all chat and stuff in here thanks

QLD 6 NSW 4 HT

What a top game that was, finally NSW win a game, the Cronk sin bin really hurt them.

cracking game and nsw thoroughly deserved the win but seems queensland are missfiring a bit and were in the first game aswell. lockyer hangover???

i know a certain brett that will be happy tho

Sets up game 3 nicely.

fantastic game..it had everything..and what a tackling stint from farrar 60 odd tackles..is that the most tackles any individual has done in any sort of match...

Nathan Hindmarsh is the current leader of most tackles in a game. I think he did 75 against Melbourne a few years ago. That'll take some beating

Just watched it. Superb game.

Uate's defence is appalling. He's never Origin standard. Game one he was at fault for two tries; game two, for the Inglis try, a planted tree would have made more of an impact defensively.

Other than that every player is out of this world. It's like having 35 blokes all playing like Ben Westwood in his best ever game but on another level again.

This NSW team is really good. For once they've stopped ing about with who they're choosing and sticking with a nucleus. In years gone by there have been different half back and hooker combos from game one to game two.

I hope they win on 4th July.


[How good is Robbie Farah? OH MY GOD!]

Did Mitchell Pearce and carney play in the halfs? Still to see what all the fuss is about Pearce. Carney is class though. Queensland, though a settled team they are starting to age a bit now,they will lose the series this year or next i reckon. Nsw with Dugan,t-Rex,tariq sims and tamou,a cracking bunch of young guns stepping up,the tides turning...hopefully

Just finished watching this. What a pity we didn't stick with Lancs v Yorks and try to emulate what the Aussies do. Eng v Exiles will never match it and ultimately is self defeating - if we want to improve English players and reduce reliance on overseas, then the Exiles team will get weaker and the game will be a dead duck. Plus of course they have few fans so there can never be the big crowds and atmosphere.

Lancs v Yorks makes us look small time though and enforces negative perceptions of our sport.

I still think a one game Tri Tournament

West England
East England
Exiles

was the best option, at least that way we have a bigger pool of players trying to get a full England shirt

WE v EX
EE v EX
WE v EE

I was thinking the exact same last night about a tri-series but disagree about the small-time worry. Plenty of things about RL already and always will make us look smalltime but we do them anyway. Plus eng v exiles won't get any more national media attention - maybe less. We should be proud of our roots. I know we struggled a bit last time to get people really passionate about their counties - but there is even less chance of people getting passionate about "West England".

I think Lancs v Exiles, Yorks v Exiles then Lancs v Yorks would be great and whilst needing 3 dates in the calendar would still only be asking each player to play 2 games at the most. Each game would mean something and there would be no embarrassment about any team losing any of the games. If the Exiles beat England in both of these upcoming games - that's going to look awful.

And i think they will. My prediction is for two close games won by Exiles due to their superior pack.