Poms chance or not

[The Way I See It]

Will the poms be a chance in this years tri nations?

They are missing a great player in Paul Scolthorpe as he is the Darren Lockyer of England when in form though they have a great talent of youngsters coming through and old heads in Morley and Feildon,
I can see them beating Australia once and NewZealand once or maybe even twice,
Since it was a great game between Aus and Nz i hope the poms make it up there too.

 

[Meanie]

All it'll take is for the Aussies to click and the Poms will get destroyed.

 

[tbone10]

be careful the forum police will be here soon

 

[Twizzle]

I think we need to see them before we can judge them

 

[Jeffles]

They'll do better than they did the last couple of times they have been here. Whether they can win the whole thing or not remains to be seen. I'll have a better idea after this Saturday.

 

[lockyno1]

They don't travel well. Lukily they do play NZ first. It will be easier to judge them after this week.

 

[nqboy]

It's hard for me to believe Sean Long is a good player. And they depend so much on him being one.

 

[lockyno1]

He is a very ovverated player. I have never seen him do anything in test footy!

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I've always believed while Sean Long is GB's best halfback option they would be destined to fail. But he is playing better now than ever before so that's encouraging for the Poms. I think Long should play his best football for GB this year, whether that is enough to get GB to the final is another matter. He could be right on his game and GB could still struggle in other vital areas. The whole side will have to be close to their best to beat Australia.

 

[ali]

I'm not too confident in the poms. I have been hoping now that good young players would emerge to take the places of the older brigade who have continually failed, but IMO not enough of the new breed are coming through. I think Gareth Hock is one player who could stand up. He was player of the series in a junior GB vs Aus schoolboys series.

I think for GB to do well, they need all the moons to align. Sean Long probably played close to his best footy when he was out here for the WCC in 1997. That's the kind of form he needs to produce. But I agree, I wss hoping they would find a better halfback than him. Same goes with Paul Wellens. Yes he can play, but he doesn't have the pace to have much of an impact. Leon Pryce needs to fire and they need a gun outside back to emerge such as Kirk Yeamon. I like the fact that Fielden thinks the rest will do him well, but realistically an injury to someone like Fielden, and it's basically all over. The other problem with GB, is if they make the final it will be their 5th consecutive test match, while Aus is well rested. I think they could possibly sneak a win over NZ, and maybe even beat a complacent Roos side. But I'd fear a hiding if they made it too the final. What we really need is GB to be competitive, but not make the final.

 

[International RL]

I tend to disagree with you boys.

I think the poms are a chance. They have the pack that is the equal of anyone with a backline that has more points in it. You need more than 15 points to beat Australia (as the kiwis showed) and I think the Poms are more capable of this than the kiwis.

Yes a lot depends on long, but if the pack fires, and maguire is able to create some opportunities for himself, then I think they will surprise.

The achilles heel for the Poms in every game i have watched since 2001 has been their long kicking game. They have competed and often dominated Australia in every facet of the game in most tests, yet their long kicks always find the back 3 on the full. This has the effect of slowly turning the game in australia's favour as Minichello was able to run his forwards on side continually and starting the set strongly for the Aussies. This meant the poms were burning more fuel.

So if they can sort their kicking out, then tehy are a chance. I think one way of combating this would be to get a hooker than can offer them a kicking option, as smith does for Australia. Any fullback will tell you its much harder to position yourself when the kick comes from the ruck.

anyway

go the poms.

 

[mikdalton]

I'm not sure about our chances of winning it but I'm optimistic that we can put up more of a fight than usual and at least gain some respect for a change.

Our biggest problem is lack of pace and the usual ones of poor team selection and lack of confidence. Once we go a couple of tries down I always fear that we'll get blown over and you can see the same in the eyes of the players. We need to work to our strengths but we just seem to go for players with reputation and play them out of position like Pryce at fullback and Horne on the wing, crazy decisions. Pryce should be our number 6 with Long at 7, Maguire lives off a reputation that he built up on his first season. If you ask me he hasnt had it since then. We should have kept briers incase things go bad in the first 2 games. Elsewhere we should compete upfront but I'm dissapointed that James Graham has got injured because he could have been awesome. Roby is a good option though.

I agree with the lack of players who came through from the historic victory a few years back, its a shame because there seemed to be potential. My team Widnes had a couple of those players and they have all failed to even establish themselves as national league players.

