I simply quoted Grahams thougts...nothing "selective" at all as I posted the other players thoughts earlier.


Indeed. Big Sam was partying with the ever so friendly Tongans AFTER the game....but as someone who was there, I can assure you that the atmosphere and feelings towards England during the game where not at all "friendly"....


I am just poiting out that after you claimed England players would have experienced more pressurised situations, they almost folded in that last 10 minutes......


I have no idea what you're on about here......if you think threatening me that you won't read or will ignore my posts because you disagree with them then you have a lotto learn about the purpose of a forum.


The level of passion shown by those fans makes their "knee-jerk" reaction understandable....and nobody whinges as well as the British!

Not really.......it's still open to debate as the similar infringement a minute earlier was let slide but this one wasn't......or more importantly when it comes to big calls, wasn't referred upstairs. The subsequent "full backing" given to the ref makes it nearly impossible for anyone else to get the final because if he doesn't, it will further fan the flames of conspiracy.

One of the reasons I like RL is the welcoming fans that helped me get to grips when I first started watching, but it seems that nowadays it is the norm to "name call" someone with whom you disagree.
These "clueless morons" packed Mt Smart for the first time in over 2 decades and have been a real positive in this otherwise entirely predictable and largely ignored World Cup. Tongan games at this comp represent 18% of the tournament yet they have delivered 27% of the gates thus far.....Australia over 5 HOME games have delivered 1,200 more fans.....but yeah, because you disagree with their sentiment, call them a name...sure fire way to win a debate

A couple of the pundits here said that Tonga 'deserved' to win. Utter cobblers. England played Bennett style for 70 minutes and were clearly the better team. Had England not decided they'd won the game and it was time to think about the final that would probably have ended up 20-0.

As it was England took their foot off the gas, Tonga got a sniff and all of a sudden England's defence looks like a bunch of Under 9s, with players bunched and chasing the ball individually. There was one point near the end when Tonga moved the ball right where they were tackled, and anybody could see that they were going to try to move it left fast in the next tackle, but England's entire team were barley spread past the centre of the field. They were so congested there they had no chance to properly slide as a unit.

If I were Bennett I'd be very disappointed in the fact that none of the senior players took charge and got the team to regroup, especially after Tonga's second try. If we had as bad a five minute spell as that at any time vs Aus we'll also let in 2-3 tries.

If it takes 70 minutes to take hold, it can hardly be called intimidating.

All those moving hymns must have been terrifying for the poor English lambs.

Edited for accuracy. HOW MANY TIMES????? £20 a ticket and £15 on beer and merchandise.....so an away fan is worth £35. At best, 1,000 is the average away support split across 11 rounds and I am being really generous here, so Toronto, replacing say Wakefield will cost a SL club £35,000. The minimum turnover of a SL club is £4,000,000 so Toronto instead of Widnes is worth less than 1% of a SL clubs turnover. There are many valid reasons for and against expansion into America, but "AWAY FANS" isn't one of them. :d7dc4b20b2c2dd7b76ac6eac29d5604e_76030.jpg