Match ratings

Quote: The Clan "If I'm judging each players performance set against their relative roles and resposibilities then I'd go with this.

S Briscoe - 5 Looked slow in the 1st half and did'nt lay any kind of foundation for a good set by returning the ball with interest. 2nd half was much more involved going forward and was'nt asked too many questions in defence.

T Briscoe - 5 Was left exposed by poor defensive decision making on his inside, did well when bringing the ball away without ever looking like breaking through. Unfortunate to get hauled off by T Smith who can't see past his nose.

L Smith - 3 Absolutely awefull display of defence and petulance. Out of position on a number of occasions and at fault for three tries in the first 20 mins. Lucky to stay on after half time and still managed to get out of position defensively almost allowing Inglis another gifted free run to the line. on a par with Karl Pratt and Paul Sykes in terms of incompetance.

M Shenton - 6 Starved of the ball again and could have slipped to another anonymous performance had he not shown up well in defence. Had one tilt at the Ausie line and went for it with confidence getting tackled 5 yards short.

R Hall - 5 Was asked too do very little with the ball in hand but he ran hard without making any busts but neither did he make any mistakes. Tackled well and was in Haynes face throughout.

D McGuire - 4 Poor! Only marginaly better than Smith, terrible in defence and jumped out of the line on a few occasions poor decision to go for an intercept. A non entity in attack. pushed passes, poor execution, playing team mates into trouble etc

S Tomkins - 7 Did he play for the first half hour? to Australias frustration he was deceptively solid in defence even though they kept testing him out. Came alive in the second half and worried the Ausies with a mix of good link play, short kicking game and taking on the line.

A Morley - 5 Solid in defence but never really imposed himself. Took the ball up hard, regular and strong but did'nt worry the Ausies in either defence or attack. Would like to see more of the enforcer from Moz.

J Roby - 6 Busy display which was blunted by too many consecutive minutes on the field. Where is the Roby of 3 years ago that looked strong, broke tackles and refused to die with the ball? Defended well but needs to be more explosive frm dummy half as he used to be.

J Graham - 7 Consistant and solid, play a game of attrition and his work took its toll on Australia as the game wore on. Would like to see him punching through the line a little more instead of looking for the ground and a quick PTB.

J Peacock - 5 Worked hard and kept going but this was his most least effective international performance for many years. Maybe it's because he was in the 2nd row but despite not doing anything wrong he also failed to have any impact on the game.

G Ellis - 8 Looked solid from the first to last minute, he threatened to bust the line on a number of occasions and was impeneratrable in defence.

K Sinfield - 4 I'm not disappointed in his poor showing because I knew he was'nt up to the job! He has been tasked, by T Smith, with the role of tactical kicker and organiser and in those two depertments he was terrible. His poor kicking game made it easy for Australias back three to return the ball and set up attacking sets for the Ausies. He pushed passes that wer'nt on, played his runners into waiting defenders and failed to offer anything with ball in hand. 2nd half was better but he was lucky that we had no one else to replace him cos he'd have been the first er..2nd player dragged off at half time.

E Crabtree - 8 Did exactly what he was tasked to do! came off the bench and ran hard and often, he won the collision and forced a few quick PTBs allowing England to make ground in the next play. Got a few trademark offloads away and was generally a handfull for Australia. He has'nt played for weeks and has just had an op so we can expect even better next week.

B Westwood - 7 Grafted hard and played [iAhem! [/iinteligently. Tackled very well and ran strong, he was part of the reason we stemmed Australias threequarter line in the 2nd half.

K Eastmond - 6 Never really broke the Ausies but he carried a threat to their line when he had the ball in hand. Somehow aided the fluency of our handling movements by being available and in position all the time. His defence was good.

S Burgess - 7 Not the blockbusting Burgess we will no doubt eventualy see but he still managed a few hits and did very well to get the ball down for his try. I'd have liked to see him run further out wide where he could have been more effective at making busts or offloading.'"

Pretty fair assessment, I would give Sinfield a 6 he improved in the second half and was better than McQuires rating. Also give Eastmond a 7, he gave the team more threat and a better balance when going to half back.