We'll win a game, against PNG.

Anybody that thinks Eng have a pack that can match Aus or NZ is seriously dreaming.

australia's pack is weak....it's the allstar backs that did them out the crap

It's the forwards which produce the platform for the backs to thrive.

Congratulations to Australia's mickey weak pack against England's awesome pack in recent fixtures.

46-16 and 52-4 readily spring to mind

England might beat PNG... just!

They could well lose to this lot next week though...

NEW ZEALAND MAORI: Kevin Locke (Warriors), Sandor Earl (Penrith), Timana Tahu (Parramatta), Clinton Toopi (Gold Coast), Arana J Taumata (North Queensland), Rangi Chase (Castleford), Jeremy Smith (Wakefield), Willie Heta (Otahuhu), Aaron Heremaia (Warriors), Weller Hauraki (Crusaders), Justin Horo (Parramatta), Bodene Thompson (Gold Coast), Kevin Proctor (Melbourne), James Tamou (North Queensland), Sam McKendry (Penrith), Russell Packer (Warriors). One player to be added from Kiwis.

I want England to win as much as the next man. BUt if you seriously think the Aussie pack is weak then youre in dreamland sunshine.

The Aussie forwards aren't any bigger or faster than the English ones, Burgess and Ellis have proven this to be true this past season.

It is their ball skills and reading of the game that sets them an extra level.


Graham/Fielden/Morley/Peacock/Burgess/Ellis etc... are all huge guys and hard as nails, but when it comes to that game winning slip pass or that one crucial offload at the right time, we have nobody. Hock was a one-off who got himself banned but even then he isn't consistent.

Not watched Eorl and the Gryphon this year then?

Australia have been better all across the field.

EVERYWHERE

Hence the big blow out scorelines against England recently.

For 30 years?

OK mate.

Thurston didn't play when Australia hammered England out of sight in the World Cup to the tune of 52-4.

Must have been Scott Prince that produced the platform instead then, eh?

Or more accurately, the Australian forwards produced the platform for Scott Prince and sundry Australian backs to do what the hell they wanted and run England and their forwards ragged? Even Anthony Laffranchi bulldozed over for a couple of tries.

You are blinkered and clueless BTW.

That's why I've argued we need more players in the NRL. Hopefully with Burgess, Ellis and Morley we can start to compete in the pack a little better than we have. The quality of the work those three do will stand out a lot compared to the others I suspect.

Every time England come over we are told how great the pack is, and the thing is, individually I sort of see it. What gets ignored is the quality of what they do as a unit.

They don't miss many tackles out wide because they can't get there. The inside defence is lazy in the extreme. Some of the gaps on the inside are so big that when an Aussie runs through them the statisticians probably didn't count it as a missed tackle because there was nobody there to make one. They similarly do very little to help either the backs out wide or other forwards up the middle by dummy runs or making up the numbers in the line. In all those respects the Aussies as a unit are miles ahead of England/GB.

England's backs get a lot of stick - and rightly so at times - but the fairytale that England's pack will smash Aus/NZ is just that.

England will go better with the addition of the better Smith brother to the coaching ranks.

This helps remedy some of the deficiencies in solely Steve M coaching the team.

Good sign...