4 Nov: England v New Zealand KO 2.30pm (BBC TV)

[Pigeon Lofter]

30 minutes ago, OMEGA said:

As Big Jim Mills said after being penalised for a late tackle

”I got there as quick as I could”

Mentioning Big Jim in a NZ thread reminds me of an astonishing incident during the 70s where he took an early bath for stamping on another players head! The crowd even applauded him as he left the field.

If that incident happened today he would have been jailed!

 

[Dave T]

18 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Decent time for a tri- series ?

Good thinking. Maybe we could expand it to four nations in a while?

[MarraSaint]

26 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Wayne said Tommy was in a league of his own today . Absolutely . We eulogise over the star turns of other nations but that was as good an individual performance in a Test as you will see 

Bennett also said ‘where have we been hiding him’

hes been doing this at saints for the past few years.  He has definitely not been hiding. Although the past 2 seasons he has really pushed on  his defence is superb and his finishing is exquisite . A class player and also a class person

Well done tommy.  We have loved you for years at saints  and now the whole country sings your praise 

 

[EssexRL]

24 minutes ago, Route66 said:

Another fantastic game,great showcase for the sport ,more games need to be on the BBC if we want to expand in this country 

People on twitter saying they don’t follow RL but were really impressed by the match. 

[deluded pom?]

13 minutes ago, Pigeon Lofter said:

Mentioning Big Jim in a NZ thread reminds me of an astonishing incident during the 70s where he took an early bath for stamping on another players head! The crowd even applauded him as he left the field.

If that incident happened today he would have been jailed!

 

Wasn’t he banned from re-entering New Zealand after that incident?

[MrPosh]

1 hour ago, MarraSaint said:

something tells me that Ryan hall may be retired from England now !!!

the future is Tommy and when Jerry has finished we will have another tommy on the other side 

I think it might be a Dommy.

[chuffer]

21 minutes ago, Pigeon Lofter said:

Mentioning Big Jim in a NZ thread reminds me of an astonishing incident during the 70s where he took an early bath for stamping on another players head! The crowd even applauded him as he left the field.

If that incident happened today he would have been jailed!

 

Jesus. Havent seen that before, that is grim

[DavidM]

8 minutes ago, deluded pom? said:

Wasn’t he banned from re-entering New Zealand after that incident?

Yep

[Dunbar]

26 minutes ago, Pigeon Lofter said:

Mentioning Big Jim in a NZ thread reminds me of an astonishing incident during the 70s where he took an early bath for stamping on another players head! The crowd even applauded him as he left the field.

If that incident happened today he would have been jailed!

 

It wasn't a stamp. Just a badly timed, slightly late play the ball.

[DavidM]

Very naughty . Still love big Jim though 

[MarraSaint]

9 minutes ago, MrPosh said:

I think it might be a Dommy.

It’s easy to forget manfredi as he’s missed so much over passed 2-3 seasons.  But he showed his class on the last few games for Wigan culminating in 2 tries in grand final 

yes - he is international class

 

just shows that we have a lot of good wingers of all ages

but I imagine makinson and McGilvary will be the first 2 wingers picked for foreseeable future 

The rest will have to shift them 2 first 

[Griff9of13]

4 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Very naughty . Still love big Jim though 

One of the nicest blokes in rugby league that I've ever met. That said, I've only met him off the field!

 

[Griff9of13]

3 minutes ago, MarraSaint said:

It’s easy to forget manfredi as he’s missed so much over passed 2-3 seasons.  But he showed his class on the last few games for Wigan culminating in 2 tries in grand final 

yes - he is international class

 

just shows that we have a lot of good wingers of all ages

but I imagine makinson and McGilvary will be the first 2 wingers picked for foreseeable future 

The rest will have to shift them 2 first 

And that's how it should be. Be great to have the same situation across all positions.

[Leyther_Matt]

4 minutes ago, MarraSaint said:

It’s easy to forget manfredi as he’s missed so much over passed 2-3 seasons.  But he showed his class on the last few games for Wigan culminating in 2 tries in grand final 

yes - he is international class

 

just shows that we have a lot of good wingers of all ages

but I imagine makinson and McGilvary will be the first 2 wingers picked for foreseeable future 

The rest will have to shift them 2 first 

McGillvary turns 31 next season so he’ll be out of the reckoning by the time the World Cup comes around again. 

[redjonn]

1 hour ago, HKRBob said:

I think 2 games in which we have more than competed and ended up winning against a strong NZ team has been really enjoyable.

