True, England have had a good fist at this, we have some decent players and work hard. We don't have the extra quality that their players do.

We just need a goal kicker !

not good enough..though we are catching them up...how the hell joel tompkins gets in the team let alone the squad amazes me...

or vice versa

If Benny Westwood was fit surely Joel wouldn't of been picked.
Why wasn't Ben Harrison picked in the squad? He was immense for us last season.

I think Ben H is having a operation this close season.

And he's Irish-ish

All over
Aus 44 v NZ 18

Well done lads, back on the dreamliner.

Taxi for a McBanana?

I think we have to "roll with" the next few years.

We've just finished 3rd in a group of 4 against

a) the weakest Aussie side I've ever seen
b) a NZ side that blows hot and cold. A side which, on it's day, can beat the Aussies (a fortnight ago), or get totally humiliated by them (last year's WCF and several ANZAC Tests).

Truth is, we've a Test side that's made up of

a) Genuine World class - Graham/Hall
b) Good Test class -SO'L, Widdop, Hill, Tomkins (S) and maybe Clark (early days for him)
c) v. good SL standard - Watkins, Charnley, Farrell
and
d) the bang average (or how the hell did he get picked) Tomkins (J), Ferris and Sarginson

and a coach that couldn't win a raffle, and he's bought the only ticket.

bang on although probably a little harsh on Sarg

And to "celebrate" getting knocked out of yet another tournament before reaching the final, England players go on a bender to a frat house in Dunedin and Josh Hodgson gets tanked up and shoulder charges a door.

Shame he couldn't have shown that much aggression on the pitch......

So Josh Hodgson gets drunk and does something stupid...and we all wondered what the Aussies saw in him and now the penny drops.

I don't think he noticed there was a handle.

Quote: Wire Yed "So Josh Hodgson gets drunk and does something stupid...and we all wondered what the Aussies saw in him and now the penny drops.'" i.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10723 ... door-smash

Quote: Wire Yed "So Josh Hodgson gets drunk and does something stupid...and we all wondered what the Aussies saw in him and now the penny drops.'" i.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10723 ... door-smash

The tragedy is that with a decent coach we really could have won the comp, we may never have as good an opportuntiy again.

The problem is I look at genuine World class players in an England shirt and they look average, and the blame for that has to lie with the coaching staff. We have an average coach with no pedigree, who isn't even a head coach and isn't UK based.

This is a man who persisted with Sinfield at stand-off to the detriment of the cause for years, and has now decided to stubbornly pick J.Tomkins, Charnleym Hodgson & Ferres when the evidence is clear they they are not up to snuff.

I'll wait for the "if Ryan Halls try and been awarded as it should have been we'd be in the final" post-mortems to begin, but the bottom line is we were undone by woeful tactics, inability to find a plan B, appaling use of substituions and flawed team selections. AGAIN.