Australia v ENGLAND

[ian b]

well put Pedro!.If wellens is our best fullback we have got real problems,he has just shown what he is,a slow f-----g lard arse with no positional sense at this level what so ever.PATHETIC.Give Lee Smith a chance at full back against New Zealand.Senior IMO is also a waste of space at this level. I could be wrong but we have to start playing only home grown talent in superleague with maybe 2 or 3 imports per team,just a thought.

[MrDave]

This image sums up the England performance against the Aussies "He's behind you"

[dawbz]

England are very lucky indeed to get the call from the video ref for Robys try, i could have sworn he dropped the ball.
Very poor performance indeed.

[DaveO]

well put Pedro!.If wellens is our best fullback we have got real problems,he has just shown what he is,a slow f-----g lard arse with no positional sense at this level what so ever.PATHETIC.Give Lee Smith a chance at full back against New Zealand.Senior IMO is also a waste of space at this level. I could be wrong but we have to start playing only home grown talent in superleague with maybe 2 or 3 imports per team,just a thought.

Well that is what the new rules about club trained players and so on are supposed to help us do.

It is just a pity the club chairman have forced the RFL into a series of compromises that mean it will be about a decade before rules have any real effect.

People like Hood at Bradford standing up against the rules for non entities like Finnigan are who to blame for us having so few home grown players in the competition. His predecessor Caisely was just as bad if not worse. My fear is we may be as guilty as Bradford for shutting out UK players if IL comers back from Aus with more than just the rumoured Amos Roberts.

Players like Senior and Wellens are past it for this level but we have little option to pick them as they are (arguably) the best we have in these positions. It just shows how little depth we have.

Dave

[medlocke]

Biggest pile of Dog Sh!te i've ever seen, ST Helens the greatest team of all time, in the words of Jim Royle MY @RSE, Gardner should be shipped back to the Barrow Island amateur side, he is cack, go's to show what a great center makes you look like, and as for Superstar Wellens laugh, i nearly cried, the guy is not fit to lace Radlinski's boots let alone try to fill them, on my count Wellens let 2 trys in and gardner also 2 i think the great Saints boys where also involved in letting another through, Nobby might be boring and mediocre but his GB teams put in a better showing than that, this display as well as others from recent history have proved IMO that summer rugby has killed off this once great sport

[DaveO]

....this display as well as others from recent history have proved IMO that summer rugby has killed off this once great sport

Why do you say that?

Dave

[ian b]

I believe that summer rugby should move us closer to the aussies because we dont have to play test matches half way through the season.I just believe imports are responsible,Leeds have some great English players they got through there academies as have wigan,warrington and probably most clubs.But young players like s tomkins must be played week after week otherwise they will never progress

[wall_of_voodoo]

I agreed with all that a+l has said about starting with three props - why??????

The only other "prop" was Maurie, who had NO impact (for an impact player that is pathetic)and was very substandard this season at st helens, more than lucky to have been included in the touring party!

I stated when I first came on here that some player selections appeared more politically selected than form, hence warrington having the likes of westwood, morley and gleeson when the selection "criteria" was supposed to be form. This includes the selection of the likes of purham (why? - seriously), langley and the two players that were cast adrift by wigan as not good enough!!

One question, how many different centre partnerships have australia had over the last 10 years or so, whilst we consistently pick the over-rated and previously tested and failed dismally, senior and gleeson?

The selection of mcguire as substitute also baffled me, why, when we supposedly had the world's best (according to eddie and stevo pre-world cup), did tony smith feel the need for another stand off on the bench? Has he doubts over the very erratic form of pryce of late? Has the impending court case got anything to do with it also? If it has, should he have been selected?

As for wellens, he looked poor against papua new guinea and was completely at sea against the quality of australia, positionally, tackle-wise and returning kicks. He might have played his last ever representative game, with lee smith moving to that position against new zealand (hopefully).

[medlocke]

....this display as well as others from recent history have proved IMO that summer rugby has killed off this once great sport

Why do you say that?

Dave

Becaus it is my opinion Dave, also look at the standard of players that played when we had winter rugby compared to now, i really do feel that the warm weather has produced softer players, fair enough the SC may also have something to do with this. They showed a clip from think it was 95 before the highlights today, the players shown iirc were Martin Offiah, Jason Robinson, Phil Clarke, one of our props (i can't remember his name, it's doing me head in)and maybe a few other players, now look at who is in their positions it is pathetic, the game is dying Dave, nobody is interested anymore, nobody has anything to do in winter, hence everybody enjoyed going to the rugby, now, in summer, people want to be out on the lash or at bbq's or on holiday, once again this is my opinion.

[medlocke]

^^^^Andy Platt^^^^