I think some on here need to stop over obsessing about the selection of a few of the team, because whichever way you cut it if you go out looking for a players mistakes all game and disregarding their positive contributions you will inevitably come away feeling like their performance underwhelmed you. At the same time you are sounding like a broken record and boring the rest of us who enjoy the game.

Ps as a Robin begrudging respect to Connor and his attacking centre play. Some great passes for Makinson.

As one great coach once said, all-be-it the NFL and about quarter back and fans view of selections and errors.... The player on the bench (not playing) never makes errors...

[Dunbar]

3 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

McGillvary turns 31 next season so he’ll be out of the reckoning by the time the World Cup comes around again. 

Do you mean the 2021 world cup? By my maths he will be 33, I wouldn't put him out of the reckoning at all.

[Oxford]

1 hour ago, deluded pom? said:

I can’t recall any uproar on here

Yeah but we're biased as hell so Graham was committed and couldn't pull out whereas Bromwich was four streets and two buses away! Anyone could see that, you should'a gone to Specsavers!

[dkw]

18 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Very naughty . Still love big Jim though 

Everyone loves big jim,  because big jim tells them to....

[Rupert Prince]

3 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Do you mean the 2021 world cup? By my maths he will be 33, I wouldn't put him out of the reckoning at all.

2 years is awhile.   So the team will need to be as good as it's reserves. 

[dkw]

1 hour ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

, the Ref was way better than the ref in the 1st test but thought the England try where they went to check the try with the English video ref was very marginal. With different officiating interpretations in 2 key incidents this series could be 1 nil to NZ with heading in the last game which goes to so how close this series has been.  but thats the way the ball bounces congratulations to England on winning the series  

The first match could easily have seen nz down to 11, the ref sent the try up today as a try by the neutral ref, no obvious recent to disallow it. Bringing up it was an English video ref is just crass and embarrassing  

[dkw]

57 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

The BBC were really good. Perfect mix of enthusiasm and letting the brilliance of the game speak for itself. 

2 games on the trot I've been impressed by the presentation and commentary by the beeb, the Scotland v Wales game online was superbly done also.

[Leeds Wire]

The RFL needs to be absolutely all over this. It's a massive opportunity, please go for it.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

Congrats England

[lacuna1]

1 hour ago, Route66 said:

Another fantastic game,great showcase for the sport ,more games need to be on the BBC if we want to expand in this country 

Been saying this about the BBC for ages. I like their coverage and i can't see any reason that they can't put a Sunday afternoon Super League game on BBC 2 at 3pm. Games on terrestrial tv are the only way we are going to get noticed for me. I hate Rugby Union (well not hate but dislike a lot) but i always watch the Autumn internationals and six nations when i am not out somewhere because it's easily available and free in HD. I remember in the 90's when the Challenge Cup final was the pinnacle of the RL season. The BBC would do a good 2 hour build up before the match and then the game itself. I have a load of them on DVD, my old Granddad had hours and hours of Rl on video so i converted them all. Nowadays it comes on 20 mins before kick off, get the game on, final whistle they rush them up the steps, lift the trophy and goodnight Vienna so they can get Casualty on in time. Terrestrial tv is the way to go for exposure.

[Exiled Wiganer]

One thing I have been thinking is the advantage we get from having a fair number of our best players playing in the NRL. Rather than stripping our game of its talent, in a way it has allowed more talent to get more exposure at a higher level over here. It has been clear for a while that the gap between NRL and SL is there, but our top sides are still very good teams. Thus, when Wigan lost Joe Burgess, we blooded Davies, who has been good enough to play for the Knights. It just deepens the talent available. We will lose Bateman, but that allows Paisley to move forward in the queue...

Meanwhile, the potential Kiwi player pool has been reduced by eg Tonga’s taking some fabulous players. Taumalolo could well have been enough to win a series as tight as this for them. We are the clear beneficiaries of the eligibility choices of terrific multi qualified players. 

When it comes to playing the Aussies, their eligible numbers are lower because of the growth of non Aussie aligned players unavailable to them. Of course they have Origin and by far the strongest pyramid of development from schools, junior sides to semi pro clubs. And that will always be so. But, if SL can improve quality wise and offer better opportunities to more players, then I could see a day where we get the best of both worlds - a deep home grown player pool and absolutely top class exiles. 

Whisper it, but it could be coming home in 2021.