Sat 5th Nov: RLWC: England v Papua New Guinea KO 14:30

[Just Browny]

Game thread for England v Papua New Guinea.

[WN83]

It should be a great game. PNG have clearly benefitted from the PNG Hunters team and them having plenty of lads now in England or playing in the NRL. They look more patient in attack and defence then we've seen them look in the past and they'll need that in poor conditions. I do think we should have the ability to outlast them fitness wise, with guys like Radley, Knowles, Bateman, Lees etc and we should have the beating of them in the backs but it will be far from easy. One thing we cannot do is to start panicking if we fall behind. Any win will do.

England by 16

[Gav Wilson]

 

[Dovster]

England by 20. Think it will be close for a while but comfortable in the end. 

[StandOffHalf]

Come on the Kumuls!

They've obviously been set-up as the fall guys with the short turn-around. Hope that doesn't hinder them.

PNG to win 24-20. I'll be cheering them on.

[John Drake]

Discuss England v Papua New Guinea here.

[Padge]

 

 

[sentoffagain2]

  England to win 32-10 

[DavidM]

Think we’ll win comfortably

[Johnny Ringo]

The first real test for England, if the aren't on their A game it could get ugly but should progress. 

[N2022]

Think the discipline will be key - PNG a really physical side and it will get feisty at points. Need to know what the ref will take and not do something stupid / give a chance of a surprise sin-bin or red for something.

[tjhrads93]

I mean, surely…

PNG are physical and have played really well. We should have too much for them and, late on should win by a few.

Big step up and strongest team possible should be the order of the day. Looking forward to it before going to Tonga and Samoa and, please god, seeing our opponents in the semi’s.

Having played as well as I have ever seen an England side play anything less than the final would be a big disappointment.

 

[north yorks trinity]

20 minutes ago, tjhrads93 said:

Having played as well as I have ever seen an England side play anything less than the final would be a big disappointment.

 

Anything less than a tournament win for England would be a massive disappointment. Not necessarily a big shock as we're not favourites IMO but a massive disappointment all the same. An Australia win would just be depressing.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

7 hours ago, Dovster said:

England by 20. Think it will be close for a while but comfortable in the end. 

It won't be close....we'll win easily by 30 or more

[Niels]

3 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

It won't be close....we'll win easily by 30 or more

I have had a small bet on England to win by more than 22.

I have seen all the PNG games and they look solid. But there seems a gap in quality and England seem to be underestimated.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

4 hours ago, Niels said:

I have had a small bet on England to win by more than 22.

I have seen all the PNG games and they look solid. But there seems a gap in quality and England seem to be underestimated.

Lots of talk about their nuggetty forwards and strength in contact....they have like Wellington Albert and Namo in their pack.....second tier props... Burgess can through them both at the same time ....even Cooper might. Same story across the park

Don't believe the hype......England by a cricket score

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

4 hours ago, Niels said:

I have had a small bet on England to win by more than 22.

What's that look like for a man of means like you? 10 large?

[Gerrumonside ref]

13 hours ago, Padge said:

 

 

It was nice of them to hashtag me in on this one!

Hope there was an exhibition of Uncle Joe’s mintballs (don’t go there) being distributed by kind old ladies outside Central Park!

As for the game itself, I’m stuck up in Cumbria and hoping to take a couple of soccer fans on a full ‘road to Damascus’ style conversion today!

[MattSantos]

5 hours ago, Niels said:

I have had a small bet on England to win by more than 22.

I have seen all the PNG games and they look solid. But there seems a gap in quality and England seem to be underestimated.

I have a medium bet on same.

England should and will win by at least 30

[ATLANTISMAN]

Looking forward to it England by 20 ,just a shame its PNG would have loved to have seen them beat the Aussies:)

 

Paul

[Madrileño]

Really would love to see an upset here, but just can't see it at all.

Most of PNGs guys play Hostplus Cup at the end of the day.

England should win this one with relative ease. 

[Dovster]

10 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

It won't be close....we'll win easily by 30 or more

Hope you're right.

[Waynebennettswinger]

just to whet the appetite for this afternoon’s game the Latest High Performance Podcast RLWC2021 special with England Captain Sam Tomkins. This follows previous guests Sam Burgess, Lindsay Burrow and Jamie Peacock. 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

England by 30 - even first half, we then increasingly dominate the second.

[UTK]

England should be too physically powerful through the middle, killed the Samoan and French packs with a real focus on dominant wrestling and 3-4 guys in a tackle. The Papuans have been playing pretty smart with their ball movement so this should take some of the sting out of that wrestle but I doubt it will be enough to obtain the territory required to score significant points and put the game into question. 

The 2019 fixture against GB shows how PNG have to play if they want to pull off an outlandish result, unconventional structures backed by a very physical mentality and consistent pressure around the ruck led by one Edwin Ipape. Interestingly there's a few survivors in the pack from that game - Burgess, Hill, Bateman, Whitehead all started in 2019, Thompson was on the bench but hasn't made the 19 here while the injured Walmsley also came off the bench in that match.