can someone tell me were full time rugby has inproved our game at international level as i beleive that was one reason for a super leauge i have dvds of test matches in the 70s and 80s were games with aus were a lot closer and players played witgh a bit of passion my own opinion is our national game is no better now than it was 20 yrs ago

Think the second half answered some of those points!

when the Aussies dropped down to third gear and Ganson put us back in the game by letting us play offside and caned them with penalties

The Super League era has improved most physical aspects of the national game but unfortunately the Southern hemisphere have shown more improvement.
The main drawback of Super League is that it is removing flair players from the game in favour of bulked up chargers. I used to watch every SL game but now I pick and choose. There is only so much five drives and a kick I can stand.

If those are the best Eglish wingers n centres in SL well i,ll be doggone
and D Mguire stand off hes has bad as L Price BOBBINS !!!

Maybe being pedantic here but if we weren't full time then the difference today could have been 100. The Aussies have stretched the gap though. They have players like Inglis, Slater and Lockyer and we have no-one that's on their level. Inglis is almost super-human. He's got to be the best player on the planet at the moment IMO.

Today was clearly a game of two halves. First half was dreadful. Our defence on the right hand side was shocking and cannot be excused at Test level. Their kicking game is light years ahead of ours yet again. Every kick went down the middle of our winger and full back, and turned them around. Our kicks just seemed to go in a general direction and eventually found Billy Slater. Their kicking was so precise, they could probably land it on a five-pence piece. The 'Roos had a territorial advantage after the first two sets of six! Inglis showed that nobody on our team could individually keep tabs on him and did most of the damage in the first 40 minutes.

Second half was a much better effort, but you have to ask how much Australia took their foot off the gas? Our kicking was much improved, and we finally put Billy Slater under some pressure. For me, we've got to be doing this from the off in our remaining game(s). If we're going to kick for territory then we need to be doing it earlier in the tackle count to turn their impact players around and minimise the yardage they make on their kick returns.

Tomkins and Eastmond looked like they were capable of producing something and I'd like to see them start from now on. We may have nobody capable of matching Inglis but at least these two caused a bit of uncertainty in their defensive line.

Playing the Kangaroos and the Kiwis requires 100% effort and concentration in every tackle for 80 minutes. At the moment we look incapable of doing that. We start flat and we're prone to errors. I almost think the England team could do with a bust-up in the dressing room before the game to get them fired up from the off! They need to get in their faces from the first tackle to the last, they need to pressure the full backs at every opportunity, and they need to blitz Inglis everytime he gets the ball. If they can do the above they may find themselves in a game in the final quarter rather than playing for pride.

just think the game as gone soft now i dont agree with dirty play but we used to rough the aussies up a bit and let thrm know they were in a game i never saw as much grabing at shirts as i did today

Bring back the Biff!

Teams in Super League concentrate on beefing themsleves up and trying to get the perfect physique while Aussie teams get on the field and practice with ball in hand for hours.


The results are for all to see.

Drop McGuire will help for starters.......not up to it at international level IMO. Start with Tomkins and Eastmond, with Myler on the bench.
Wasnt too impressed with Roby at 9 also and think he would be better suited coming off the bench as a impact player with either Moore or even Higham starting at 9.

Thought Tomkins was our MOM TBH....... class act this lad (even for a crust muncher).

Quite frankly I think it,down to the players. Aussies are a lot faster and a lot better at passing.Our passing isn,t zippy enough and a lot of it means players have to wait for the ball to arrive and that means players are invariably stood still waiting a second or two for the ball to arrive. By that time their defence is upon the receiver.

It happens far too often and it,s right across our game. I see it at amateur level I see it in every game I watch.

I have posted before about the standard of passing, and, on here and have actually posted do our coaching staff not have our players practising passing during our training sessions.

We can in the main part compete but this slows our National game down and it really needs to be addressed.

What we do have at National level however is a never give up attitude. Thats the only thing we are better at as a country than any other and in all sports.