19 Nov: RLWC2017 Q/F: England v Papua New Guinea - Match Thread

[Forestgravy]

1 minute ago, Jacko45 said:

Not having a pop at Bateman i like the kid just not at 4, get him in 11,12,or 13.

Whitehead is a good player but I think Bateman offers more overall in terms of speed and carries. For me Currie should be starting ahead of both in whatever position, he's actually good at centre.

[Gates1]

2 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

 

Gale still looks like he's struggling and we didn't get the kicking game we needed even against poor opposition. I hasten to say I agree with Dave T, I think Jammer is well past it and Hill is looking it too.

Just watched the game and scanned over a few posts on here.  Find this a very odd comment indeed.

As a Cas fan ive been watching Gales performances closely and have been faurly critica at times.  

However he was one of England's best players today.  Contributed to most tries.  Reasonable performance with the boot.  Few errors (in any error strewn game) and made plenty of metres/breaks.  

Notable contributions include: 

His early break resulting in the Mead injury.  

England's 1st try.  Gale gets the ball, takes it to the line committing 3 defenders before it is moved out wide (through a few more pairs of quick hands) for a simple try.

Try 2.  Again makes a break, decides against a risky pass. Keeps to his feet in the tackle and offloads to Graham with a gap.  The PNG full back has to get involved in stopping Graham.  He is then out of position and camr shore up the line (he sprints across the line) when England move the ball right to give Mcgilivary a reletively easy try.

PNG attacking with overlap, Gale poaches the pass and carries the ball 50 metres turning a dangerous looking PNG attack into a chance for England.

Try 3 inch perfect clearing kick by Gale.  LO knocks on returning under pressure.  England score next set.

Disallowed try.  Gale dummies takes line on.  Narrowly fails to score but wins quick ptb.  Walk over for Graham, messed up by Burgess throwing the most basic pass forward. 

Try 4.  Took the ball early in the play changed the direction of the play took towards the line to draw a player decent pass.  Followed by an exceptionally good kick by Widdop to create the try.

Let's also not forget Gales prodominant side has a forward playing as a centre and the weaker of our 2 wingers.  Bateman lacks the positional intelligence of a good centre which stunts attacks to this side.

Overall thought Gale did a good job and did very little wrong.

[Man of Kent]

It’s been weird watching the last few England games, ie Lebanon, France and PNG.

Normally you’d get an immediate good feeling from a win but this WC it’s been one of immediate disappointment. But then you watch the tries back and you realise that we were pretty good.

Some of the tries today were top notch - Watkins’ sublime pass for McGillvary, the Widdop grubber for Currie, Watkins’ brilliant support play after McGillvary’s break, Watkins’ finish from McGillvary’s aerial gather and pass.

We’re a very good side. 

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, Gates1 said:

Just watched the game and scanned over a few posts on here.  Find this a very odd comment indeed.

As a Cas fan ive been watching Gales performances closely and have been faurly critica at times.  

However he was one of England's best players today.  Contributed to most tries.  Reasonable performance with the boot.  Few errors (in any error strewn game) and made plenty of metres/breaks.  

Notable contributions include: 

His early break resulting in the Mead injury.  

England's 1st try.  Gale gets the ball, takes it to the line committing 3 defenders before it is moved out wide (through a few more pairs of quick hands) for a simple try.

Try 2.  Again makes a break, decides against a risky pass. Keeps to his feet in the tackle and offloads to Graham with a gap.  The PNG full back has to get involved in stopping Graham.  He is then out of position and camr shore up the line (he sprints across the line) when England move the ball right to give Mcgilivary a reletively easy try.

PNG attacking with overlap, Gale poaches the pass and carries the ball 50 metres turning a dangerous looking PNG attack into a chance for England.

Try 3 inch perfect clearing kick by Gale.  LO knocks on returning under pressure.  England score next set.

Disallowed try.  Gale dummies takes line on.  Narrowly fails to score but wins quick ptb.  Walk over for Graham, messed up by Burgess throwing the most basic pass forward. 

Try 4.  Took the ball early in the play changed the direction of the play took towards the line to draw a player decent pass.  Followed by an exceptionally good kick by Widdop to create the try.

Let's also not forget Gales prodominant side has a forward playing as a centre and the weaker of our 2 wingers.  Bateman lacks the positional intelligence of a good centre which stunts attacks to this side.

Overall thought Gale did a good job and did very little wrong.

Agree that he was solid today. He needs to be more consistent with his kicking though. A couple of really weak efforts today. If he wants to mix it with those legends the ball needs to be on a sixpence. I'm glad Bennett has stuck with him though because it could be money in the bank for the next couple of years.

