Just seen New Zealand's forwards at work, wow and Sonny Bill still to come, we are lightyears away from that, never mind the Aussies

their forwards were very good, especially kasiano and pritchard.

To be fair , the NZ Forwards will go close to pipping the Aussies and Englands Pack ( Unless England brought in Crabtree and used the Burgi I'm worried about Englands Packs lack of Impact ). To be fair I have only just started Watching the ESL again.

Sam Moa is the un heralded success in the NRL ( from Super league of course ) in that Kiwis Line up to come in as well as Hargreaves.
Moa I saw going around against My Club side the NZWarriors at Eden Park , he pretty much took the Locals apart with his impact off the Roosters Bench ( Same thing happened when we played them on their home patch except we won !)

JW Hargreaves will likely make a big impact on the cup , he's a brute of a human being that's dropped the Grub element from his game , and would be Picked ahead of all NZ Test Forwards bar the Captain , Williams and Issac Luke.

I've cut and pasted a post I put on the Leeds Rhinos Forum, still getting used to all the clubs on one site here and the ESL players My biggest shock is Crabtree's absence and Chase Stanley instead of Brough ?

Any way its a long rant but I see Crabtree as the start of where England needed to match NZ and Australia with the Burgi thrown in....the post starts with a reply to a post about Hock and the need for more reliable / safer players ( see below )

.....................................................................................................



" I don't have a lot of experience of watching Hock or any England player for that matter since the GBR sides of the 80-90's era.
I've started watching the ESL again to take a Look at Sam Tomkins who's coming here of course next year.
The reason I picked out this post is It's exactly the plan NZ use to defeat Australia and will live and die by this world cup. Safe Footballers who stick to the game plan , a simple plan at that.
I would add :
The teams that went through to the NRL finals series ( with the exception of Melbourne who are a special case / structured like what I have seen of Wigan Games ) were powered by Monster Forward Packs with Mobile Big impact forwards off the Bench.
Crabtree not being in the squad makes no sense to me at all ( my expectation was England would reply in kind because they have the Big Humans who can ).
For Non NRL fans, a case for the Inclusion of the Burgess Twins cannot be overstated. George would be welcomed with open arms into the Kangaroo and Kiwi Line ups , Tom wouldn't be far behind selection.

Not wanting to get into an NRL is superior nonsense argument , my point being George has been better than anything we have here for impact , and I'm quietly confident the Kiwis Pack may prove better than Australia ( very close the tournament will tell ) our backs obviously are not , never have been , and probably won't be come the next world cup.
They would be where I would start in the forwards Crabtree and the Burgi. Sams done exceptionally well of course ,


Aussie are the most clinical of the teams and frankly neither England nor NZ have the personnel to be as clinical , fast , and dynamic, efficient , ruthless ....pick an adjective.

They're a parasitic organism that creates pressure by doing everything in Rugby league 101 well then feeding off your mistakes ( Origin is a game of Chess ).
Technically they have no weakness's. Sides rely on bounce of the ball and Luck to win games against them.

Their only weakness is their own greatness , they go into contests 'knowing' they will win , and if you can be within six points of them by half time in a low scoring contest ( twelve points or less ), they don't have a lot of mental experience of dealing with that anomaly from any team that is not Australian. It really throws them off especially if England Lift in the last twenty of each half , because the Kangaroo's .....believe it or not.......have a deep seated fear of choking.

When NZ beat them Aussie looked seriously upset when the Kiwis Lifted to make it a contest late in the first half. when the same momentum shift happened in the secound half of the world cup final Aussie started to panic.
That leaves playing a simple Game plan off the go forward , dominating possession and territory , letting your impact forwards bring that lift in momentum in the secound spell of both halves your best weapon.

For all the reasons that Make Australia brilliant , you can't try to employ tricky / complex / or ad lib tactics and hope for the bounce of the ball to go your way. I don't Like the look of Rangi chase , a mercurial styled half isn't called for ( well at least the fancy stuff shouldn't be his first option ) someone who can shift the ball well is the go ( the kiwis had Benji Marshall , tellingly.... it wasn't his footwork that got the Kiwi's to victory it was simple well delivered passes at pace.....Sam Tomkins looks as good on the move with the pass selection ).

