Quote: Carlos Alberto "I don't know where to start with our international side. The SOO shows just how far behind we are. People talk about us getting closer, but we are about as far from the Aussies and to an extent, the Kiwis, as I can remember in my lifetime. '"
I don't think we have moved a lot closer since, say, the 2008 world cup (when we were atrocious) but if you think back to the Four Nations in 2011 we put up a better fight and some very good individual tries were scored. What we missed in 2011 was two quality halfbacks (and in the case of a 6, just a halfback!). SOO has taken years to develop into what it is now. We have only just started with the Exiles idea and it was way too soon to move it to two games.
Most of all though we need a good coach and we don't have a good coach. If only Daniel Anderson would coach the England team...
Quote: Carlos Alberto "People will say we probably would have won if we had Hall, Tomkins etc playing, but that isn't the point. We are talking about the very best players we have to offer, who have trained as a team for a much longer period than the Exiles,'"
Matty Smith has only been in the Knights for five minutes. But aside from that, the noobs might have trained with the England side for a year or so but last night was the first time they had played with them. McBanana made a big error in not playing at least a couple of them - preferably the halfbacks - in the first match. They would then have got over the immediate problem of being both inexperienced and new to the team. The Exiles are the far more experienced players who have a significant number of former internationals in their ranks. They also had absolutely no pressure on them whereas the England players were under the spotlight.