GeordieSaint

Jeez… League Freak talking some sense… Clearly more issues to solve than what’s listed there. But he’s not wrong.

Willie Peters.

The cap amount is pretty meaningless as an individual metric. Increase it here and basically we pretty much pay the same players more. That’s not the solution we desire. It’s a much much wider issue that needs addressing.

The issue of form vs experience debate is an interesting one. People were incredibly vocal that Burgess and Lewis should be involved due to their club form. Neither worked (for different reasons). Litten did. None of Young, Johnstone or Lees were particularly in great form but absolutely worked. Welsby didn’t. I’d argue there needs to be a balance between form and experience. The same with younger blood. This Series, we didn’t get any of it right - and that’s a leadership issue. It is also something the Aussies have consistently done well blending youth, experience and form into the team. Ultimately, I think if England had gone with just form, they’d still have lost.

Very good post. The powerbrokers here don’t have a clue how to fix this - and in some cases, probably don’t want it to change as it would affect their slice of the pie. Insularism. It kills the sport’s ability to move forward here. The whole sport in the UK (with the French included) needs a root and stem change to how it is governed, played and developed. And it should have started after the 2nd Test defeat. But nothing will happen. Insularism.

To play devil’s advocate, Williams was easily England’s best half in Game 1 and did set up at least two chances we didn’t finish. I’d say that probably counts as England’s most creative half so far in the Series…

A more sensible solution is to play all 3 games in a consecutive 3-week window. Then everyone plays at the same time.

The issue of quantity of quality top class players is a complex issue. A singular focus like grassroots development will not solve the issue. It needs to be multi-faceted - and this is why strategy is so important. Sporting governance, commercial revenues, player development, league intensity, international focus et al all need to be wrapped in an English/European approach to the sport in the Northern Hemisphere to drive solutions to the original poster’s issue. Otherwise it will continue to fester. The current RFL hierarchy and club insularity will not solve it - as their prejudices and insecurities are blockers to the solutions needed.

Looks very exciting - a bit like this new Broncos project. If Lockyer et al stay, the sky is the limit with for London IMO.

Agreed. Other option would be Michael McGuire. There is no reason why a club coach couldn’t be our national team lead. And these two should be top of the pile. Peters being the primary option noting he is here rather than in Australia.

I hope he picks Trout over Walmsley. He’s got to think 2026 WC now… Walmsley and one of Lewis/Williams to miss out.

England win. By 4pts.

London have to be in SL in 2027.

It changed the game. It was a poor decision. I am sure we still wouldn’t have scored but this wrong decision changed the game.

Exactly this. Crichton doesn’t touch Williams; but checks his movement allowing space for Munster to exploit. If Crichton had been there, Williams would have been further up in the defensive line.

And what does that achieve? I’ll answer - nothing. Small time quick fix action. Not strategic.

And you are getting your answer. Short term ‘fix’ for a long term issue is something the game has consistently done - but it never solves the issue. Never. The sport in the Northern Hemisphere needs to start thinking long term and strategically if it is to compete with Australia and the NRL. France is a critically important actor to achieve that.

Good summary from Gould:

Self interest strikes again… … decision making on the future of the sport needs to be taken away from insular self-interested clubs. We will never move forward properly until it happens.

100% effort. Bags of pride. 0% creativity in attack. Those players were playing to a set plan - and every time it appeared to be down our left and out the back. Farnworth is our best attacking outlet but barely used. You could hear the frustration in James Graham. You could put Reece Walsh and Nathan Cleary in this England team and they still couldn’t break an egg. People will bang on about Connor, Lewis et al. But it wouldn’t make a difference with such poor tactics. Too flat last week; too deep this week. Very disappointing. I have to say though. That Munster try… killed us. We probably still wouldn’t have scored. But it killed us. Never a try. Again disappointing.

In 160mins, we have scored one try. And that was dummy half. Appalling.

Last week too flat. This week too deep. So frustrating.

FFS. They slow the game down at every opportunity. Ever opportunity. Makes my blood boil.

Couldn’t break an egg.