Quote: Barrie's Glass Eye "I tend to agree, I reckon our pack, at best, can match there's, but I'm we last the dynamism they have particularly in the back row.'"
I'd agree with that. England's forwards can match theirs at their best BUT... and this is the key point... even at their best they only match their forwards for part of the game. More often than not, it's the final 10 minutes of the first half and the last quarter of the game where a lot of England's forwards go missing, regularly drop off tackles and spend time blowing with hands resting on hips. That's when the Aussies start running riot and scoring tries for fun.
The myth of the English forwards being better (or matching) the Aussie forwards is exactly that...
a MYTH.
Quote: Barrie's Glass Eye "The halves aren't even worth discussing and our backs again I think can just about match their Oz counterparts, maybe winning the odd one on one if we can manufacture the opportunity, and if they are in form. Problem is most of them aren't.
Having said that, think we can beat the kiwis, who are mentally weak. Our chances against Oz are weaker, and will continue to be so until we solve the seemingly never ending problem of 6 and 7. Until then I feel even our best will end in a courageous defeat. But here's hoping I'm wrong.'"
Kiwis seem to lack discipline way too often but on their day, they are unbeatable. Our record against them during the SL era is skewed somewhat because we hardly ever play them in New Zealand. I think we've played them only 5 times in 20 years there. We lost every one of those encounters.