Excuse the rant I really would like to see England do well

seems cudjoe was played on the opposite side to where he plays for Huddersfield in super league all to accomodate ablett whos not even a centre?! plays more in the second row i believe

Macnamara hasn't picked a left centre so either Watkins or Cudjoe was bound to play on that side, at least he has given Cudjoe a game to try and adapt (watch him pick Watkins there against Australia now). He is following in the fine tradition of England coaches who pick 13 players and try to shoe horn them into the side rather than pick players in positions where they are comfortable.

Hence he has named a player as captain who isn't the best player in any of the positions he can play and now doesn't seem to have a clue where to play him but expects everybody else to fit into a system simply to accomodate that player on the pitch.

Now I'm not an international coach but barring truly exceptional individuals like Darren Lockyer it seems obvious to me you pick players in the positions they play week in week out rather than expecting them to step up a level and then have to cope with a new position, new system as well.

Why does anything Mcbanana do not surprise me, we were very poor in both this and last seasons exiles match, yet he ignores the poor performances and just blunders on regardless. He won't pick players on form, he's loathe to drop his "favourites" whether they're playing well or not, he tinkers about and doesn't play players in their favoured positions just so he can accommodate these "favourites". How many "form" players are sat at home twiddling their thumbs or playing for Scotland because of this clown. He takes them off to SA to a training camp to prepare them for a world cup and oversees the worst defeat for an England/GB team since god knows when and then accuses the players of not being focused/prepared to face the mighty Italy Isn't that your job, isn't that partly why you went to SA to prepare and focus the squad for the forthcoming games, christ knows what tactical knowledge you've passed on to the players, it looks like we've no plan A never mind a plan B. The England team haven't moved forward at all under Mcbanana despite him having the best crop of players to select from than any England/GB coach has for a long long time. The sooner the baffoon goes the better, he's worse than useless.

Rant over

Cudjoe rldid okrl on the left against St Helens a couple of years ago.

I was always of thinking that your pick your best players, then pick a captain. To continue to pick sinfield as a captain, says little of the confidence in the leadership qualities in any of the rest of the squad. I've a sneaky feeling we are going to limp out of this competition before the semis. The clock is definitely ticking on McBannana as it would be one hell of an upset for us to win this. The guy is not a very good coach, his record says this. My money is on NZ.

rlhttps://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/news/huddersfield-giants-star-leroy--6225447rl

cudjoe on playing left centre

I think him and charnley would be a better choice, Watkins pairing hall as they are more likely to understand the others play. On top of that I'd be happier with cudjoe against inglis and sonny bill Williams- correct me if I've got that wrong but I think they would both play at left centre. But macnamara accommodates his favourites without looking at the overall team picture.
I'm very very worried. I have a very nasty feeling we may be losing baloo after this World Cup.

Sonny Bill is a in Union. I would be very happy if he played for the Kiwis , that's one position the team is light on depth.

It's very unlikely Williams will play anywhere other than his more accustomed League position in the secound Row. Kearney is a conservative coach, which is a shame because the Kiwis are overstocked for world class forwards as opposed to personnel in the backline.

This coming weekend against Samoa , with Thomas Leuluai ruled out with a groin strain until the 1st of Nov France test.....Kearney may switch Williams to stand off where he excelled for the Roosters this year to allow Kielran Foran much needed rest.

Williams declaring for the Kiwis has given them back up in the Seound Row Locke stand off Half back standoff and Wing.

Crazy if you think about it.

Sonny Bill is a in Union. I would be very happy if he played for the Kiwis , that's one position the team is light on depth.

It's very unlikely Williams will play anywhere other than his more accustomed League position in the secound Row. Kearney is a conservative coach, which is a shame because the Kiwis are overstocked for world class forwards as opposed to personnel in the backline.

This coming weekend against Samoa , with Thomas Leuluai ruled out with a groin strain until the 1st of Nov France test.....Kearney may switch Williams to stand off where he excelled for the Roosters this year to allow Kielran Foran much needed rest.

Williams declaring for the Kiwis has given them back up in the Seound Row Locke standoff Half back hooker