Not a great game but I feel more upbeat of Englands chances of an outside bet of making the final.

Realistically we all know we can’t consistently compete with the Aussies or the Kiwis however from what I saw today I’m not too worried about the others.

Our issues clearly lay mainly at 9. I thought McIllorum went well. Controlled the ruck really well and guided the team round the park superbly. It was no coincidence we lost all structure in attack when we took him off and McShane came on. He had a stinker.

I’d love Roby to give it one last go before hanging up the boots for good. Way I see it he has nothing to lose and he is still easily the best 9 in SL.

Welsby is a freak of a player and will surely be NRL bound sooner rather than later.

Bateman was fantastic at 13 playing the role he struggled to when he first moved back to loose for Wigan providing a genuine link between the backs and forwards whilst also doing the tough stuff.

Watkins had a decent second half but was poor first however we have Farnworth who walks into that team and is genuinely top class add Newman Gildart Wardle and Percival other centre options. We have Dom Young to come in as an outside back providing competition for Hall, who I felt went well.

The halves went well, Welsby already covered but Williams looked much more at home under his old coach with Lomax and a wild card or Hastings to join up with the squad.

Burgess, Whitehead, Sutton, and Thompson all bring NRL intensity toughness and intensity to the pack.

Tomkins like Wane is marmite. Tomkins though is a quality creative outlet and a safe pair of hands at the back.

Wane knows how to win big games and is a quality man manager whose style suits international rugby. It’s not always pretty to watch though.

I don’t expect us to win it but I can see us making the final if the Kiwis have an off day.

I certainly expect us to beat Tonga.

Watched all the games today( a real RL marathon) a decent but scrappy game and win for the sharks… a tactical masterclass from the Panthers who’s (2-6 are all qualified for Samoa) then a humdinger between the Eels and Roosters (high speed, high power, top quality battle ( with several middles and edge forwards available for Samoa) this was the best game I’ve seen so far this season…

A quick nap and awake for a really entertaining Women’s international.. France have so much potential but England met, matched and bettered them.

Then the one I had been looking forward to most… and it was pathetic… low speed low intensity, mediocre levels of desire, comparatively poor skill level…

After the build up I expected ‘life on the line’ effort… attractive and eye catching skill and huge intensity in defence… but none of that…

The all stars were the worse team I saw all day… honestly sometimes Tanginoa looks unstoppable, and the next minute he looks like he hates playing Rugby league… his effort to tie up the ball when Bateman scored actually made me laugh out loud…it was like he was waving a mozzie away from the ball!

It looked like a masters game when players who once had some decent skill were trying out their old trick shots and big hits and classically failing!

England will need to improve by 1000% for their game against Samoa to be even competitive (assuming Samoa can tempt their best qualified players to play)

Yours sincerely disappointed and worried!

Ps … it also would help if the game had had a ref who understood how to referee

Hell of alot of players used to loosing in both camps,
The England squad will look nothing like what turned out today.

Cooper showed pretty good mobility to manage a trip and head shot within one tackle late on.

The game bored the pants off me, with the CNAS just lacking any enthusiasm. Have never seen SKD play so flat and uninterested for instance.

I’d wait and see who Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name in their teams come the end of the year before foreseeing we can beat them, seeing as the last time we played our Southern Hemisphere counterparts we were beaten comprehensively on the GB tour. When the standard of players like Jarome Luai, Brian To’o etc will be more than likely playing for Samoa and any other player of Polynesian heritage who can’t make the Aussie test team/Kiwi filtering to the other nations, these boys won’t be there to make up the numbers.
I think we have to be realistic in our expectations this year, I’d be really happy if we reached the SF but I’ll put a prediction that we will bow out at the QF (only my opinion of course). What does fill me with more confidence than before is the ruthlessness of Wane post match, basically saying he doesn’t care what people think of him and his selections and nobody, including Bateman, is a shoe in for the WC squad.

Was little more than a training match for England, bit disappointed with the spectacle. It’s tough getting some mid season opposition for us however so it is what is.

Though I think we’re some way behind the Kangaroos and NZ currently I don’t think we should be failing to make the semis. There’s some quality from the NRL who may bolster Fiji, Samoa etc but not enough IMO

You know what you’re getting with Wane and it might not be pretty but the defence should be enough to see us passed everyone up to Tonga. The NRL contingent should change things up a bit for us, though admittedly they aren’t the likes of Sam Burgess, James Graham etc anymore. Farnworth will be a welcome asset for the 3/4s and we’ll get some decent options in for the pack. I’d support McIlorum staying in the side if Roby can’t be tempted back but would do away with McShane and look to Leeming as back up.

