Four Nations Final !

[tonytownend]

Now everyone has had time to digest the result i wondered what people thought of the performance of the England side ? It seemed to me that over the tournament as a whole we matched up pretty well in the forwards and the Pack, but the backs (with one or two exceptions were found wanting} I think Sinfield/chase in the halves were poor and our creative options were stifled. Its clear that the gulf in class between Australia and England in the backs meant that however much of a platform the forwards laid, we were never going to be in a position to take advantage of it .....thoughts ?

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[Saints1]

It just goes to show, for me, that England are a million miles behind the Aussies. What has changed since the tri nations final in 2004? The square root of nothing. The pattern is endless. We don't even get to the final down under, when it's up here we get to the final sometimes but get destroyed.

Rugby league is in a perilous state of decline and I am actually really glad that England lost yesterday. Those cretins at the RFL would have gone on regardless with an inane grin on their face had England won because they would have used that to justify that the game was in great shape. It isn't.

We haven't even got a 6 good enough to start ahead of Sinfield. He is a tried and tested failure at this level and literally only plays because of his kicking game. He's a thoroughly average player. Chase is a great half back but came unstuck at the highest level. Tomkins completely bottled it yesterday. If Yeaman is the best English centre, we're in all sorts of trouble. The list is endless.

There need to be wholesale changes to the game, and I have every faith that those buffoons at Red Hall will continue with their 8 team playoffs, ineffective referees and no long term plan for growth other than "give them a franchise."