2019 GB Tour Rating & Opinion

[RayCee]

I did a summary of the tour but you will have your opinions on it.

https://rugbyl.blogspot.com/2019/11/gb-tour-2019.html

For mine I think things need to change but realise it may not be the time to be doing it. 

[Farmduck]

This might sound odd but overall, this international window has been a success. Sure, GB were rubbish, but look at the bigger picture: Tonga beat Oz, PNG beat the Brits, the NZRL probably picked up some much-needed cash, and Fiji and Samoa also had games. Obviously if I was a Brit fan I wouldn't be happy but everybody says we need more internationals and we just had 10 games in a month and even had fixtures in Fiji and PNG.

[Allora]

7 hours ago, RayCee said:

I did a summary of the tour but you will have your opinions on it.

https://rugbyl.blogspot.com/2019/11/gb-tour-2019.html

For mine I think things need to change but realise it may not be the time to be doing it. 

Not much point continuing driving down a dead end with Bennett at the helm is there?

 

[RayCee]

6 minutes ago, Allora said:

Not much point continuing driving down a dead end with Bennett at the helm is there?

 

He's been a great coach in his hay day but that’s in the past.

[Allora]

11 minutes ago, RayCee said:

He's been a great coach in his hay day but that’s in the past.

A fair way back in his past.

He got good results but always with top shelf outstanding teams full of Rep players.

 

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, Allora said:

A fair way back in his past.

He got good results but always with top shelf outstanding teams full of Rep players.

 

Interestingly, he has taken over at Souths and you can see the similarities in play. Attempts at high completion and trying to bash the opposition down in the 20. The only difference is that they have a running 9 (which gives them another option) and a half back with a solid kicking game.

[Number 16]

The four defeats were hugely disappointing, but coaching future aside, there were enough quality absentees (or under used) to suggest we can get back on track;

Handley, Gildart, Newman, Johnstone, Percival, Charnley, Trueman, Williams, Lees, Watts, Walker, Smithies, Marshall, Powell, Partington, Sutcliffe, Watkins.

A major issue is also how few games England will have between now and the WC, maybe eight at the most.

[RayCee]

No one voted for did as well as expected. Overwhelmingly considered woeful. Not surprising but the percentages were more one sided than I expected.

[solly]

1 hour ago, Celt said:

There was somebody on here the other day blethering on about Makinson being the best winger in the world.

For me, that summed up how delusional some english supporters are. (and yes - i am aware of his Golden Boot, but nobody who seriously follows the sport actually thinks there is no better winger in the world).  Most NRL teams have no interest in the guy, if he was anything like the best in the world he would be earning proper money in the NRL (or union unfortunately, as they pay like a proper sport).

I honestly believe if GB had to face a fired up Kangaroos team (perhaps coming off the back of that Tonga loss), they would have been destroyed.

I watched the NZ game with a Kiwi mate, and the score there IMO flattered GB.  The Kiwis were in complete control really 2 tries up and a 3rd chalked off.  A kiwi brain implosion  (like the NZ of old...) let GB in and all of a sudden it was a 1 score game.  In reality, GB hadn't had offered very little until the last 15mins.  The fact that PNG stepped up with a bunch of part timers and gave them an utter hiding in the second half shows just how far off the top level the current crop of english players are.

The tour was an utter disaster.  Nice jerseys though.

I tend to agree with this except for the Makinson point - he won the award because he played brilliantly in the Test matches that year. Which is what the award is.

You don't have to be the best player in the world. You have to be the best (or at least amongst the best) in the matches the award reflects.

Otherwise, yeah, GB were hugely disappointing. 

[RayCee]

2 hours ago, Celt said:

fair enough Solly, but there was some guy on here last week blethering about him being the best in the world, which was all i posted.

As i say, it just sounded like yet another deluded english fan, who thinks his country is still a world power - utterly laughable.

I wasn't expecting too much from the GB side but wouldn't have been shocked had they come back undefeated. In fact I would have predicted 4-0 over 0-4 if they were the only two options. What transpired was a shock to me. Modern sport is about small margins but I wouldn't have picked four mediocre to poor performances in a row. If they play like that in the WC, they may not get past the group stage. 

[DavidM]

We’re at home next year , hopefully players back and some new blood . We need a change of style , it was way to blunt and predictable , whether that means a change of coach or not . If its same again this time next year in tone as well as results then it’s time to panic !

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Not going to lose my head here and offer wild hypothetical XIII’s as they’re as pointless as Blake Austin on the wing (though I will say, Austin performed well in such an alien position). 

Organisation was poor from the outset of the reemergence of the Lions. It took an age to announce anything and I think that set the tone really. 

Team selection was hampered by injuries. Makinson, Percival, Knowles and Roby pulled out through injury and I’m sure others did, too. When we did select a side, it was heavy in depth in the halves but paper thin in the threequarters, though after the withdrawals we had, I struggled to think of a replacement who was of a high enough standard to come in. I think we do struggle for depth in a few positions if I’m totally honest.