I picked NZ to win by 12 as a result of their dominance up front and the Aussies tiring in the last 25 minutes as a result. The reality was that the Aussies actually tired visibly from about the 45th minute......if the English pack can dominate them AND IF THE AUSSIES HAVEN'T BLOWN ENGLAND AWAY INSIDE 25 MINUTES, then I can see England winning this game and keeping the Aussies out of their first major final since 1954.

Given that it would have been expected for Samoa, New Zealand and England all to bring big packs to this tournament, the decision by the Aussies to not try to counter this with their own monsters does seem strange......but as I have said elsewhere, write them off at your peril.

Oz by more than 20.

I think this game and Tournement will turn out to be a nightmare for Australia, they'll throw it all at England on Sunday and lose, leaving them with a dead rubber against Samoa.

Australia will not take England on down the middle, they'll go wide early and kick long often which will play into the hands of Watkins, Hall, Tomkins and Charnley.

I think they'll use a superior, quicker back riw and backline to destroy us. Assuming he plays, GI to score a hat-trick.

I have Australia to win by 14 points, based on England's defensive line speed being poor v Samoa and the mobility of the Australian back row. I believe they will base a lot of their possession on either good tactical kicking (hugging the touchline and chasing well) or constant use of GI entering the line.
That said, I'd not be stunned to see the English Pack literally rampage through the middle.......as I said, the first 25 minutes are what England need to survive to have a chance.

England's defensive line speed was poor in the second half against Samoa, because they'd taken so much petrol out of the tank turning the ball over in the first half.

IIRC didn't England have to defend something like eight more sets than the opposition? Cut that out, and you'll have more energy to defend with.

What's the status on Cherry-Evans? Hopefully he plays, because he doesn't scare me with the ball in hand and frankly he's a walking gap in the defensive line that you can aim your forwards at all day.

Evn if England get a big advantage up the middle, its no easy thing to score against Australia out wide. Whatever combination England pick the Aussie backrow is simply superior.

Defence on the line for England has to improve massively. Standing flat-footed on the line against an Aussie team with a lot of structured plays is a recipe for disaster - particularly if it causes players to panic and rush out of the line. Also, if England take a dummy from acting half against Samoa, Cameron Smith is going to tear us a new one if we don't improve.

DCE has a "minor hip muscle tear" and has a chance of playing against us, otherwise it's Ben Roberts at 6.

Agree with you though AG, I think he's really overrated. Him and Hoffman were a real weak link on that side.

Ben Roberts is playing for Samoa isn't he?

He is, I think he meant Ben Hunt.

A rampaging England pack assumes we get parity or more of the ball. When Oz are up for it I've seen them starve the opposition of the ball. If they retain the ball they'll totally humiliate our big front rowers and leave them gasping for air.

If we play with our heads there is no reason the above should happen. This is not a vintage Aussie side, the key for us is ball retention, not giving away silly penalties and a solid kicking game. If we can achieve all that we have a chance - slim I would agree but a chance of turning them over

Scott and Hoffman were really quite awfull against New Zealand, you're doing the English players a real disservice to suggest that they're so inferior to this current Australian back row.

I'm not suggesting that Farrell and Tomkins are the best back row pairing we've ever seen but they certainly have a lot to offer going forward and in Farrell case at least his defensive game is superb.

What did Bird do that was so much better than Westerman?
Bird gave at least 2 midfield penalties away and got brutalised on a couple of occasions when trying to effect a tackle. On the other hand Westerman made some hard yards through the middle and was close to being at the top of the tackle count.

Some on here are still suffering from an inferiority complex where Australia are concerned, while there's been solid justification in the past I simply don't see the reason for it with this version of Australia.

You are right in what you say but its also quite understandable and good in a way that people are not getting too carried away with what looks to be a slightly ajar door that the Aussies have left open.

The very few times in the past 30 years i have been watching RL this has happened we have had it slammed in our faces at quite force.They will be smarting at the defeat at the weekend and the prospect of being the set of players to lose out to us and miss a final in a million years will be enough to ensure they are at it this week.

Still plenty enough talent to beat us in this Aussie side.we will have to be at our very best,nothing less and hope things go our way to get the win.

Agree with those last two posts.