England v Fiji (RLWC warm up game) - Match thread

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 08/10/2022 at 11:36, Dunbar said:

29 year old James Tedesco has played 4 times for Australia, lost 2 of them and has never played against England.

On this evidence, I am declaring him rubbish.

Love this stat 

This must make him the least successful international Australian player of all time?

[JonM]

On 08/10/2022 at 04:35, SydneyRoosters said:

We’re I do think England have a big advantage over Samoa is at fullback. Some of the stuff fullbacks do often gets overlooked by the naked eye but are extremely important in game. Setting the Defence, Setting the backfield, spotting holes in attack and other verbal work they do. The fullback is interesting position as your the only person on the field who can see everything and has wide understanding of the game so you need to make the most of it. You must have great awareness skills and be able to lead the side. Sam Tomkins fits all of those categories. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Suaalii goes and the comparison of the two fullbacks at the end of the game. It is very interesting because both of those players couldn’t be more different, one is a tactical, Experienced, Leader who will do everything right however some argue he doesn’t have the running game and pace to be able to play the position anymore. And the other one is 19 year old incredibly talented ball running winger having his first gig at the back. He will very inexperienced and will likely offer nothing or very little in verbal work nor will get too involved in luai and Milford’s backline plays. like I said they couldn’t be more opposite.

Prophetic comment this - kudos to SydneyRoosters.

Suualii looked utterly lost in defence, easily cost his team 3 tries, even before the rout at the end. How often did England break the line to find absolutely no-one there at full-back?

[SydneyRoosters]

5 hours ago, JonM said:

Prophetic comment this - kudos to SydneyRoosters.

Suualii looked utterly lost in defence, easily cost his team 3 tries, even before the rout at the end. How often did England break the line to find absolutely no-one there at full-back?

I think that 50 run from Suaalii and then dropping the ball perfectly sums up his game and quite frankly sums him up as a player. Brilliant in short frames but unable to find consistency overall. However he is only 19 and this is very common in young players so I you can’t tear down his performance too much. but the main lesson take to from this is: Suaalii is not a fullback.

[JonM]

7 hours ago, SydneyRoosters said:

I think that 50 run from Suaalii and then dropping the ball perfectly sums up his game and quite frankly sums him up as a player. Brilliant in short frames but unable to find consistency overall. However he is only 19 and this is very common in young players so I you can’t tear down his performance too much. but the main lesson take to from this is: Suaalii is not a fullback.

Yes, he looked pretty dangerous with ball in hand.