Yeah! Now we only lose by 38 and not 44.

I'd take that bet, with no substance or evidence of us losing by that far in the last two 4 nations.

2010:

NZ 24-10 England
Australia 34-14 England

2009:

England 16-26 Australia
England 20-12 NZ
England 16-46 Australia

Our friend Saddened seems the type of person who relishes seeing the national team getting beat in order to have a good moan about the state of everything... I would rather not add the incentive of winning money into the mix!

Good news.
Is Burgess out though?

Not true at all. I'm a realist. We are not capable of winning a series against Australia due to the problems within the sport here. Not enough young players, not enough high calibre athletes going into the game. Poor junior development by all but three or four SL sides and a very inconsistent domestic competition. It's impossible for the likes of Roby and Tomkins to get a hard match each week like they do in the NRL.

No pessimism or wishes that the sport fails, just a realistic appraisal of where the sport is.

OK, fair comment

I actually do think we have some real athletes coming through the junior ranks and into the SL and we should be spending time and effort getting them ready for international league

Good news although I've always been disapointed by Ellis' performances for England over the years.

Oops! There go my sides.

You mean apart from actually knowing or even having a clue about the actual scores, like?

We will be spanked on each cheek by both New Zealand and Australia

Is there any evidence whatsoever from the last decade of results between Great Britain/England and New Zealand in this country to suggest that will come over here and spank us?

One of the old bridade who been there and lost to the Aussies. Am I supposed to be comforted?

just widdops fitness to worry about now then

He played this morning for Melbourne.