Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 2:06 pm  

As an aside, thought it was extremely disappointing to not fill the stadium for an Aussie England opener.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 2:37 pm  

Not sure Hill is international class. He's a poor mans Klemmer(sp) the Aussie prop who had far more of an impact. Thought Roby made a huge difference. Wingers were great, Bateman played well. Second half kicking was far better mainly due to Widdop who has become a top player. Some of the attacking shape in the second half was excellent. Defence sound

All in all plenty of positives.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:19 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Changes really need to be kept to a minimum from now on so players can build momentum and cohesion.

Bateman to take over from an injured Burgess in the second row with Percival coming in, Walmsley in for Heighington and Roby and Hodgson to swap places for me.

This isn't a bad call. Bateman offers nothing out wide, whereas in the middle he can niggle the Aussies. Walmsley will add some grunt, and Roby was clearly better than Hodgson when he was on. I thought our attack down the right look threatening at times, and forced the Aussies to scramble. We need to add a left attack, and for me that means we have to bring Percival in. He is one of our very few natural attacking centres, and with a good winger like Hall outside him, there's a lot of potential there.

[Sadfish]

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:42 pm  

Slater mentioned we were very across the park and moved the ball about well, I think we need to not change the team much for the next game just 1 or 2 here and there and work it, I think we have a great team here and we can take the Aussies I reckon.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 4:14 pm  

GansonTheClown wrote:

As an aside, thought it was extremely disappointing to not fill the stadium for an Aussie England opener.

I also thought that it was a poor turn out considering it was Cronk & Smiths last appearance on their home ground. Also what does Highington have that keeps Taylor/any other forward out of the team?

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 4:22 pm  

I thought it was almost full, didn’t notice many empty seats.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 4:29 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Not sure Hill is international class. He's a poor mans Klemmer(sp) the Aussie prop who had far more of an impact. Thought Roby made a huge difference. Wingers were great, Bateman played well. Second half kicking was far better mainly due to Widdop who has become a top player. Some of the attacking shape in the second half was excellent. Defence sound

All in all plenty of positives.

Agree about Roby making a difference but I bet he got sick of Klemmer running at him in that second half.
Out of Englands two starting props I am far more dubious about James Grahams impact. Not the player he was.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 4:56 pm  

GansonTheClown wrote:

As an aside, thought it was extremely disappointing to not fill the stadium for an Aussie England opener.

The attendance was 22,774 - the stadium hold 30,000. I'd blame our inability to beat them in anything meaningful in the last 30 years for the lack of interest. Hopefully that will change by the end of the tournament.

Be interesting to see attendances for the remaining games across the tournament....hopefully they'll exceed the last event over there and we can hopefully grow something meaningful off the back of it......yes, I do live in hope.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 5:12 pm  

Heighington was useless in attack. Walmsley and Percival must be brought in, and Bateman to 2nd row to replace injured Sam Burgess, if England is to defeat France.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:00 pm  

I just don't get Bennett's thinking putting Bateman in the centre.
He's a good player but he hasn't even played at centre for his club, who have experienced a mini-crisis in that position for much of the year. There's not even anything to suggest he could do well there - he's made three try assists all year.
Meanwhile, the centre with more try assists that most half backs is watching on TV at home, and the centre with far more tries than any other in that position is watching from the stands.
I just don't get it.

Good from Roby, Widdop and both wingers. Gale seems a bit out of his depth, but he is still inexperienced at this level. Halves who look world-beaters in SL find they can't do the same against the likes of Aus and NZ. If Sneyd was waiting in the wings I'd be tempted to see how he went the next time we play a decent team, but for me there is no contest between Gale and Kevin Brown, so Gale should be playing every game.