Are you sure England is better then Samoa?

[headtackle]

 Very good win yesterday and solid start to the tournament 

Suspect with 8 Mel finalists in the Samoa team there was a bit of a GF hangover 

injuries didn’t help either 

wouldn’t write them off entirely yet

[Dunbar]

12 minutes ago, headtackle said:

 Very good win yesterday and solid start to the tournament 

Suspect with 8 Mel finalists in the Samoa team there was a bit of a GF hangover 

injuries didn’t help either 

wouldn’t write them off entirely yet

The NRL Grand Final was the 2nd of October.  To have a Grand Final hangover on the 15th of October just displays a lack of preperation and professionalism.

I haven't seen a Samoan team under Matt Parish improve during a tournament and if anything their conditioning is likely to get worse rather than better.

They have good players but Tonga have more better players and will see them off in the quarter finals.

[Tippytoe]

On 02/07/2022 at 07:52, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I'm not sure but in all honesty I wouldn't even mind that much if England lost to Samoa. I am a big England fan of course but whenever it comes to international RL I always look at it in terms of the good of the game and the more teams being competitive against the top tier nations the better! 

"I am a big England fan but don't mind if they get beat? "

I am English and I don't want to see England beaten at any sport ever especially Rugby league.

[north yorks trinity]

2 hours ago, Tippytoe said:

I am English and I don't want to see England beaten at any sport ever especially Rugby league.

Not even rugby union? 

[Futtocks]

3 hours ago, Dunbar said:

The NRL Grand Final was the 2nd of October.  To have a Grand Final hangover on the 15th of October just displays a lack of preperation and professionalism.

I haven't seen a Samoan team under Matt Parish improve during a tournament and if anything their conditioning is likely to get worse rather than better.

They have good players but Tonga have more better players and will see them off in the quarter finals.

Samoa used to regularly beat Tonga until Matt Parish started coaching the former and the latter started to show team discipline instead of competing amongst each other to see who could deliver the biggest hit.

[Madrileño]

2 hours ago, Tippytoe said:

 

I am English and I don't want to see England beaten at any sport ever especially Rugby league.

Not even union?

Wow.

[JohnM]

4 hours ago, north yorks trinity said:

Not even rugby union? 

He said "sport"

[Sports Prophet]

I figured this thread might wanna pop back up the top to see if everyone is sure England are better than Samoa...

[saintspete83]

Those pre Newcastle nerves are back again for me. Home advantage may help but I am not sure how the atmosphere will be as like Newcastle there will be a big % on non-regular RL fans in attendance.

[Sports Prophet]

I still think England are a better team and are favourites to win, but I think Samoa are capable of an upset.

[Sports Prophet]

On 17/10/2022 at 04:16, Tippytoe said:

"I am a big England fan but don't mind if they get beat? "

I am English and I don't want to see England beaten at any sport ever especially Rugby league.

I am Australian and I don’t want to see Australia beaten at any sport ever, unless it’s in RL.

Actually, I don’t like losing to Kiwis. That’s the only match I care about the Kangaroos winning.

If England get there, which nation do you hope England will play in the final?

 

[RippinandTearin]

8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I am Australian and I don’t want to see Australia beaten at any sport ever, unless it’s in RL.

Actually, I don’t like losing to Kiwis. That’s the only match I care about the Kangaroos winning.

If England get there, which nation do you hope England will play in the final?

 

 

They’d obviously want to play & beat the Kangaroos if possible, it’s been a hell of a difficult 50 odd years for this lot 

[Alan Robertson]

FWIW, with one of the major bookmakers, England are '25/7 on' or 1.28.

[Tippytoe]

8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I am Australian and I don’t want to see Australia beaten at any sport ever, unless it’s in RL.

Actually, I don’t like losing to Kiwis. That’s the only match I care about the Kangaroos winning.

If England get there, which nation do you hope England will play in the final?

 

I really don't mind but I think it will be Australia, im guessing you are a union fan.

[Sports Prophet]

17 minutes ago, Tippytoe said:

I really don't mind but I think it will be Australia, im guessing you are a union fan.

