Both teams will certainly be battle hardened after this. Hopefully France can make a game of it next week, at least for the 1st half.

NZ might pick up a ban for that high tackle.

Are Scotland playing a warm up game?

I understand that due to the sheer number of whingers that frequent the board you're assuming I'm complaining.

I'm not.

Just meant compared to how our match v France will be discussed with one eye on the 4 nations.

Not a moan, just an observation.

Not really impressed with either team here.

Pair of em look rusty.

New Zealand look very beatable. My only concern is how rusty are the England team going to be in game 1 v New Zealand.

Coventry

If Widdop is in form then I think we can be more confident after that.

NZ look poor and fragile in confidence, much like the Warriors when things went wrong from them in games, their heads easily drop.

The only worry is that was Gregg Inglis's best game in a while, and up against our right side we might struggle, plus pretty sure Australia can step it up a few gears if they're up for it.

They certainly looked like they had a few gears left. I thought Tommy was pretty good, but the Kiwis never looked like winning.

That's the side we need to attack, they were all over the place

On the Aussie playing shirts right sleeve, some of the players had a brown badge, others a white one and some nothing at all. What were the badges, does anyone know?

I expect better from New Zealand when not playing in front of an Australian home crowd.


Solomone Kata gave glimpses of his fearsome club form. He will massacre the defensively challenged England centres.

If New Zealand can improve their form (and I expect that they will) then they can still win the tournament.

Good to note the Aussies and Kiwis are allegedly looking very ordinary and are there for the taking by England's world class superstars.

Let's all hope it ain't just another false dawn, just like the one before, and the one before that, and the one before that... ad nauseam... going back four decades and a half and still counting.

It is only 10 years since we last beat Australia after all.

To be fair, I don't think anyone assumes we haven't got problems of our own.

Australia are still number one for me. We can outmuscle them, but our halves just aren't up to following that up with winning the game on a regular basis. Cronk and Thurston can change a game on their own, and we've got no one anywhere near their class. New Zealand have a similar issue, I know they're ranked number one, but as we saw last autumn, they're beatable, especially when their heads drop.

That said though, I don't think Australia are invincible. As a team, they're less than the sum of their parts. Our chances I think will hinge a lot around how well Hardaker and Widdop play (presuming they both start). If they're on their game and confident then we can take it to them. An England-Australia final at Anfield is certainly achievable in my eyes (as for winning that...)

Well Hardaker won't be starting, as he's not in the squad.
I may be biased, but we haven't seen how well Gale goes against international opposition. He was by far the best half in SL last season (46 try assists, the next best was 25). He was the centre of everything Cas did well last year.
If can produce the kind of form he showed in most games last year (and indeed the year before) he might be able to cause problems for Australia and NZ. It will be difficult as their defence will be tougher than he faces in SL, but we shouldn't be writing him off before he has been given a chance.