England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:07 pm  

The match on Saturday will not be a walkover for England. However England must win, and win convincingly. Otherwise nobody, including the England players, will take their prospects against Australia or New Zealand seriously. A defeat at the hands of Samoa will be the end of English morale, and will undermine the rugby league public's interest in half of the tournament. It should also mean the end of Steven McNamara's tenure as coach of England.

So Saturday morning's game is indeed do or dire.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:11 pm  

Do you mean do or die?

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:32 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote:

Do you mean do or die?

Or does he mean that anything other than an easy win would be a dire result?

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:33 pm  

When I saw the title of this thread I just knew it would be this drama queen who started it. I think someone needs to find a new hobby.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:43 pm  

Just a win by any margin would be a good result for me.no warm up game and they have some decent players who will be fired up.im sure they will target us as the winable game too.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:09 pm  

The sooner McNamaras tenure is over with the better, How could anyone pick Joel Tompkins ahead of Elliot Whitehead. Whitehead has had a superb season where Tompkins has been mediocre at best. In SMs favour he has named James Graham as captain in the absence of SOL although he should have been named captain from the off.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:08 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote:

Do you mean do or die?

Not quite, but almost.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:22 pm  

Take a look at Samoa's team. A monster pack of forwards, quality halves, and brilliant speedy outside backs. If England's forwards do not dominate, the Samoan backs will run riot.

Except for Ryan Hall England is totally outclassed in the three quarter line. Samoa's Richard Leutele and Joseph Leilua in the centres are an ace pairing. Joshua Charnley's defensive weaknesses may well be exposed on Saturday.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:23 pm  

Quality halves? Do you watch any NRL at all? Their playmaking spine (1, 6, 7, 9) is poor. They'll be very physical for sure, but whether they have much guile is very open to question.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:31 pm  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Quality halves? Do you watch any NRL at all? Their playmaking spine (1, 6, 7, 9) is poor. They'll be very physical for sure, but whether they have much guile is very open to question.

The Samoa No 6 is Ben Roberts has had an excellent season with Melbourne Storm. He has flourished under the coaching of Craig Bellamy. Kyle Stanley is not a specialist scrum half, for sure, but he is a good player.

The Samoan full back is Tim Simona, who is a specialist centre. But he is lightning fast, and if his kick catching is sound he will be a threat from full back.

The only real weakness in the team is hooker Sio.