Actually, i don’t like the Wallabies to win anything either, but for polar opposite  reasons to my rationale on wanting the Kangaroos to lose.

I think it’s been over 20 years since I really enjoyed a game of Union.

[RP London]

10 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I still think England are a better team and are favourites to win, but I think Samoa are capable of an upset.

This is pretty much where i sit at the moment..  its going to be a nervous saturday morning but I'm looking forward to it!

hope we play the kiwis in the final simply because I think we have a mental block against the Kangaroos.. However, if we play the Aussies and win it would be sweeter for sure.

[Man of Kent]

There's no way it'll be another towelling but England will surely be smarter and have better game management than the Route One stuff we saw from Tonga, who had desperately poor halves but still lost by only two points.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Man of Kent

[Tippytoe]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Actually, i don’t like the Wallabies to win anything either, but for polar opposite  reasons to my rationale on wanting the Kangaroos to lose.

I think it’s been over 20 years since I really enjoyed a game of Union.

Okay I hope you get your wish and loose.

[Just Browny]

I see Junior Paulo got one match, that's a big loss for them if it holds up. Sua'ali'l just got a warning.

[Dunbar]

22 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

There's no way it'll be another towelling but England will surely be smarter and have better game management than the Route One stuff we saw from Tonga, who had desperately poor halves but still lost by only two points.

This is it for me.

The best players for Tonga where their middles, Fonua-Blake, Fotuaika, Taumalolo and Taukeiaho who went toe to toe with the Samoan big men.  And this was why it was a thoroughly absorbing contest.

But look wider than this and Tonga were terrible.  They had no direction from their halves and barely any threat on the edge.  And twice as many errors as Samoa.

The game was absorbing but not high on quality.  You would expect this England team that has been defending with great line speed well and executing well in attack to have beaten both teams yesterday.

Saturday is another day.  Samoa still has some good players but across the board and as a collective, I see England as a better team and on top of their form.

[WN83]

2 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

I see Junior Paulo got one match, that's a big loss for them if it holds up. Sua'ali'l just got a warning.

It felt like it might be the other way round. I saw somebody saying Sua'ali'i got a caution after Newcastle about the same issue. If that's the case, it's tough to see how he then gets another after yesterday. It wasn't a one off yesterday either, he did it before and after the incident and it's something he clearly needs to work on. 

We'll see how they go with Paulo. I think they might overturn it but I'm glad it was picked up. It's creeping in to the club game people leading with the non ball carrying arm and it's dangerous. 

[Dunbar]

7 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

I see Junior Paulo got one match, that's a big loss for them if it holds up. Sua'ali'l just got a warning.

Still think Suaalii is lucky if he escapes a ban.  It wasn't exactly 50/50 whether he led with the knee.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Dunbar

[Taffy Tiger]

England 10 point favs

[Man of Kent]

13 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

This is it for me.

The best players for Tonga where their middles, Fonua-Blake, Fotuaika, Taumalolo and Taukeiaho who went toe to toe with the Samoan big men.  And this was why it was a thoroughly absorbing contest.

But look wider than this and Tonga were terrible.  They had no direction from their halves and barely any threat on the edge.  And twice as many errors as Samoa.

The game was absorbing but not high on quality.  You would expect this England team that has been defending with great line speed well and executing well in attack to have beaten both teams yesterday.

Saturday is another day.  Samoa still has some good players but across the board and as a collective, I see England as a better team and on top of their form.

Agree 100%.

Even if it's another Hagler vs. Hearns slugfest like yesterday we should be OK in the forwards as our props are playing well - particularly Hill and especially Burgess, who looks at his absolute peak and is arguably the best performing prop at the World Cup. The way he monstered PNG was quite something.

[MattSantos]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

Agree 100%.

Even if it's another Hagler vs. Hearns slugfest like yesterday we should be OK in the forwards as our props are playing well - particularly Hill and especially Burgess, who looks at his absolute peak and is arguably the best performing prop at the World Cup. The way he monstered PNG was quite something.

I the semi and then a likely Aussie final, my worry is if they play with width. I think we struggle at times on the edges and i thought Samoa looked really threatening against us at times; the odd dropped ball here ruined their momentum.

I'm scared