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1st post from formulamoto scarborough.
re last nights game, what has stevo got against sam? , and also was sam under instructions not to get involved as much as previous games cos he was very subdued last night

I just don't think that Sam was given an opportunity to get involved last night as the Roos strangled us with their excellent performance in defence.

Sam was woefully unprotected by his team mates when the bomb was put up, each time there was no winger or centre preventing the Aussies from closing him down and competing for the high ball.

This mornings headlines do concern me though that Sam has been given permission to play for the Barbarians against Australia at Twickenham, what happens if he picks up a major injury.

We'll lose our star player for a game which means nothing, poor decision if this is true. Sam should be getting himself a decent rest before pre-season training as Waney wants all players back for the trip to the US.

We had a clear policy of turning the ball back on the inside. Sam is most effective running outside, and he didn't get a single pass that i can remember in that position until the match was effectively over. I think the two attcking touches he had in the first half were up the middle where he can only be effective if there is a gap for him - and there wasn't.

WHy we changed emphasis from wemberly where we were worrying australia on teh outside i don't know. We have a strong forward pack, but we trie more than they do.

Absolutely no pressure on the kickers allowed them to put it in to low earth orbit making it hard to track the balls re-entry into the atmosphere. All the chasers had time to be there in Sam's face (or anyone else who was unlucky to be under it).

There was virtually no involvement of the back line for the whole game in attack which points to the missing link at 6 for me. Sinfield was totally ineffective with both his kicking and passing. Apart from the long speculator that led to the penalty try, which got Stevo excited about Sinfield's "skills".

The fluency of moves out wide from Lockyer and Thurston was top class and is something us as a Wigan side do very well but England didn't do it and its because of Sinfield constantly turning the ball back inside for Gallen and Thaiday to batter our forwards, Sinfield doesn't have the ability or the balls to get close to the line and throw a decent pass at the last minute. Whereas Lockyer hit Lawrence for their penultimate try with precision and under pressure. Sam wasn't involved because we didn't have the balls to throw the ball out wide. I said it all tournament that Sinfield would be our downfall and I was right, Lomax and Widdop would have been a better option if Lomax was fit as Saints play very similar in attack to the Aussies.

formulamoto wrote:1st post from formulamoto scarborough.
re last nights game, what has stevo got against sam? , and also was sam under instructions not to get involved as much as previous games cos he was very subdued last night

Two things
1) He isn't from Yorkshire.
2) He plays for Wigan.

If I was a neutral at this game I would have said that the English Full Back had a poor game (Sam would probably admit it himself). If it was Wellens playing we would have slated him.
Sam never seemed confident to go for the early high balls and let them bounce. I dont go with the cover bit, as I think players like Slater would have made the ball his own.
The Aussies done their job on Sam and gave him no room therefore he had little impact on the game.

100% Warrior wrote:I just don't think that Sam was given an opportunity to get involved last night as the Roos strangled us with their excellent performance in defence.

Sam was woefully unprotected by his team mates when the bomb was put up, each time there was no winger or centre preventing the Aussies from closing him down and competing for the high ball.

This mornings headlines do concern me though that Sam has been given permission to play for the Barbarians against Australia at Twickenham, what happens if he picks up a major injury.

We'll lose our star player for a game which means nothing, poor decision if this is true. Sam should be getting himself a decent rest before pre-season training as Waney wants all players back for the trip to the US.

Absolutely right.

TonyH wrote:The fluency of moves out wide from Lockyer and Thurston was top class and is something us as a Wigan side do very well but England didn't do it and its because of Sinfield constantly turning the ball back inside for Gallen and Thaiday to batter our forwards, Sinfield doesn't have the ability or the balls to get close to the line and throw a decent pass at the last minute. Whereas Lockyer hit Lawrence for their penultimate try with precision and under pressure. Sam wasn't involved because we didn't have the balls to throw the ball out wide. I said it all tournament that Sinfield would be our downfall and I was right, Lomax and Widdop would have been a better option if Lomax was fit as Saints play very similar in attack to the Aussies.

The pass that was thrown to Hall for his pen try was awful. I can genuinely pass better than that. Fortunately Hall did enough to score.

The Aussies did their homework on Sam that is why he wasn`t allowed in the game. He played too well against NZ & Aussies weren`t going to let him have the same impact in the final.