Alex Murphy could and did

How about wayne bennet?

I seem to remember Shaun Edwards doing quite nicely at his age, Murphy and Gregory were quite handy too.

There were far too many deers in the headlights tonight, Briscow, Tomkins and Eastmond being major cases.

To be fair Briscoe did alright. He was solid in defense, his problem is he won't give you enough in attack other than support play. That's just the player he is and why he is a good pro where Slater is world class.

Tomkins and Eastmond need time and experience and this is the only way they will get it. They have both only broken through this season and have very little first team rugby. Compare that to Thurston and Lockyer the latter having played 50 tests. It was always going to be a big ask.

I have nothing against anyone who played tonight, all gave 100% and for nearly 60 mins i thought we had a chance which was far better than i expected before kick off. What we desperatly need though is some top quality outside backs.

What? Were we watching the same game? His centres didn't have any faith in him whatsoever, that's why we conceded a couple of tried down the right towards the end of the game.

What we need is a coach who is willing to stick his neck out and not just pick the same old tried and tested players who've failed before. It's not as though they could get any worse?

Eastmonds has a tendency to disappear for long stretches of a game.

Because i CBA to go through the match thread, i will say that it was physical fitness that was the difference tonight. That's all.

Should the tournament be played in a 2 week break mid-season? A chance to see all players in all teams at the peak of their season fitness, not at the end of a 9 month slog surely would make for a more even, entertaining spectacle.

Was your post a joke?

Same old tried and tested players like Eastmond and Shenton do you mean?

Me thinks you listen to Stevo and Eddie raving about some player on Sky, saying how they should play for England just for doing one skillfull moment.

We were well in the game until Shenton got injured. His deserves his position and never let us down.



What? At 20? IIRC Edwards wasn't hitting the heights in a half back position at aged 20 and Gregory had done jack at international level at the same age. I'm pretty sure that Gregory was in one of the sides that was flogged by 'The Invincibles' when he was the same age. In fact both had done jack at international level at the same age as either Eastmond or Tomkins. I've just checked and Edwards played his first game, off the bench, against Australia aged 20 and didn't face them again until 1992 when he was 26. Gregory's record against Australia was 2 wins and 8 losses. Hardly heroic.