jim
Marquee Player
Posts: 1,150
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Post by jim on Oct 30, 2009 19:13:43 GMT 10
I'm really looking forward to both games this weekend, England V Australia most of all. If the Poms don't turn up to this one then they should be kicked out of the comp! So much to play for, if they roll over like the did in the WC then I'll be very dissapointed.
Looking forward to some forwards fireworks, England have named a massive pack and Tomkins at HB.
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Post by England 3 Lions on Oct 30, 2009 23:27:42 GMT 10
England's forward pack is world-class. Should be interesting to see the battle between them and Australia's pack.
Selecting Tomkins at halfback is a smart move.
Roby should start at hooker.
England look a bit vulnerable in the centres and on the wing.
Eastmond is England's version of Matty Bowen. England will need to play him at fullback if they are to have any chance of winning.
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Post by supersteve on Nov 1, 2009 7:34:52 GMT 10
Well 26-16, a huge improvement on last years drubbing. The two halves were total opposites. The Aussies really dominating the first half, and the Poms dominating the second. Sam Tomkins had an outstanding game, he is a real talent and a great find for the English. The step he put on to set up the Ellis try was fantastic. He has a very inventive short kicking game aswell. I wasnt so convinced on Mcguire, how has Sean Longs' form been this season?.
Sets up a huge match for the poms next weekend against the Kiwis.
Shame for the French, though I must say I did expect it, especially with the amount of problems theyve had in the lead up to this game. Players out through suspension, injury and swine flu through the team!. It really seems fitness is their main problem. They are competitive for 60 minutes and after that theres no petrol left in the tank. At least they will have some players back for next weeks match against the Roos.
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Post by supersteve on Nov 1, 2009 8:48:32 GMT 10
Just watching the French game again. The word that just keeps coming to mind for me is FRUSTRATION!. Its so bloody frustrating, the French can really mix it with the other three. In front of a good crowd, which included the French President, the French played some outstading football, and just threw it all away in the last 20 minutes. They did not deserve to lose by such a big margin. I really hope it doesnt deter people too much from coming to next weeks game.
One thing I noticed about the French crowd, they seem to really appreicate good footy, even if its the opposition displaying it. The French are really so close to beating a top three side, yet so bloody far.
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Post by sportsmad on Nov 1, 2009 10:43:39 GMT 10
eastmond, burgess and crabtree were great for england. eastmond brought a breath of fresh air actually running onto the ball at speed. phil gould said here during half time re england "this is a team going backwards, not forwards and its a reflection on superleague". TBH at halftime i agreed with that statement 100% btu then england turned it around and couldnt have impressed me more. they lost the game with their defence in the first ahlf needless to say.
referee steve ganson allowed himslef to be milked like a cow once again.
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Post by Druzik on Nov 1, 2009 10:52:53 GMT 10
Just watching the French game again. The word that just keeps coming to mind for me is FRUSTRATION!. Its so bloody frustrating, the French can really mix it with the other three. In front of a good crowd, which included the French President, the French played some outstading football, and just threw it all away in the last 20 minutes. They did not deserve to lose by such a big margin. I really hope it doesnt deter people too much from coming to next weeks game. I didnt get to see this match, but yes with what they got this week I think they did well to be the way they were. Next weeks game is in a much smaller stadium, only 12k it holds and usually you will get lots of Aussies come out from Paris for this, a few from London may even to the trip down on the Eurostar. I think if they can get 7-8 should look OK, That will fill out the two grandstands and half od one of the ends of the ground. The french crowds I feel are the best in the world... RL may be in the small towns but they know their stuff and usually sooooo much fun with parttying dancing bands in the stands just havinga great old time. In general in Europe what you get is that fans will clap any good play for any team in any sport. You see it in the soccer as well. Its just a little bit of something that needs to tip the French over the edge for that first win. They should have had a warm up match to get them into the grove and have a win under the belt to give them that "winning feeling". |
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Post by Druzik on Nov 1, 2009 11:00:25 GMT 10
eastmond, burgess and crabtree were great for england. eastmond brought a breath of fresh air actually running onto the ball at speed. phil gould said here during half time re england "this is a team going backwards, not forwards and its a reflection on superleague". TBH at halftime i agreed with that statement 100% btu then england turned it around and couldnt have impressed me more. they lost the game with their defence in the first ahlf needless to say. I disagree on Gus big time there... see I think I see the mistake now and its Smith. He is trying to have England play like the Aussies and Kiwis and it doesnt work. England need an English coach to play like englishman. That first half you saw england trying to be a bit fancy, to try and hit the Aussie lines with everyball and they made mistakes which australia capitalised on. Ask Evo (HKRAWAYDAYS) whan he comes on, I was talking with him during the match on my mobile - Happy birthday for today too Evo BTW - and I daid England need to do two things to get the aussies: 1.grind it out, Australia hates teams that grind it out as it stiffles their play, hold that ball and just hit them up and bash the aussies 2. Once you have got them on the back foot put in a small chip kick over the top on the 4th or 5th tackle to really get them off guard. do those and you can beat Aus... second half its exactly what the POms started did and it payed dividends... OK they could have held the ball a bit better to get a couple more tries but they rattled the aussies.... And you could see on gus at the end of the match he was making anything up that wouldnt give the poms too much credit because they figured out how to beat the aussies... he was a fidgety little bugger at the end. If its England v Aus in the final... I would seriously have a bet on the poms if they play the way they did in that second half. Thats a brilliant quote! |
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Post by supersteve on Nov 1, 2009 11:34:51 GMT 10
Yeah the English forwards were definately better than the Australians. It is definately somewhere that the English need to expose to the best of their ability.