 

[Sanchez]

havnt got a hope.
if they prove me wrong mods please delete this

 

[yakstorm]

The Poms have no expectations, and no pressure.....

This could work well for them, everyone believes they wont win a game (sounds like a NZ side last year) and lets be realistic there is some talent in their squad. I don't think they will win it, but I do believe they will push both NZ and Australia and wont go through winless.

 

[OVP]

They are at a massive disadvantage. They have to play 4 matches in a row. neither Australia or NZ have to do this. Whoever worked out this draw is a peanut.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They are at a massive disadvantage. They have to play 4 matches in a row. neither Australia or NZ have to do this. Whoever worked out this draw is a peanut.

How else could the draw be done when the SL grand final is two weeks after the NRL is finished. The only way to give GB a break would be to start the 3N a week later or have a week off in the middle of the tournament. Neither option is better than the current schedule. The poms complain about this situation but it's the RFL's fault so too bad. Anyway you could argue it's an advantage if the side gets on a roll. Playing week after week might be better than playing one week and having the next week off.

 

[International RL]

How else could the draw be done when the SL grand final is two weeks after the NRL is finished. The only way to give GB a break would be to start the 3N a week later or have a week off in the middle of the tournament. Neither option is better than the current schedule. The poms complain about this situation but it's the RFL's fault so too bad. Anyway you could argue it's an advantage if the side gets on a roll. Playing week after week might be better than playing one week and having the next week off.

I have often thought that myself.

 

[screeny]

Hopefully NZ will think they're the cats pyjamas after nearly sticking it to the Aussies and as reigning champs then we can surprise them with a sucker punch.

Haven't seen Long much this year but I've never believed he was a tremendously good HB. Oh for Briers at 5/8. McGuire is no organiser either so between them our halves combo should have GB quite confused.

Wellens may have won everything this year but, I'm sorry, if members of your forward pack can outrun your FB then your FB needs to be changed, no matter how technically gifted he is.

Senior's had it but no doubt he'll start with Pryce wasted on the flank.

Newton will give away penalties unneccessarily and, as Int'l RL said above, our Long kicking game (pun intended) is crap.

Apart from that I'm quite confident in the rest of our players...apart from Peacock.

The big positives for me are that a) last Tri Nations Down Under half the players reportedly didn't want to be there (Sean Long said that afterwards) and b) last match Down Under used a 15 metre offside courtesy of Russell Smith.

 

[nadera78]

Hopefully NZ will think they're the cats pyjamas after nearly sticking it to the Aussies and as reigning champs then we can surprise them with a sucker punch.

Haven't seen Long much this year but I've never believed he was a tremendously good HB. Oh for Briers at 5/8. McGuire is no organiser either so between them our halves combo should have GB quite confused.

Wellens may have won everything this year but, I'm sorry, if members of your forward pack can outrun your FB then your FB needs to be changed, no matter how technically gifted he is.

Senior's had it but no doubt he'll start with Pryce wasted on the flank.

Newton will give away penalties unneccessarily and, as Int'l RL said above, our Long kicking game (pun intended) is crap.

Apart from that I'm quite confident in the rest of our players...apart from Peacock.

The big positives for me are that a) last Tri Nations Down Under half the players reportedly didn't want to be there (Sean Long said that afterwards) and b) last match Down Under used a 15 metre offside courtesy of Russell Smith.

Pretty much go along with al of that. While he has a hole in his arse Sean Long won't be an international scrum half! Richard Horne is far and away our best SH and should be playing there with Paul Cooke at 6. Shame Richard Graham is injured 'cos he's a top, top player. O'Loughlin is an embarrasement tbh. There needs to be a clear out of the failed older uys, and if Noble fails to win a game this year (definatley possible) then hopefully he'll get the sack as his contract finishes with this comp.

We've got some bloody talented kids coming through, we just need someone with some vision in charge who isnt afraid to play them.

 

[OVP]

How else could the draw be done when the SL grand final is two weeks after the NRL is finished. The only way to give GB a break would be to start the 3N a week later or have a week off in the middle of the tournament.

I dont see a problem with starting it late to cater for a team. Its not like the cricket season is here already. Why disadvantage England ? It renders the tri-nations pointless, however i hope they prove me wrong. Goooooooooo Morley !!