EastLondonMike

Samoa too predictable as they began to fatigue. Australia just going through the process and building pressure with their defence. To'o one out run, Lafai one out run, May one out run, all out of defence. Too easy for Australia to defend against. And without a decent half and hooker playing with some variety Australia sadly wont be troubled in defence. In contrast Australia have carried the ball well, getting outside and in between defenders, and off the back of that Tedesco and the other backs have had plenty of space to play. Sadly think we might see something like 40-0 at FT. Hope I'm wrong.

Samoa have a few weak links. Milford is definitely one.

And thats one of the differences. That effort in defence. Or in this case, lack of it.

Speed around the ruck will be key. If Samoa can keep it manageable, who knows.. The boil over of all boil overs could happen. With the short in goal areas it should be Up n Unders all day. Big test for Sualii. Toa Samoa!

Saw this on the Fox League Instagram the other night. It got ripped to pieces. Pretty much everyone commenting was opposed. Ridiculous idea IMO.

You could do the interview Chris.. I'd want to see that. Though it may resemble another scene from Airplane, with queue of people with baseball bats and spanners etc..

Which would make for great content!

The launch of sports jerseys, across many sports, is such a big thing these days. They are so eagerly anticipated. I'm sure many have noticed the clamour around what teams are wearing at the imminent Football world cup, and I really think the RFL and the collective clubs are missing a trick with not doing something coordinated and collaborative on a much larger scale to celebrate this. RL kits may not be dissected to the same degree and scale as Football kits, but theres still a definite interest, as this thread and others over the years have shown. As an example, a day or evening event where all clubs are present, with each club presenting their new playing kits to the media and gathered fans. Could even be split over 2-3 events (Yorks - Lancs - France etc). Could make for some good content and something to turn into a celebration. Would no doubt create plenty of talking points, and would also potentially be a forum for some the suppliers to explain the creative and construction behind some of the kits.

I don't understand what the objection within the RFL is to playing in France? Maybe its the French who don't want to host, i honestly don't know. Maybe theres no objection and they just want to play the games in the UK. But I think this fixture will only grow by hosting it in France for at least the first 3-4 years. If not longer. And to be honest i don't think hosting it outside the heartlands, initially, will have the desired effect either Great that England have a game, and great France do to.. but still just feels like the point is being missed a bit, and the full opportunity not being grasped.

I’ve never heard the Mal Reilly / Harragon story. I’d read that Mal got into it with another Newcastle prop in Mark Sargeant when Sargeant wasn’t featuring in first grade.

Where we were sat at the Emirates (and we were just above the middle tier) you could hardly hear any announcements. No one sat near me knew what was going on with the minutes silence until afterwards, when it became obvious we'd missed it, like many it seems. No announcements in the concourse area either, which would have helped hugely.

Im still completely gutted about yesterdays loss. And maybe it feels worse because it's another in a long line of missed opportunities. Seeing the scenes in Samoa and other parts of the world with Samoan population actually makes it a bit easier, as its great to see such Impact (and I hope the game can build on that), but I am so supremely disappointed with the England performance. It was the kind of performance i expected before the WC started, a performance which wasn't consistent with what we'd seen during the WC. Which again, is so frustrating. I haven't had the benefit of watching the game back on TV yet. Which I'm sure i will do at some point. Once the disappointment subsides I'm sure I'll be able to see some more positives, but at the moment I just want to kick something up the @r$£.

Travelling back from the game and I am thoroughly depressed.

Golden boot always throws up some interesting debate. without having seen the list I’d assume Joey Manu would be a good shout.

Tough on the kiwis, but the Aussies do what the Aussies always do so well. Roll with the punches, and just have that bit extra at the end of it all. Despite Australia not being the best Australian team we’ve seen, they are going to be very hard to beat in the final.

Mitchell has been virtually anonymous so far, but can’t help thinking he’ll have a part to play.

Great half, and despite NZ putting in arguably their best performance over 40mins that I’ve seen, you still feel this game is anyones. if those big kiwi forwards can maintain their fitness and maintain focus in the 2nd half they are going to be very very hard to stop.

Relentless so far. And the kiwis playing with a level of composure and focus, something they’ve often lacked.

I have to say that over the last few months Oxen actually appear to have upped their game in certain areas. Certainly in terms of how they are presenting some of their kit launches. Kit creative is still pretty average, but in other areas they appear to be progressing.

One with pictures, naturally..

Highbury and Islington is only a 10Mins walk. Plenty of pubs along the way also. Think I’m going in the Hope and Anchor pre game or maybe The Library.

A bad video ref decision and poor game management at a key time by Fiji has give NZ the chances they needed to wrap this one up. Really tough luck on Fiji. Fantastic effort. NZ really dodged a bullet.

thats a terrible call.

kind of felt a bit inevitable.

catch and pass from Kikau..