the english whingers. I've never heard the refs get so much unwarranted abuse. Sweeping generalisation, of course, there are plenty of fans who see the game without tinted glasses or huge chips on the shoulder, but I couldn't believe some of the one eyed fans. IMO, rarely does the ref determine the result of a game. Calls go for and against and its the sides that get on with the game that prevail.

I still contend its not entirely a fair playing field that England have to play so many more games. Until Superleague is shortened, or the cup is scrapped (which will never happen IMO, it's too unique), I can't see things changing in terms of the international scene.

 

[deluded pom?]

Following on from LS's post. Imagine the abuse if the same scenario with the Hall penalty try had happened in an NRL game and involved any other club playing Melbourne and Slater is in the Lewis role. You'd all be on here telling us what a "grub" Slater is.

 

[beave]

I think part of the reason Australia have been successfull is that when they get a harsh call, unlike their fans, they don't moan about the referee and get on with the game. Having watched Leeds play at headingley for years and then watching a couple of seasons of the Storm in Melbourne, I'm amazed that Aussies feel it neccessary to call the english whingers. I've never heard the refs get so much unwarranted abuse. Sweeping generalisation, of course, there are plenty of fans who see the game without tinted glasses or huge chips on the shoulder, but I couldn't believe some of the one eyed fans. IMO, rarely does the ref determine the result of a game. Calls go for and against and its the sides that get on with the game that prevail.

I still contend its not entirely a fair playing field that England have to play so many more games. Until Superleague is shortened, or the cup is scrapped (which will never happen IMO, it's too unique), I can't see things changing in terms of the international scene.

tell this to your assclown commentators we had to put up with............

 

[westhull]

To be fair over the years GB/ENG never seem to get the rub of the green from the referees.
Unlike on Saturday were every decision went our way and yet we still could not compete with the Aussies.

It was amazing that we were even still in the game at half time because we did not deserve to be. Can't speak for you guys but i'm sick of the excuses our leaders, coaches and players make year after year.

It is about time they started putting up or shutting up.

 

[WireMan]

It was amazing that we were even still in the game at half time because we did not deserve to be. Can't speak for you guys but i'm sick of the excuses our leaders, coaches and players make year after year.

It is about time they started putting up or shutting up.

Why was it amazing we were still in it at half time?



What excuses the leaders, coaches and players made?

 

[LeedsStorm]

tell this to your assclown commentators we had to put up with............

I won't apologise about them. Eddie is an idiot, but i have time for Stevo. The guy has done it all in the game (which many people forget) and he lives and breathes the sport. There's a good piece on him in the excellent fourty twenty magazine which you can subscribe to via Exactly on Iphone or Android - his heritage museum in Huddersfield and what he achieved as a player. He's controversial, but blokes like him that attract attention are what's needed in the game.

I've said before - don't moan on forums if you dislike biased British commentary. It's intended for british viewers - get onto Nine and Fox about sending their own commentators

 

[Springs]

That's a load of crap. Lewis wasn't leading with the knees, he was kneeling down to make the tackle. Hall hitting himself on the knees is an accident on Halls behalf. The Hayne situation was different as Goodwin had stopped moving and Hayne was the one who came in and slid with the knees.

Stop being bitter, England were lucky to score one try because it should not have been a penalty try, it was a penalty.

No that's a load of crap. Goodwin was in the motion of diving, same as Hall. Goodwin hadn't stopped moving at all and Hayne leading with the knees was an accident as he was trying to make the tackle but Goodwin was already in the motion of diving.

If you want a better example take Matai in the prelim this year, went in to make the tackle but ended up leading with the knees although he tried to pull out of it. Lewis goes to makes the tackle but ends up leading with the knees, an accident for sure, but still a penalty, just like how Hayne and Matai's tackles were a penalty.

There is actully no attempt by Lewis to stop the try by using anything other than his knee, he could have quite easily tried to stop the try using his arms like most players do in that situation. This time he used his knee and hit Ryan Hall fair in the head.

Watch it again, he has his right knee out and his arms are back.

A penalty try is a fair decision. A penalty by itself would have been a fair decision also.