Time for England to show some fight
England's World Cup campaign has so far been little short of a shambles.
Tony Smith's team were supposedly the best prepared touring side to leave our shores but they were scratchy at best against Papua New Guinea and pulverised by Australia.
England's might have been excused on any number of levels - the weather in Townsville, the display of a team still searching for rhythm and form or a bit of an off day.
But the manner of was nothing short of X-rated viewing to everyone who thought England could leave Australia with the trophy in their grasp.
It leaves any arguments that England can win this tournament sounding like the ramblings of a madman.
The Aussie press had maintained all along that their team was head and shoulders above the rest and the 52-4 scoreline against Smith's team proved that they had not been arrogant, just correct.
In fact, browsing through several Australian internet sites after the match I got the impression that some of their media were ever so slightly disappointed. The Kangaroos have and England - the two teams supposedly capable of threatening their dominance - and now, the theory goes, the World Cup as a meaningful competition is over.
England, however, cannot afford to buy into this and must pick themselves up off the canvas for .
The format of their group is such that their win over PNG effectively secured their qualification and so Saturday's match is a dress rehearsal for a semi-final tie almost certainly against the same opponents a week later.
Smith's team must now forget about the first two games (what good can dwelling on them do?) and plan for the remainder of the tournament. This hopefully will comprise the two match ups with the Kiwis followed by the final against, inevitably, Australia in Brisbane on 22 November.
England could certainly do with a morale-boosting win on Saturday but more than anything else I would like to see some much-needed building blocks put in place.
One - start strongly. England were second best in the crucial opening phases against PNG and Australia. Rugby league is a game of momentum and field position. Lose the early collisions, concede sloppy penalties and fail to complete your sets and you are soon defending your own try line.
Two - sort out the kicking game. England's kicking game has lacked a clear strategy and been poorly executed. Kevin Sinfield's brilliant kicking game turned St Helens around time and again in the Grand Final - it was almost inch perfect. Against a big side like the Kiwis England must tire the opposition with deep kicks into the corner. Also, England have not asked enough questions with short-range kicks into the opposition's try zone. A little invention when attacking the try line would be a welcome sight.
Three - defend as a team. This aspect of England's play must improve. Too often players have charged out of the line and left gaping holes that the opposition have exploited. They have also failed to defend their line often enough and looked hesitant and unsure. I'm sure Smith and his coaching will have been working hard on this aspect. At least I hope so.
Four - give it some grunt. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the defeat to Australia was that England lost the forward battle. It was the one area in which the English were supposed to have the edge. Players like Jamie Peacock and Gareth Ellis will have the chance to show what they are made of against a physical Kiwi side. England must show more appetite for battle.
Five - play to your potential. The performances of the England team are, for the Australians at least, a yardstick for the strength of Super League. Unfortunately, very few England players - possibly only James Roby and James Graham - have shown the form we are used to seeing week-in, week-out. Maybe that is why those two have been given a rest this weekend? If the squad reproduce their club form then we will see a massive improvement. Please Leon Pryce, show us what you've got.
Teams have been on the ropes before in sport and recovered. in the rugby union World Cup last year but went on to reach the final. England can still reach the final at this tournament and will then have the chance to restore some of their lost pride.
No such problems for Ireland and Scotland, who have already emerged with much credit from this tournament.
- their first at a World Cup. After watching Ian Henderson trade punches with Jason Bukuya nobody could accuse the Bravehearts of lacking passion.
Ireland are my team of the tournament so far. side boasting plenty of World Class talent was nothing short of sensational. Andy Kelly's team showed great desire to win and huge courage in standing up to the physically imposing Samoans. with Samoa and Tonga they have earned respect and have a real shout of beating Fiji for a place in the semi-final.
In fact, the two groups comprising the emerging nations have produced by the far the most exciting games - and the fact that both pools finished with all the teams separated only on points difference vindicates the organisers decision to keep them apart from the major nations.
If only New Zealand or England had been able to give the Aussies a run for their money then we might be talking about a brilliant World Cup.
Hello, I'm Paul Fletcher and I mainly write about life in the Football League. I have a great enthusiasm for a whole range of sports and love to spread the word about the great game of rugby league. You can also follow me on .
Comment number 1.
At 6th Nov 2008, Rovers Return - HKR AWAY DAYS wrote:Good article Paul.
A lot of people will look at Australia's exhibitions against both New Zealand and England, and feel it is now a foregone conclusion.
What a lot of people will not recognise is the standard in the 'emerging nations' groups B and C.
So much quality at the Pacific Island nation's squads and yet little Ireland and Scotland have competed and both won games - exactly what the we wanted taking into consideration the layout of the competition.
People worried that this could turn out to be a bit of a joke. This could not be further from the truth. The game as a whole will benefit massively from this World Cup.
I just hope we set in place a post-season competition for the emerging nations to compete in and further improve the standard of RL outside Britain, Australia & New Zealand.
The game is on the up, I'm very confident, now let's have Greece, Wales, USA, Lebenon, Czech Republic and Germany coming through.
Regards,
R_R
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Comment number 2.
At 6th Nov 2008, galinor wrote:England represent SL. They are the pinnacle of English RL. Fletcher's Blog says it all for me. We need the team to perform as a team, defend as a team and more than anything show some guts. Tens of thousands of Celtic league and Guinness premiership RU fans could well give this game a look. (Why not it promises to be good rugby). If England look soft they'll make RL look soft and that isn't fair. They have to show some pride in the shirt and put their bodies on the line this time.
Wales RU would have thrashed this team off the park on present showing. Still, in saying that they can pretty well do that to the RU side as well. But what I mean to say is as far as the best rugby side in Britain is concerned they look well down the pecking order.