[brassey]

well we need another centre because bateman his not a centre and never will be

[brassey]

he cant pass a ball he cant beat a man and put his winger in

[Gates1]

7 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Agree that he was solid today. He needs to be more consistent with his kicking though. A couple of really weak efforts today. If he wants to mix it with those legends the ball needs to be on a sixpence. I'm glad Bennett has stuck with him though because it could be money in the bank for the next couple of years.

Agree regards consistency, that said he put some good kicks in today, just needs to iron out the poorer ones.

Could make an arguement for him taking over the goal kicking though.  Not sure what Widdop normal accuracy is but at 57% today and needs to improve, could be crucial in the games to come. 

[brassey]

no way we will beat the aussie unless we cut out our mistakes and compleate are sets thats a fact

[Harry Stottle]

I think that all the criticism of both Bateman and Hodgson will fall on stoney ground, I cannot see where or how Wayne Bennett will change what he stated was the team he has in his mind that it is the best team/combinations he has at his disposal from the squad.

He just does not strike me as a guy who will be told or listen to any form of constructive debate for fear that he could be proven wrong in his initial analysis of his charges, I can't for one minute imagine that he would put Percival at left centre or leave Hodgson out in favour of Roby playing for the full 80, I don't think he would risk being proved wrong, the miserable bhugger sulks enough as it is.

Sorry chaps it will be the same again next week.

[Futtocks]

3 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Sorry chaps it will be the same again next week.

A win? Oh no!  

[Harry Stottle]

3 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

A win? Oh no!  

I will take that Futtocks, but surely we could acheive it more comfortably with a better selection process.

[Damien]

1 hour ago, redjonn said:

The one thing that keeps sticking in my mind was the bombed try in which Gale running on his own with Bateman and Hall to his left... early in the game.

Just basic RL would ensure a try one would anticipate.... but Gale doesn't pass,   was that because Bateman wasn't in a good position to receive the pass (PNG player slightly in the way hence Bateman should adjust) or Gale took wrong option.

I mean in a tight game that could be the only difference that wins the game... a try you would expect to be scored.  For me it isn't about focus or concentration like most of the errors but was basic skills at this level. 

I think that was just another example of Bateman being too slow to play centre. If that would have been on the opposite side Watkins would have been much quicker to get on his shoulder and it would have been a certain try, much like when McGillvary broke in the 2nd half. Bateman just couldn't get alongside Gale and by the time he did a PNG player had got between them.

[Trojan]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

I think that was just another example of Bateman being too slow to play centre. If that would have been on the opposite side Watkins would have been much quicker to get on his shoulder and it would have been a certain try, much like when McGillvary broke in the 2nd half. Bateman just couldn't get alongside Gale and by the time he did a PNG player had got between them.

As a Fev fan I'd love to be able to slag off Gale, but IMO he had a yellow shirt in his peripheral vision and dare not pass.  He did the right thing.  When he intercepted and ran 50 metres, he was held down, should have been an England penalty and a yellow card, zilch from Childs.  TBH I thought Childs was a disaster, he got so much wrong and much of it to England's detriment, largely because England had so much possession.  How he (and Hicks) got to be international refs baffles me.

Once again Mcgillvray was amazing.  He certainly seems to have built an understanding with Watkins.  If I were Gary Hetherington I'd offer big bucks to get him away from Huddersfield.  Or swap Briscoe and some cash for him.

[jpmc]

Has walmsley got a cauliflower ear ?

[jpmc]

Just watching this game now on iplayer and tbh honest png are pretty  gash.

If england are to stand any chance vs the aussies *assuming the aussies get to the final* then i think this kind of scoreline is needed against the Tongans 

[Monk]

11 hours ago, Piggy's mate said:

BBC iPlayer is garbage!!

Worked ok for me this morning 

 

[HKR AWAY DAYS]

I've not had the chance to read through all 28 pages but I went yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was sat in the corner pretty close to the PNG fans who made a right racket. England's support was split in two, with both groups sat opposite each other.

My Dad asked WB about Bateman at centre and he said he can defend there so we won't concede many down that side now. So that is the reason he continues in that role.

Hodgson is under-performing from what we see regularly for Canberra but I think he was MOTM in one game.

Our right edge works well. If we can get the ball wide like that but quicker, we'll give Tonga nightmares. That Watkins flick pass for McGillvary's try was class - and right in front of me as the picture shows.

Keep the faith. Defensively we're sound. I'd like to see Gale move back a bit if he plans to pass as PNG caught him in posession a few times. Otherwise when taking on the line he looks OK. 

It goes without saying but completion rate has to improve drastically...