Despite what people think State of Origin hasn’t always been the pinnacle of the game in Australia.

When I lived there it was a total nothing game.

Then three things happened. One it was re-formatted as a three match comp, absolutely vital should we want to emulate it. Secondly it was rebranded with a long term strategy that was adhered to. Finally and in its own way just as vital the first game of the new format involved a huge punch up within the first ten minutes or there a outs I believe. This immediately turned the game and the series into a grudge match that’s still running today.

The template is there. So far we have failed on every front. Truth is it doesn’t really matter if it’s WOR or All stars or whatever. If you make those three things happen it will work. Maybe not to SOO levels but useful all the same.

For me I’d do War of the Roses but based on the team you play for. With clubs east of the pennies as Yorkshire. West as Lancashire. Where your from is irrelevant so overseas can play though I’d limit the numbers to thee per team and one pivot, one forward and one back.

However it all takes vision and perseverance, two things we lack and the NRL doesn’t. I’d also make it winner takes all withe the losing team expenses only.

With Polynesian players or heritage players making up about 50% of the NRL there will be some quality in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. 100% Wane is the man for the job, I just don’t think we have the quality like back in 2017 unfortunately, where as the tier 2 counties have gotten a lot stronger. I’ll be supporting England all the way, I personally think we’ll have a job on getting to the SF!

The 3 Wakey players went ok, without being prolific.
Fifita looked good in both attack and defence and seemed to get through plenty of work.
Tangianoa was ok and the All Stars should have scored from his break and Miller was steady away.

Always tough playing in a scratch side with little preparation and just as long as they all came through injury free, job done.

Ultimately this was a game to give England some game time, without their Aussie based players.

The biggest plus for England was their defence, which will need to be good to give us any chance of a decent world cup.

Cant see us getting beyond the semis but, IF the side can get some momentum, home advantage could help us along.

Prior to 1980 there was no 'State of Origin'. What existed was the 'Interstate Series' NSW v QLD in which players represented the state in which they played their football rather than the state where they were born. NSW came to dominate the Interstate games particularly after 1956 when pokies were legalised in NSW. This gave the NSW clubs the finances to cherry pick the best players from the QLD competition. So you had a situations where such as that great Queensland footballer Arthur Beetson represented NSW
. The third game of the 1980 and 1981 interstate series was designated State of Origin whereby players would represent their state of birth . Initially there was scepticism around the 'mate against mate' concept but that went out of the window the moment that Big Artie clocked his Paramatta team mate Mick Cronin. From then it was game on. and from 1982 0nwards it became the three game State of Origin series.

I take your point about Yorkshire V Lancashire but I doubt that it would ever generate the same high profile event as SoO as there isn't the emnity there as in Oz, much of which was generated by NSW taking QLD's best players to play against QLD in the old interstate series. QLD sold the SoO on the basis of 'our boys are coming home to play for us' which after all the floggings over the years in the interstate series caught the imagination of Queenslanders.

Nowhere in my post did I say it would match SOO, what I said was the template was there and done right the series could be useful. Useful would do just fine.

The problem is the players have to buy into it as a genuine trial match.

I went to the last one at Headingley and it was a joke.

1 side was 20 points or more up at half time and then managed to lose. Neither side took it seriously.

I’m not into the whole hatred thing but we need to really play up to the Yorkshire Lancashire rivalry.

The QLD vs NSW rivalry was stoked by the NSW clubs taking all the top players but also by the fact there was a deep seated resentment over a plan to basically give up QLD to the Nazi’s during WWII should they have attempted to land in Australia.

Lots of history there, just like the old war of the roses.

Promote it like a WWE event stir up the history and get all stakeholders to buy into it and you have a product. Few of the players need to act as “heels” and be willing to get a bit personal over the other team in the build up. A bit of a pantomime villain on both sides wouldn’t go a miss.


I cannot see how we make it into a 3 game series though. We don’t have the depth for some clubs to no doubt be decimated over 3 rounds by having their best payers unavailable.

We the punter have to back it too and probably accept the concept will take time to bed in, rugby league folk are great folk but I think we do struggle to look at the longer term benefits if something doesn’t work straight away.

You're absolutely right, you didn't say it would match SoO. It was me, I did. I doubt that it would match SoO. I also said that I take your point about about a Yorkshire v Lancashire. Jesus, you even disagree with people who are trying to agree agree with you

Nope just think o worded my response poorly, it happens.

I often wonder how two teams made up of rivals might fire up players and fans?
Team made up of players from Saints, Hull KR and Castleford versus team of Wigan, Hull FC and Wakefield. It can be fun at Magic Weekend when fans latch onto a 2nd club for neutral games and chant alongside another teams fans.