Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Fri Oct 18, 2019 6:42 pm  

cas all the way wrote:

Even though our ladies have come along way over last 2 years am I the only one who thinks the Aussies will batter them on Saturday.... I hope I'm wrong but I think we may see the difference in standards in the ladies games.

I was impressed with the ladies today against PNG.
A good professional performance and some good skills.
As you say the NZ and the Aussie ladies are a few years ahead of us so we will struggle against the likes of those but it wont be for want of effort

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Fri Oct 18, 2019 7:19 pm  

JEAN CAPDOUZE wrote:

The international nines had some great individual performances. Catalans Dragons star Samuel Tomkins was sublime, and is so far even with the ever brilliant Shaun Johnson in the running for player of the tournament.

Samuel Tomkins performance on Friday night showed the error of omitting him from the Great Britain Lions squad. Samuel was a class above Blake "are you awake?" Austin, and showed why he should have been selected ahead of the bogus Briton.

The giant Toulouse outside back Gavin Marguerite, playing for France, showed glimpses of why he is potentially a superstar of northern hemisphere rugby league. However the absence of Toulouse's star half back Stanislas Robin from the French team diminished that great nation's chances of being a force in this competition.

why would a bogus frenchman be bothered about Blake playing for England

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Fri Oct 18, 2019 7:38 pm  

The women's game in Australia has come on in leaps and bounds in the last 2 or 3 years.
For the last 3 years there has been a strong under 18s comp. This year there were 10 teams who all represented NSW based NRL teams.
The girls coming out of these under 18s sides are so much better than the ones who came before, who mostly started playing as adults.
The Aus v NZ womens game today was the most skilful game of women's league I've seen.
I watched some of the under 18s 3 years ago and the girls had no kicking game at all and just turned the ball over after 6 because no one knew how to kick, and I think Australia scored 3 tries today off kicks that Thurston would have been proud of. One of them was probably the try of the tournament so far (men or women).
It helps that Aboriginal girls have always loved league and have always been very sporty. A large percentage of the Australian side have Aboriginal heritage.

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:35 pm  

And thank goodness the TV commentary team isn't Baz, Tez, Bill and Phil gathered together in a Sky sports caravan somewhere in the UK.

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:43 pm  

roopy wrote:

The women's game in Australia has come on in leaps and bounds in the last 2 or 3 years.
For the last 3 years there has been a strong under 18s comp. This year there were 10 teams who all represented NSW based NRL teams.
The girls coming out of these under 18s sides are so much better than the ones who came before, who mostly started playing as adults.
The Aus v NZ womens game today was the most skilful game of women's league I've seen.
I watched some of the under 18s 3 years ago and the girls had no kicking game at all and just turned the ball over after 6 because no one knew how to kick, and I think Australia scored 3 tries today off kicks that Thurston would have been proud of. One of them was probably the try of the tournament so far (men or women).
It helps that Aboriginal girls have always loved league and have always been very sporty. A large percentage of the Australian side have Aboriginal heritage.

Good post. We need more than 4 senior teams though as we are well behind the women's AFL and Football league in this area. Hopefully we will see an increase soon.

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:46 am  

Beaten by Lebanon.... some of the players playing just don’t seem to be able to adapt to the 9s way of playing, all the space and widdop just constantly looking to kick - poor kicks at that.

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:52 am  

Absolute rubbish! Neither team selection or tactics suited to 9’s. Plus, 20 secs on the clock, what the hell is Handley doing spending 15 of them trying to play for a penalty?! You’re not playing for Leeds now, the ref won’t give you a penalty because of the colour of your shirt!

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Sat Oct 19, 2019 5:49 am  

Well said Daryl!

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Sat Oct 19, 2019 6:32 am  

SJ is a freak at 9's.......australia are dominant, but SJ is the best player on show....

Re: International Nines in Aus this weekend : Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:07 am  

England are getting utterly humiliated.