2 Dec: RLWC2017 (Final): Australia v England - Match Thread

[redjonn]

35 minutes ago, wackojacko said:

In any case the touch judge had clearly called forward.

yes, but it still highlighted a key difference in the sides even if it would have been cancelled off.... decision making or composure or whatever it is, in this case lack of awareness/ lack if peripheral vision aided by lifting one;s head up even if under intense game pressure....

[henage]

Enjoyed that , apart from the result .

Good to see England's forward go toe to toe with Australia's pack , some big defence from both teams .

Hill did well ran at the gaps and showed good footwork /strength .

Good to see Burgess give the oz number 7 plenty to think about .

Enjoyed the world cup , hopefully costs have been covered and a profit posted .

Plenty of family and friends have travelled to support the teams , big effort from everyone who made the journey .

 

 

[DavidM]

Wowwy , great effort and physically really stood up ... but again just nowhere near enough guile , quality or precision in attack  to worry them . It was more frustrating as it went on as you saw they were tiring and in contain and hold mode , but our halves couldn’t give us anything like enough in the attacking zone and our lack of clinical edge - messing up on 1st play six times for instance- just shackled us when the territory was there . Their kicking was really precise but we couldn’t really pin them down the same way . Overall we are where we expected to be and it’s been a successful campaign , but with more quality pace and precision in attack behind the scrum that game was there for taking . I think they will be very very relieved and they just  grind it out and that proved enough 

[Adelaide Tiger]

If someone had said to me before the opening game we would play the Aussies twice and conceded 4 tries in total I would have taken that.

We played against a team where Smith, Cronk and Slater have played together over 270 times and they will be gone soon.

I hope Bennett sticks around for another year or two as he has sorted the defence out and can now develop the creative side.

[MZH]

16 minutes ago, Allora said:

Well done England, played really well tonight.

If it wasn't for a few bad passes and wrong decisions by the outside backs it could have been a different result.

I was sat with about 50/50% Aussies and English fans and I enjoyed the Englands outlook and banter more than my fellow Aussies to be honest.

Its a shame the two teams do not meet each other very often, the game would be the better for it.

If Bennett steps down which I suspect he will, who is in contention as the new England Coach?

 

 

Not sure who would be in contention, but I guess the three names that would crop up most would be Powell, Wane and Radford.

[Allora]

14 minutes ago, henage said:

Enjoyed that , apart from the result .

Good to see England's forward go toe to toe with Australia's pack , some big defence from both teams .

Hill did well ran at the gaps and showed good footwork /strength .

Good to see Burgess give the oz number 7 plenty to think about .

Enjoyed the world cup , hopefully costs have been covered and a profit posted .

Plenty of family and friends have travelled to support the teams , big effort from everyone who made the journey .

 

 

I had an elderly couple with Hull FC Jersey's on sitting in front of us at the game.

His passion and excitement was great and I thought about how much he had spent to be there and the group of young English blokes three parts cut but dressed in Shirts & Ties to our left singing songs and it made me half want England to win tonight for Fans like these.

[Lowdesert]

This, to me, shows what a Team can produce.  They all worked for each other and small decisions and errors were the difference.  Credit to them and the Coaching staff.

 

[Piggy's mate]

Excellent effort from the England lads a real physical mash-up. We'll av em next time 

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

19 minutes ago, Allora said:

Well done England, played really well tonight.

If it wasn't for a few bad passes and wrong decisions by the outside backs it could have been a different result.

I was sat with about 50/50% Aussies and English fans and I enjoyed the Englands outlook and banter more than my fellow Aussies to be honest.

Its a shame the two teams do not meet each other very often, the game would be the better for it.

If Bennett steps down which I suspect he will, who is in contention as the new England Coach?

 

 

I think most fans would like to see Daryl Powell (Castleford) take over if Bennett walks. I would think Powell would probably improve our attack but not sure if the changes he would make to improve the attack would lead to a slight weakening of our defence.

Personally I'd like to see a Powell/McDermott partnership if we can't persuade Bennett to do another year or 2, 

[SilentAssassin]

one big regret for the tournament for me, and there aren't many, is the persistent selection of Bateman at centre. Now i understand it was a defensive selection. But here is the thing, it wasn't Inglis playing it was Will Chambers who was playing in the Aussie right centre who lets be honest, offered little threat and i think we could have got at that side with a ball playing centre and of course brought Hall into the game. 

We need to find another centre next year, but Watkins has come of age and that right flank looks well set till the next WC which is great.

[snapski]

8 minutes ago, MZH said:

Not sure who would be in contention, but I guess the three names that would crop up most would be Powell, Wane and Radford.

Powell should get it. Betts will unfortunately.