Couldnt agree more about having an English coach in, I think I said it somewhere in another one of my posts. I think in the first half the Poms actually seemed a bit stand-offish towards the Australian backs, whereas in the second they got up and made the tackles. It carried over to their attack also. The first half they seemed reluctant to try things, in the second Tomkins and co. really tried some nice short kicks and got the ball in behind the Australian line, and it worked. It puts a bit of doubt in the defenders minds.
A major imporvement in the English kicking game compared to last weeks game against France. Still some work to be done but all in all a much better effort.
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jim
Marquee Player
Posts: 1,150
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Post by jim on Nov 1, 2009 12:00:09 GMT 10
My opinions on both games:
England V Australia - People all seem to be saying that Australia switched off in the second half, I find that hard to see, they just looked to be shut down very well. All Australia's tries came exploiting one weakness on the English right side defense, they fixed that in the second half and will sure as hell know if they make the final. Australia scored all their tries off the one weakness and England scored theirs by building pressure. I think a rematch will be very interesting and NZ V England could be the game of the tournament.
France V NZ - As expected really, France were decimated by Injury and other things, if they could put their strongest team on the park I really feel they aren't far off an upset. If more professionals were playing at the back end of that game it would have been alot tighter. There came a point about 50 minutes in where France looked sluggish in attack and I thought "here we go" and here we did go. Despite the scoreline I think it was a brave showing from a side with alot of semi-professionals, being within 4 points of NZ after 50 minutes is quite an achievment when you have alot of your best out. NZ took advantage of the fatigue and went to town in the last half hour.
Hopefully France will have Greenshields, Pelo, Baile, Ferriol, Gossard, Raguin and Greseque back for next week. If they can get those players back I feel they can put in another decent performance against the Aussies, If they can't, well, let's not think about that.
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Post by England 3 Lions on Nov 1, 2009 16:43:33 GMT 10
The main problem with English rugby league is its defensive tactics are 10 or 20 years behind the ones used by Australia and New Zealand. The English defenders tend to stand back and unnecessarily cluster themselves around a) the ball carrier and b) the decoy runner who is within close proximity of the ball-carrier. The result is the outside backs of the opponents, such as Inglis and Slater, have a great deal of space in front of them because England's five-eighth and centres move out of their natural position so they can shut down a) the ball-carrier and b) the decoy runners. I don't know whether it's a case of the defenders not trusting their one-on-one defence or a case of them thinking that the decoy runners are always going to receive the ball, but it's something that has hampered England since last year's World Cup; England surrended a huge lead to New Zealand during last year's World Cup's group stage game at Newcastle because the righthand side of their defence were sucked in by New Zealand's decoy runners whenever Marshall ran it down NZ's lefthand side, thus opening up space for Vatuvei to cross over the line untouched.
England's attack strategy is about 10 or 20 years off the pace, too. They like to use an old-style fullback whose role is to return the ball safely. This does not suffice in today's game because the quick line-speed used by Australian and New Zealand defensive lines means teams shut down the options of the halves on most occasions, thus meaning the attackign team needs a sweeper-like option to play behind the first line of attack so there's a ball-player to turn to when the halves have no room to move. England's Kyle Eastmond has the potential to play as an attacking fullback. If England are to defeat New Zealand and Australia then they'll need Eastmond to a) play at fullback and b) utilise himself as an attacking option from the second-line of attack.
Tomkins is world-class -- I knew it when I first saw him in action for Wigan -- as he has a great short-kicking game, an excellent step and good pace. His short kicking game has the potential to exploit the quick line speed of Australia and New Zealand -- it's hard for a defensive line to run up, stop, turn around and chases when a halfback like Tomkins runs at the line and puts in a little kick. He used the short kicking game quite well during the second half.
Sinfeld ought to play five-eighth. He more or less injected himself into the second-receiver and first receiver role at the end of England's sets. There's no point in having McGuire in the team if Sinfeld is playing at five-eighth on the 4th and 5th tackle.
Crabtree had a bloody strong game. So did Ellis.
Burgess's strong game supported my claim that he's the next Webcke.
All in all, I think England have the talent required to challenge Australia and New Zealand at the next World Cup. The only hurdle in front of them is their outdated tactical game.
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Post by arh21980 on Nov 2, 2009 12:51:19 GMT 10
I had a lot of time for McGuire but he is being found out very easily in this competition. Maybe England needs to pick Richard Myler as well as Sam Tomkins and drop McGuire to be competitive.
England's backs the other night did what New Zealand use to fall into the trap of doing and show to much respect to the Australian backline.
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Post by Seluman on Nov 2, 2009 17:53:53 GMT 10
Well how big is this weeks NZ vs Eng game! woowee!
All I can say is, it's all on, take no prisoners, and may the best team win!
G O - T H E - K I W I' S!
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Post by Druzik on Nov 2, 2009 18:31:22 GMT 10
Well how big is this weeks NZ vs Eng game! woowee!
All I can say is, it's all on, take no prisoners, and may the best team win!
G O - T H E - K I W I' S! ... and France to pip the aussies  |
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Post by England 3 Lions on Nov 2, 2009 23:54:31 GMT 10
Well how big is this weeks NZ vs Eng game! woowee!
All I can say is, it's all on, take no prisoners, and may the best team win!
G O - T H E - K I W I' S! New Zealand have really impressed me with their professionalism and mental toughness. England will need to rise a level if they're to have a chance against the Kiwis. |
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Post by Seluman on Nov 3, 2009 16:43:19 GMT 10
Well how big is this weeks NZ vs Eng game! woowee!
All I can say is, it's all on, take no prisoners, and may the best team win!
G O - T H E - K I W I' S! ... and France to pip the aussies  |
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