Just watched the trans tasman test I had recorded from the other day. If Australia play against us like they did in the first half against NZ they will put well over 50 points on us. NZ were terrible in the first half but improved a great deal in the second half. If they hit form after the first 4 nations game we are well and truly in the brown and smelly stuff.

Looking at the England v France trial game from the other day doesnt exactly instill confidence in me.

Anyone else feel decidedly nervous about the 4 nations?

I'm sure we went through this in 08. "The unbeatables", "the greatest OZ team ever."
Shame we don't take a leaf out of NZ's book.

I am not nervous just realistic, consistently we are the third best rugby league playing nation. The aussies and the kiwis can raise their game a level to which we have,nt got. Rugby league is their national sport, they have a different mind set. We have a very good product in super league, it is better to watch than NRL, but you only have to watch the intensity of the origin games to see how many light years we are behind. Having a coach that the bulls fans could,nt wait to get rid of and the performance against catalans dose,nt exactly get the pulse racing and the desperate measures taken at half back dose,nt help either. Hey ho...we might do the kiwis

No way, NZ were garbage in that game and the only way England will have the same score put on them is if they don't turn up the same as NZ didn't.

There was,nt a smilie for tongue in cheek...

england players just need to clear there minds and truely believe there man for man as good as aus and we will give them a run for there money, the big question is why does it take a fight for the lads to get enough fire in the bellys to give it a good crack.

There is no doubt that the new zealand and aus players are lucky they play in a better overall comp all year round but just by the english players in that same comp shows are elite players are good enough to play on the same field...

The major difference between nrl and superleague is the top teams are not better than ours its that the lower teams are miles better than the lower teams in superleague

We have nothing to lose really so I just hope we give it a massive crack.

I think we can reach the final and if we did that and kept it competative against a classy Australian side then that will be a big stride forward. Our pool of players is growing and whilst it looks unlikely we'll ever catch up with the Aussies and be on a par with them I don't see why we can't win some games here and there and one day law of averages says we'll shock them in a final.

Nothing to do with luck.Its the players and coaches that make the NRL a far superior comp than sl.

I think if we keep using aussie trained players 'even if they play over here now' i think we will get much closer to them than we have done for many years.

We need our players to play at their best, individually and as a unit. Too often we look beaten as soon as we take the field, or as soon as we let in a try. Heads drop and whatever gameplan we had falls to bits in both attack and defence. I know its difficult to generate real confidence based on historic results, but over the course of a tournament like the 4N we need to build belief amongst the team that we can compete and have a chance to win, if not this time then next year.

the fact that we have a number of players in the NRL should get the players out of the mindset of the Aussies being invincible, which has been the biggest problem we have faced in the past.

The problem is the players we have from the NRL - Ellis apart - would not get anywhere near the Aussie or NZ test side.

Both Chase and Heighington are playing for England because their chances of playing for their country of birth is zero. The fact they are playing for England at all is a reflection of the standards available to McNamara.

Eng vs France was, as you say, a trial game. When do any team ever look good when they play a friendly? Eng is essentially a new team, which has been disturbed a lot over the past couple of season due to injuries and new members of the squad. They're still working out combinations and learning about each other's games. For those reasons it looked like a good solid performance to me, just what we needed to see what works and what needs fine tuning.

Oz vs NZ involved a trophy and a cheque at the end of the match. NZ had already lost their first test and have become masters of letting Oz run wild and then timing their performance to when it really matters. There are also high expectations from their fans and officials for Oz to win every single match they play, which in recent comps has lead to them burning out and losing focus when it really matters. NZ didn't need to turn up, they just needed to let Oz do their thing of self-destructing later. NZ also have a terrible record playing over here. They will be most concerned about putting in a good performance over here before the 2013 World Cup.

We've made good progress so far, we have one more trial games of sorts, but with the added impetus of it being part of the comp. NZ and Oz have another game against each other when we will see a very different NZ outfit. They will knock lumps out of each other and it sets us up for Wembley when we should have sorted out our best starting 17 and be mentally prepared. All looking promising to me.

Eng and NZ in the final for me.

I don't agree with your view on the standards of players available to McNamara, but if I were to assume that this is true I would suggest looking at the Welsh RU team. They've never really been about having freakishly good players from 1-15. Of course they do have some stand out players, but on the whole the standards are fairly ordinary. However, they continually punch far, far above their own weight and win comps (or nealy get to the final of the WC!). The reason for this is self belief and also because of how they play together as a team. They always have their combinations right and work hard for and with each other. It isn't always about who you play, but how you play.

These two issues have always haunted England/GB in RL. The teams never truely believe they can do it and cliques have always existed. I hope that McNamara has idenitifed this or that someone like Peacock or Sinfield will step forward and bring the lads round.