I think that if they care about international RL and the reputation of SL more than anything they have to be physical and stand up and be counted.
Let's hope they hammer NZ and worry the Aussie press a little.
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Comment number 3.
At 7th Nov 2008, jdevletter wrote:Is the final not being played in Brisbane or am I flying to the wrong city?
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Comment number 4.
At 7th Nov 2008, wonderfulferris wrote:i have watched superleague on cable tv here in sydney, & have always thought your game was loose in the defensive side of things. for example the player who scored the most tries,gardner ,was appalling in in his defence. unfortunatley, I consider that none of the english players would be good enough to play in the Kangaroos side, perhaps due to the large number of aussie playing in the uk who are at best very ordinary players.
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Comment number 5.
At 7th Nov 2008, RayCee wrote:I live in NZ and watch both the NRL and Super League. Differences. 1) The NRL teams play with more structure, tighter defences and less risk taking is allowed. SL is actually more fun to watch due to its more open style. The fact is the tighter NRL play is the more competitive. 2) Most SL players come from small towns in one region of England. The NRL draws from big cities and small towns from a sizable area of the country. There are several times the number of League players in Australia than the UK. 3) Football (soccer) dominates the English sporting scene. Most English boys want to become EPL players first and foremost. Many Australian boys want to be NRL stars. 4) Many of the England team look jaded and past their best. This team peaked a year or two ago. Australia has so much talent, they never trough in form. They will always win most matches between the nations whilst all of the above apply.
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Comment number 6.
At 7th Nov 2008, scousesaint2 wrote:Look,everyone is going to get a stuffing by this Aussie team if their game plan is'nt up to it for the full 80 mins.
Lets look at the game in a bit more detail.To start with a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions in the first ten mins put us on the back foot.
We found it difficult to make yardage because the Aussie ref(just how that happens is beyond me)allowed the Aussies to lie on at the tackle ensuring that we face a full defence all the time.Our game is based on a lot of quick play the balls and broken play.Most of the NRL games are extremely boring imo.
So we could'nt adapt to that quick enough at the start.
We competed for about 40 mins from 10 mins to 50 mins and the wheels always fall off when you are playing catch up against the Aussies.As dissappointed as I was watching the match you can explain a lot of the problems.We do seem to lack someone to move us around the pitch and did'nt seem to have a game plan.I am sure we did but someone did'nt execute it.
I suspect a decent showing against the Kiwis will help but we need to find a way to make ground quickly or we will be in trouble.
They are not bigger or stronger than we are just quicker in thought.We can compete but we need a level playing field and neutral officials please.If you watch the match carefully you could see one of the touch judges smiling when the aussies scored.
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Comment number 7.
At 7th Nov 2008, tallguy_uk_98 wrote:Paul, what a great blog, also there are some great comments buried in the replies.
I have been watching RL for 30+ years, I have always been impressed with the Aussies and NZ teams, all across the team they can all play the ball AND DO, some one made a comment about NRL being more organised and SL being more about broken play, well imo this builds skills in the NRL , they all need to be able to pass the ball and do do so from the first tackle, here in the SL we are guilty of playing one up rugby u ntil the 4th or 5th tackle before we even try to move the ball, the broken play bit, well that comes from not being able to defend, England look short of ideas and inventions, Plan A doesn't work there appears to be no plan B or any alloance for creativity (if we had anybody who could).
I love RL and enjoy watching any game, but I supect we will get hammered again by NZ
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Comment number 8.
At 7th Nov 2008, Paul Fletcher wrote:jdevletter - you are, of course, quite right. You can relax on the flight front, Brisbane will very much take you to the final.
England have brought in quite a few players for their first game of the tournament against New Zealand - it will be fascinating to see how they go.
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Comment number 9.
At 7th Nov 2008, Freddie's best mate wrote:One thing we hear so little of in articles like this is the fact that so very few English players have tested themselves in the Australian game. Morley has been there and come back a much better player. Ellis is off there, and will surely be better for it. Now imagine if the English team had 9 or 10 players, each with 3+ years Australian experience under their belts. How much stronger would England be then.
You look at the Australian team and the quality is clear. So also is the intensity, the concentration, the fitness, the imagination, and the confidence that they can play that way for the full 80 minutes. Australia scored roughly 1 point per minute for the last half hour. There was no let up.
So why do English players not go over to play in Australia. Lack of opportunity ? Lack of appetite ?
Come on lads, go and play in Australia for a few years, then England will stand a chance in the next World Cup.
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Comment number 10.
At 7th Nov 2008, Idreamofsunshine wrote:good points made - am hoping for better things tomorrow.....
Any chance of a note or two on the women's games?? The girls worked their socks off to prepare and I've read that their first game kicked it!
And then there's the wheelchair boys....
Please....
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Comment number 11.
At 7th Nov 2008, princebullett1 wrote:I hope the past two games have been part of a cunning plan by Smith to fool the Roos and the Kiwis into believing that we haven’t got a clue so we can take them off guard when it matters.
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Comment number 12.
At 8th Nov 2008, L A Odicean wrote:I am looking forward to seeing what progress England have made since their last match.
There can be no doubt that the build up to the US Presidential election was a factor in distracting some of the English players. Now that Obama has won, perhaps the team can focus on the match in hand.
As a result, I think we shall see a much better performance from England.
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Comment number 13.
At 8th Nov 2008, L A Odicean wrote:I was wrong. Clearly England's stamina had been sapped by staying up late to watch the election results coming in from the USA , celebrating Obama's victory and the subsequent emotional and physical exhaustion.
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