World Cup players

[jao 711]

Did anyone see Italy v USA? MOM hooker Joe Tramontana,very impressive,20 yrs of age ,on the Bulldogs books.

[markill]

Did anyone see Italy v USA? MOM hooker Joe Tramontana,very impressive,20 yrs of age ,on the Bulldogs books.

Yes. He was good in that game. I think they said in comms he's expected to get more of a first grade run for them in 2018 because of other squad movements - a lot depends on if Lichaa can get out of the Dragons deal he had I think.

I've been impressed by the PNG 2nd rowers. Ireland had a big tough pack but they really took it to them physically and found a few really good lines too.

[the pieman]

i've been impressed with all the south sea islands teams just from watching the highlights, some good attacking rugby, running at pace and skillful to boot

i think they appear to have added an element of structure to their games from previous years, but still kept the ability to play freely with it

it will be interesting to see if any of them can make the semi / final at the expense of New Zealand or England as i personally cant see the Ozzies being stopped before that point

in terms of the players obviously many now have NRL or 2nd grade experience and it shows

i'm not even going to attempt to name or even spell half of them, but i am pretty sure there must be 1 or 2 would consider super league if given the opportunity

[formulamoto]

the two albert brothers for png look useful

[markill]

the two albert brothers for png look useful

The one who has been coming off the bench is too penalty/mistake prone for me.

i've been impressed with all the south sea islands teams just from watching the highlights, some good attacking rugby, running at pace and skillful to boot

i think they appear to have added an element of structure to their games from previous years, but still kept the ability to play freely with it

Yes, particularly Tonga who did really struggle with 1, 6, 7 & 9 when I've seen them in previous years. Samoa have still struggled a bit this time around to find enough structure to end sets as well as Tonga, I think this was quite big in their game against each other.

PNG still have a poor fairly kicking game but much better direction, as they have 3 top line hookers in the squad who are helping a lot with what they can do and Mead has always played well in the PNG shirt when I've seen him at FB for them.

Fiji have had really easy games so it's hard to fully judge what structure they have against a more organised professional defence. however, they have been exciting to watch!