Not this year they don't. Getting tonked for the second week in a row at the minute. Physically and technically miles behind in the one and a half games of this series so far.

I believe we beat them earlier this year though when the Aussie schoolboys came to England. I agree though that the Aussie backs look better than ours.

A positive from a Leeds perspective though is that Oledzki looked good and was getting on top of his counterpart, in fact the England pack struggled a lot when he went off. Looks like he should be in the first team squad next year.

The Australian backs look good because they're playing off fast ball from their forwards winning collisions. When they put their foot on the gas we don't look quick enough or strong enough to cope with it.

Oledzki went ok, but he needs to work on his lateral movement in defence. Too many times he plants his feet then can't adjust his body if the target moves. Must have been getting fatigued though, IIRC he played the first 30 minutes straight.

What I will say from these two games is I really don't get why people were upset at Morgan Smith moving on. Done very little in either game of note with the ball and his field kicking has been ordinary at best.

But if he is playing on this tour then he must be better than the halves we have in the academy

Whats the age limit for this game btw?

Yep. We need to focus on developing France and Wales. 2 nations that have a basis (albeit a small one) of people who play RL and there's a network to work from and that can be developed.

In my opinion international development in RL should focus sharply on getting France and Wales competitive with England.

The problem with that is that the gap between England and France/Wales is much bigger than the gap between Australia and England. England are focusing on getting close to Australia and rightly so.

Without big name signings from RU, which will never happen again, Wales will never be close to England. With a bit of luck from a couple of star kids in the right positions France could get competitive, but right now they are not much better than Championship standard at full strength. Over time they could get better, but its really hard to see them ever being strong enough to challenge England, let alone Aus/NZ.

And that's the problem and why International RL will never get big because it's only made up of 3 teams.

Imagine if in RU, the Welsh, Irish, French and Scottish teams were as weak/far behind England as their RL counterparts. They probably wouldn't even have a 6 Nations and even if they did it wouldn't be anywhere near the success it is in terms of money/attendances/media coverage with England winning every game every year 50-0. Likewise with the Southern Hemipshere with Argentina and South Africa, the latter a 2 time World Cup winner in RU, in RL they don't even qualify for the WC.

Unless RL gets bigger in other countries (which will take over a decade or more at least) then England beating Australia will be nothing other than a nice moment for long suffering long term RL fans to enjoy. The international equivalent of Wakey finishing above Leeds this season.....something to brag about now for the fans in question but in the long run doesn't mean or change anything.

State of Origin, a 3-game interstate series, is a massive earner for RL here. If Aus-England tests were properly competitive, they could be even bigger, as the wider Australian public has shown a huge appetite for them. The Tri Nations in RU here is also massive. The point is you can make Aus-NZ-England into something very significant in and of itself. 'All' it would take is a competitive England.

That last bit is the hard part. Suggesting that Wales will ever compete with England is pie in the sky. The only other country worth focusing on is France, who at least have some pro players. But it will take an almighty effort for France to get close to the current England team, let alone one which was better.

Same can be said of Cameron Smith on this tour

Except Cameron Smith got voted Man of the Match for GB by the Aussie coaching staff in the second Test.

Still, what do they know?