strange comment

this.

what a massive opportunity for RL to take a potential massive leap forward, off the back of a nation in mourning for the rah-rah's failures, live on free to air tv at a very good time on a saturday afternoon..., with not much else in the live sports stakes, ...in the capital city, in the olympic stadium which was the scene of this countries greatest sporting achievements in a decade,
we had a massive chance to turn it out and beat the best in the world in a test series and we blew it, absolutely blew it!, dire rugby league that was probably just as bad as the union team, poor atmosphere, wonder how many curious non leaguies turned up because it was an event to attend, only to shake their heads and stick to watching union or premier league borefests!

I thought Hall was gash, jogged back for the kick that got him pushed out the back (after not figuring out that they were kicking to the empty space behind him) , got drawn in far too easily for their try when there was no need to and left the winger with a free run in.
Drop Hall bring Jerry in, Lockers wants dropping, he's shiate, I'd rather keep whitehead tbh, Williams has had his chance and shown he's not up to international standard so Gale needs bringing in. I don't care if he's undercooked Williams has being really average in both games for a supposed hotshot kid and showed no spark whatsoever.
I spent £70 for travel/ticket going up to Hull last week though had a good excuse to visit the folks & the game was a bit lacklustre, however yesterday was disgusting and I felt it was an utter waste of money & my time.
Incredibly negative, short sighted and completely lacking in any creation whatsoever, nothing. It was as I said in another thread yesterday as if we went in to try not lose the game as opposed to trying to win it, that's no way to play rugby or any sport for that matter, at any level.

Lockers defended very well, certainly better than Whitehead, who offered nothing. Williams had a poor game, but whatever 'spark' England did have in that first match came from him.

I didn't enjoy the day much either, but I'll be at the DW next week and am confident we'll see a much better display on 'home' territory.

To be honest as a Leeds fan I can't recall a time when Hall and Watkins ever played on the same side of the field together. It's always been Watkins Right Side and Hall Left Side.

Yes agree 100%. Golden chance wasted.

Yeah because we done so so well when the England squad is largely made up of Leeds/Wigan players!

I've just watched the whole match again on TV. On TV it did not look as dire and pedestrian as it did live although Brian Noble's comments indicated it was poor.

What I hadn'y appreciated live was just how bad Bateman was - looked too lightweight and kept losing the ball and getting pushed over too easily. Williams was a waste of a jersey - he was ttally anonymous (just how I saw it live). To be honest I still haven't worked out where on the pitch he hid for most of the game! Seemed to have no involvement whatsoever.

Overall, NZ had a game plan to get back in the series and iron out their shortcomings and did so. We should have tried to win the game but were too negative. To me NZ have built a platform from which they could improve to take the 3rd Test. We have confused ourselves by going backwards. Both teams can improve for next week. The result will depend on who does it best. I think Kearney is a legend - bth as player and coach so I would now place NZ firm favourites. If they take it out it will be purely due to coavching for me as this is a series England should have won 3-0.

There's only 3 leeds players in the entire squad.

Considering the trophy haul of leeds and wigan over the years, we certainly wouldn't do any better without their best english players.

Sorry, but those bashing bashing Bateman must have been watching a different game. I suggest you watch it back again. Took the ball up well, made a couple of breaks and was solid in defence. Arguably did more with the ball than most of our backs combined...

All this my team's players are better than your team's players is pathetic. They haven't picked themselves for the team, that muppet of a coach picked them. Any blame lies firmly at his feet - part of me wants us to lose next week to see him lose the job, but a series win would be good. IMO he should lose it for not beating this lot 3-0. They're a decent side, but we should be beating this particular group...

One thing is for sure and that is if our half backs (whoever they are for the 3rd test) play that badly again we will lose the series.
We need our half backs to take control from the kick off.

Agreed on both points. The Bateman bashing seems to be a bandwagon, which I'm sure wouldn't be borne out by the stats (which, BTW, I've been unable to find. Any ideas, anyone?). Don't get me wrong, he didn't have a great game, few did, but he hardly merited especial criticism; his contributions with the ball were generally positive.

Even the TV commentator got frustrated saying Bateman's dropped it again!

Bateman had a good game and posed problems, running hard and defending well. He was certainly one of our better players. The "drop" the commentator referred to was Bateman offloading and hitting the tackler, at a time when few other players were seemingly trying to do much to get the necessary score.

Williams having a nightmare was 75% of the problem.

Yes, I heard him. I stand by my contention that he was no worse than anyone else, and better than several.