Pacific Tests - June 25th

[Futtocks]

Just now, StandOffHalf said:

Laybutt has been great for the Kumuls!

He always delivers for PNG, and I'm always surprised, considering he's not currently at an NRL club. The national shirt does something special for him.

[Harry Stottle]

What a game, and what defence by PNG, if second stanza half as good 8tcwill be a cracker.

On a personal point, Adrian Lam should be foing the domineering father bit and tell Lachlan to get his R'se over here to the LSV.

[Man of Kent]

Naiqama at stand-off sounded wrong and looks even worse. 

[Jughead]

I love watching PNG. You know what you’re going to get. It’s not always the prettiest but you’re guaranteed effort. 

[GUBRATS]

Cracking game 

[Jughead]

What a try saver that is. 

[Futtocks]

Just now, Jughead said:

What a try saver that is. 

Looks like it hurt, too.

[Futtocks]

Double movement - no try. Pretty much Laybutt's first error.

[Jughead]

Would we really struggle to fill a 20-30k stadium in England if any (or some) of Tonga, Samoa, PNG or Fiji came over here at the end of a domestic season? Obviously, we’d need to advertise it but given the rarity of these nations playing on these shores (have any ever come over in a non-WC year?) and the eligible players for all, would we struggle to get reasonable crowds?

I appreciate that they’re not Australia or New Zealand but surely at places like Brentford, Coventry, Bolton, Leeds, Wigan, Huddersfield etc we could/should/would get a decent crowd?

[Man of Kent]

Cramp after 54 minutes. Tells a tale about this game. 

[Futtocks]

1 minute ago, Jughead said:

Would we really struggle to fill a 20-30k stadium in England if any (or some) of Tonga, Samoa, PNG or Fiji came over here at the end of a domestic season? Obviously, we’d need to advertise it but given the rarity of these nations playing on these shores (have any ever come over in a non-WC year?) and the eligible players for all, would we struggle to get reasonable crowds?

I appreciate that they’re not Australia or New Zealand but surely at places like Brentford, Coventry, Bolton, Leeds, Wigan, Huddersfield etc we could/should/would get a decent crowd?

I reckon we could get some decent crowds, but we'd have partly or fully fund a tour from any of the Island nations (unless Fiji can tap up Vodafone for a little extra).

[StandOffHalf]

Ennis on Kamikamika: ''Look at his muscles!''

Voss: ''Steady on, Michael!''

Turuva deserves his try. A star is born indeed. One of the Bati's best tonight.

[Futtocks]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

Cramp after 54 minutes. Tells a tale about this game. 

Cramp after 54 minutes, in a game not involving Kenny Edwards, too!

[Futtocks]

No Fijian has deserved a try as much as Turuva.

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

5 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Would we really struggle to fill a 20-30k stadium in England if any (or some) of Tonga, Samoa, PNG or Fiji came over here at the end of a domestic season? Obviously, we’d need to advertise it but given the rarity of these nations playing on these shores (have any ever come over in a non-WC year?) and the eligible players for all, would we struggle to get reasonable crowds?

I appreciate that they’re not Australia or New Zealand but surely at places like Brentford, Coventry, Bolton, Leeds, Wigan, Huddersfield etc we could/should/would get a decent crowd?

I've been an advocate of this for a long time as an alternative to playing NZ or begging Australia. To make it pay I think we'd have to get a team over for a 3 match series plus a game against Wales, France or England Knights. Games either side of the Pennines and one in London. An alternative would be 2 games against 2 nations plus them playing Wales and France. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an appetite for taking the risk on such a thing

[StandOffHalf]

Incredibly impressive how Laybutt is consistently targeting Kikau and wrapping him up.

Yei, Olam, Turuva have been fantastic but, for me, Laybutt has been the stand-out player so far.

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Futtocks said:

I reckon we could get some decent crowds, but we'd have partly or fully fund a tour from any of the Island nations (unless Fiji can tap up Vodafone for a little extra).

The RFL should be confident in their ability to sell these things. Sometimes you need to speculate to accumulate.

If we can profitably host NZ then we can certainly profitably host Tonga. Depending on the World Cup, and if other nations rise to Tonga's level, then that could well apply to some of the others too. The RFL can't continually moan about lack of funds then do nothing to try and change that.

Constantly going for the safe option in NZ is frankly boring now and I think fans would be much more inclined to watch different nations too, that are on much the same level anyhow.

[Futtocks]

2 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Incredibly impressive how Laybutt is consistently targeting Kikau and wrapping him up.

Yei, Olam, Turuva have been fantastic but, for me, Laybutt has been the stand-out player so far.

Kikau was almost certainly expecting some tough physical contact from the Kumuls. Not sure he expected it from their No.6, though!

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

I've been an advocate of this for a long time as an alternative to playing NZ or begging Australia. To make it pay I think we'd have to get a team over for a 3 match series plus a game against Wales, France or England Knights. Games either side of the Pennines and one in London. An alternative would be 2 games against 2 nations plus them playing Wales and France. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an appetite for taking the risk on such a thing

The problem is that it is likely a game against Wales and Knights would probably be costs and we'd have to go some to sell 75 to 90k tickets for three tests. Remember we only got 17k against NZ the last time we played them in Hull. 

We should be looking to work on a sustainable plan for this, but I dont think they are the no brainers we like to make out. 

Hopefully the WC this year and then in France in 2025 will make tours here attractive to sponsors and broadcasters and we can make them work. 

We never manage to retain sponsors or international broadcasters across tournaments, we generally start from scratch every time. 

[Jughead]

4 minutes ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

I've been an advocate of this for a long time as an alternative to playing NZ or begging Australia. To make it pay I think we'd have to get a team over for a 3 match series plus a game against Wales, France or England Knights. Games either side of the Pennines and one in London. An alternative would be 2 games against 2 nations plus them playing Wales and France. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an appetite for taking the risk on such a thing

We simply played New Zealand too much and it got very samey and a bit boring. I get why England did it, as they were willing to come over and they were one of the leading nations but the lack of variation meant it was too much and I think some crowds probably reflected that. 

 

[Futtocks]

YES! Mead gets a try in his final test. Fairytale stuff.

[Davo5]

Chuffed for David Mead scoring in his final Test,what a great servant he’s been to PNG

[Jughead]

Will be a nice end to the game for Mead to score the winning try in his last game. 

[Davo5]

For a player who only managed a couple of NRL games & is playing Intrust Cup,Laybutt has been outstanding today.

[Man of Kent]

A PNG side with game management & a kicking game on top of their usual ferocity will be interesting at the World Cup.