Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:04 am  

Regardless of who plays where in the backs, if our forwards - particularly the front row - can play as well as they did on Saturday, I honestly believe we can dominate Australia. It'll be a close run game, but if we can stop their progression, and keep on top of their kicking game, then we've an excellent chance.

Do I believe we that we can do it at the weekend?

Don't be daft, we always bottle it against Australia

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:18 am  

Apart from ball retention (it seemed like every time the Samoans hit the ball in a tackle the England player would drop it), the defensive line was just poor. Far too often the whole team was back-peddling or stood still, waiting for Samoa to come to them. If you do that against Australia you'll get mullered.

The poor reads near to the line had also better be 'teething troubles' or rustiness or whatever, because they were inexcusable.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:58 am  

Son of Les wrote:

Don't be daft, we always bottle it against Australia

This is what will prevent us from beating the Aussies.
Bottling it. We have the players to beat the Aussies. It's whether we're mentally though enough to do it.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:34 am  

Re: XYZ player not playing well, I thought it was a funny old game, with just about every player barring maybe Widdop and Graham (good games) and Ferres (poor), going from one extreme to another.

Sam Tomkins - Great defensive awareness early on, backed up well for his try. Not good under the high ball.

Shenton - Some great tackles, and again supported well for his try, but missed what should have a been few easy one on one tackles.

Matty Smith - Thought he linked up well and had some quick hands, but his drop goal attempt was pitiful and he needs more composure.

Watkins - Again took his try well and looked fantastic in attack, put in some good hits but guilty of going wandering.

Ryan Hall - See above (without scoring a try obviously).

Darryl Clark - Added something when he came on but caught out of position a few times.

It's been a while since I've seen a game like that, with so many players going from hero to zero and vice versa.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:50 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

With HB's you get the two E's......either Exciting or Effective, the latter will always struggle more to win over fans but is probably more important.

Shaun Johnson managed both. We have become so used to mediocre HBs we make excuses for a performance that was below ordinary.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:09 pm  

richardviking wrote:

Just looking at the match stats. Tom Burgess - 8 tackles and 4 misses. That's horrendous really, even for a half-back.

didnt rate him in the world cup either.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:14 pm  

tigertot wrote:

Shaun Johnson managed both. We have become so used to mediocre HBs we make excuses for a performance that was below ordinary.

I actually thought Johnson's performance was hit and miss against Australia. There were moments of brilliance, as you would expect, but I thought his decision making on the last tackle was iffy, and he was a little over-keen (particularly in the first half) to get the ball wide too early in the set. With more composure NZ could have racked up a bigger score. He is a fantastic player to watch, though.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:40 pm  

I would drop Westerman for Lockers and drop Ferres and bring in Whitehead to the starting 13 with J Tomkins going on the bench.

I thought SMith played well and don't know what he did wrong TBH. Having a go for a bad drop goal just smacks of looking for a reason. He made the difference for me, tries from 2 of his kicks and great hand so Sam could put Watkins away.

Sam did look iffy under a couple of high balls, but the one that just bounced before the dead ball line wasn't his fault for mine. I don't know what else he could do, there was no way he could have caught it with his foot out.

IMO we got dominated in the tackle hence there tries from dummy half. We need to get men in the tackle and hold players up before we put them to the floor to slow the PTB down, if not we'll get mullered.

ALSO LINE SPEED FFS!!!

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:47 pm  

Son of Les wrote:

Regardless of who plays where in the backs, if our forwards - particularly the front row - can play as well as they did on Saturday, I honestly believe we can dominate Australia. It'll be a close run game, but if we can stop their progression, and keep on top of their kicking game, then we've an excellent chance.

Do I believe we that we can do it at the weekend?

Don't be daft, we always bottle it against Australia

The Aussies picked a smaller, more mobile pack. NZ were too big and too mobile for them. I am not sure our big buys (esp. the Burgess lads) are mobile enough and the Aussies may dominate us in the pack due to extra mobility. I think back to the late '70s when the little Widnes pack used to run the season long dominant, huge Bradford Northern pack off the field in the end of season games played on dry grounds and think too many are presuming we will dominate in that area.

Re: England vs Samoa: do or dire! : Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:44 pm  

Maguire gets the very best out of the Burgess brothers - they play a style that suits them. England don't have the team to do that. As a result they both looked very ordinary to me. They will have to up their game significantly if they are to have the impact we need them to have to win on Saturday.

Under estimate Australia at your peril, this is still a team of high quality players that if they gel will cause England some issues.