[snapski]

1 minute ago, SilentAssassin said:

one big regret for the tournament for me, and there aren't many, is the persistent selection of Bateman at centre. Now i understand it was a defensive selection. But here is the thing, it wasn't Inglis playing it was Will Chambers who was playing in the Aussie right centre who lets be honest, offered little threat and i think we could have got at that side with a ball playing centre and of course brought Hall into the game. 

We need to find another centre next year, but Watkins has come of age and that right flank looks well set till the next WC which is great.

Michael Shenton has had an outstanding season, and the reason Eden scored all those tries. He should at least been in the squad.

[snapski]

Still proud as punch over that effort. And what about our players fitness levels. 

Deserve every second of the rest you will get before joining pre season.

[emigrated roughyed]

How old are all the players, how many will be around for the next world cup?

[RLfave]

QWhat a brutal, thrilling game. Enjoyed every minute of it. England should be proud of that effort.

I thought England looked a little smoother when running their attacking plays, also thought they had a slightly better kicking game too. They just lacked that one, good, last tackle option.

They managed to suffocate the big 3 combination tonight, Slater barely got a sniff of the ball and when he did, they shut him down quick. There were times I forgot he was even playing!

Just too many unforced errors ( both teams were guilty of this) and the Aussies defence stood up when it really matters. 

Sam Burgess had a great game. What was his total tackle stats? I swear he was nearly in every damn tackle when he was on the field. 

The intensity and pace of the game was insane. Just a great game to watch.

Aussies defence won them the game tonight.

How fitting for the big 3 in Smith, Cronk and Slater to finish as champions tonight. What an honor and privilege to have been a RL fan during their time. I don't think we'll ever see a more deadly combination. They'll be pushing 40 next world cup so if this was their WC swan song, then what a game, and title, to end it with. Against the ole foes of the motherland. 

England can only get better from here. But, so can Australia. Morgan, Chambers, Gagai, Holmes all did their part, and with a lot of promising youngsters çoming through the NRL, (selfish ole me hopes to see Mitchell Moses in a Roos jumper in future) don't think it's going to get any easier. 

But England proved tonight, for the first time in a long time...they have it in them to win against the Roos. This is why I was hoping for a England vs Australia final. There is no way Tonga would've been that close.

Congrats Australia! 2017 WORLD CHAMPIONS! 

 

[redjonn]

1 minute ago, snapski said:

Powell should get it. Betts will unfortunately.

don't mind whom as long as they have some of Bennett cussedness... that is in not being satisfied with some of the English players performances.  Not just about keeping the player happy and pointing out area to focus but the constant nagging focus on having to improve some basics... which they have improved upon but need constant reminding until its out of their game..

[DavidM]

Game changing halves and outside backs. We are always solid for muscle to match these , it’s the bit on top of that 

[SilentAssassin]

1 minute ago, snapski said:

Michael Shenton has had an outstanding season, and the reason Eden scored all those tries. He should at least been in the squad.

I would have played him for sure but heard he was injured.

for me, Percival should have played from the end of the group phase and we may have had two lethal flanks to go to by the final. As it is was, one side of the field was pretty much nullified throughout.

That said Bateman did nothing wrong in his role of carrying and tackling, just seems like a waste of talent having a great winger like Hall left in a cart horse role.

[DavidM]

Sam Burgess and James Graham led that team tonight , they were outstanding leaders 

[MZH]

6 minutes ago, snapski said:

Powell should get it. Betts will unfortunately.

I agree (On both points unfortunately).

I think any of the three I mentioned would do a good job and all bring something a little different to the role. 

Betts would at least be marginally better than, dare I say it, Agar, who seems to have a knack of getting jobs that he isnt even close to being good enough for.

[Futtocks]

BTW, I posted a YouTube link to the women's final in the match thread on that forum.

I'm about 30 minutes into it and it's a cracking game too.

[redjonn]

Great to watch and oh so close, England played well but Aussie that little bit more.

At the end of the day the very same issues as always came back to haunt us... Maybe not so much as past but still their.

[MZH]

Just now, redjonn said:

Great to watch and oh so close, England played well but Aussie that little bit more.

At the end of the day the very same issues as always came back to haunt us... Maybe not so much as past but still their.

We have definitely made progress. We badly need a wily old half back who can play the game on his terms at his pace. One of those today and we win.

[Allora]

Games Stats

https://twitter.com/Kangaroos/status/936923249992011782/photo/1

[redjonn]

2 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Sam Burgess and James Graham led that team tonight , they were outstanding leaders 

Yes, but I still think also that Whitehead had as equal a game and was every where...

Sam though did come charging out the line a few times and failed to make it stick putting the rest of defence in a little pickle...but I'm nit picking