Sat 12th Nov: RLWC SF: England v Samoa KO 14:30

[gingerjon]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

No, we want Australia to lose, very different!

Aye, fair.

[redjonn]

Yes it was disappointing and as we all know SL is not at the level of NRL but this forum can be so depressing at times. 

Brown in the commentary team was so critical from the start and I was almost jumping out the top window. It was as if he enjoyed being so down against the team just like many on this forum are about the sport here in the SH.

As we are so far behind as many say why do I bother watching. May as well call it a day as its hard to forever read the comments and not be depressed.

[Chrispmartha]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

No, we want Australia to lose, very different!

And they still could

[Balmainboy]

27 minutes ago, Damien said:

He was awful. He was every bit the George Williams at his worst and what used to infuriate me when he was at Wigan.

interesting - was at the game so miss a lot of the finer points. Was the tries that stood out. Will watch back. 

[crashmon]

3 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Some folks want England/GB to be in every final automatically, like some kind of small-time sport.

Bad news, suckers! The world of RL just expanded (slightly).

This issue here is that the world of RL just shrunk massivly

This is a sport which has 1 competitive international team outside of australasia, and a national league doing everything they can to reduce / hamper the international game (NRL)

This is a small time sport mate when it comes to the international game.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

It was a forward pass.

The ball travelled forward forwardly.

And the same ref was more than generous to England at other times.

The first forward pass of the game was it? There were a fair few that led to tries. 

[Stuff Smith]

Well, I thought it was an amazing game.

The team I wanted to win lost: I'm conditioned to expect that.

[gingerjon]

Just now, Leonard said:

There were a fair few that led to tries. 

Fascinating.

Do go on.

No, really, please do.

[gingerjon]

Just now, Stuff Smith said:

Well, I thought it was an amazing game.

It was.

Three points between the teams across the semi finals.

How 'bout that?

[Phil]

7 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Amazing the Aussie ref found the first forward pass on extra time. 

But it was forward 

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Tbf had England won, I think there'd have been accusations of favouritism labelled at England, especially with the penalty.

I made the point earlier but the referee was very soft towards England and I feel a lot went their way. If we were palying against Australia we wouldn't have got many of those decisions going our way.

[Colin James]

1 minute ago, Chrispmartha said:

That’s pretty disrespectful to the Samoan players 

Under 10% born in Samoa. We can dress it up however we want and it's great to have another competitive side in the competition but if eligibility rules were stricter they'd be nowhere near a WC final. I don't doubt the pride they have in the jersey and their heritage.

We can't have it both ways, people kicked up a fuss when we had the likes of Blake Austin pulling on a GB jersey. Would you be happy if England went into a World Cup with 90% of the squad born and raised in Australia/NZ?

[Bearman]

It's 50 years since we won the cup. I am 75 in January and I will never see us winning it again.

Every world cup we delude ourselves that we just might be in with a chance. That's all it is, a delusion.

If we had a strong RFL that could shake up the vested interest of the second rate Superleague teams and formulated a long term plan, we could have a win in my children's lifetime. But that ain't going to happen either.

 

[Big Picture]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

 

In fact the Montenegro national handball team underscores my point.  The men's team — which is the only valid comparison here — has only qualified for the handball World Cup once, posting a record of one win and 6 losses.  That's the sort of standing such tiny countries have in major sports.

[Roy Haggerty]

2 minutes ago, Balmainboy said:

interesting - was at the game so miss a lot of the finer points. Was the tries that stood out. Will watch back. 

I think if you want your halfbacks to control the game, either through kicking or passing, you wouldn’t be looking at the England pair as an instructional video today. Neither seemed to be in control of anything. 

[Alan Robertson]

5 minutes ago, Mumby Magic said:

Said to my mate in the pub for QF. We needed PNG to test us, be near to us enough to win though. I strangely wanted Samoa to win. Don't know why. This could have positive long term affects. 

Positive long-term effects?

We've been losing for decades, in other words, the losses never produce positive changes of any significance.

Edit: I guess you could have been meaning positive effects for the 'wider game' - for a second tier nation.

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Alan Robertson

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, redjonn said:

Yes it was disappointing and as we all know SL is not at the level of NRL but this forum can be so depressing at times. 

Brown in the commentary team was so critical from the start and I was almost jumping out the top window. It was as if he enjoyed being so down against the team just like many on this forum are about the sport here in the SH.

As we are so far behind as many say why do I bother watching. May as well call it a day as its hard to forever read the comments and not be depressed.

I think unfortunately the message just hasn't been getting through to key decision makers and therefore key decisions haven't been made (or indeed decisions have gone actively the opposite way). 

There needs to be a review of the England RL structures and how they help or hinder the national team. I suspect IMGs grading system, intended or not, will have an impact on this.

[The Legend]

Bring on an annual 5 or 6 nations in the Northern hemisphere and a War of the roses series. 

Time to put our club game on the back burner. 

We can still have our club contests but representative games should have the first choice of players. 

Or alternatively we can carry on the same on our downward spiral? 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Fascinating.

Do go on.

No, really, please do

I've just put you on the ignore list. Bye. 

[N2022]

Problem with this is not just the fact that it diminishes perceived standard of NH RL but the fact that a huge opportunity to engage more general sports fans goes missing, in that far fewer English spectators will be tuning in to the final than had England been in it. I'm in that bracket, having attended as many professional RL games (3) this tournament as I had in a decade since I moved to Yorkshire. Now the men's comp is finished early, flat, and I'm guessing there's little prospect of more internationals in 2023. So with no Sky it's paying to go to SL, which my nearest club seems mainly to play at 8pm on a Thursday. Will I bother with that? Probably not that often, although I've enjoyed following this tournament and the SF have been belting games.

Just being honest.

[Davo5]

20 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

A country less populous than Southampton being a relatively big name in rugby just shows what a small game rugby must be, doesn't it.  Then again in the sport which the public at large think of as rugby the likes of Samoa never get past the group stages, all they do is make up the numbers.

The only thing small is your IQ so jog on & go watch that awful hockey on ice rubbish.

[Chrispmartha]

7 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

On the one hand, yes I see what you mean, new team in the final etc.

On the other not really, Samoa have been in and around that top 5 or 6 nation group for the past decade or so (usually as number 4 or 5). For Australians, its vindication yet again of the superiority of the NRL. 

The NRL is superior, unfortunately that isn’t going to change any time soon.

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Alan Robertson said:

Positive long-term effects?

We've been losing for decades, in other words, the losses never produce positive changes of any significance.

 

We've been losing to Australia, we've lost to NZ in knockout games but beaten them in 2 series', fair enough on the GB farce.

This is our first loss to a nation other than the above two, as England, in ages.

[DavidM]

To finish , just gutted . Feels like a massive opportunity to get to the final , raise the profile of the game here , and shove a bit down the throat  of the NRL totally thrown away and bombed . So the same narratives will continue . Good for Samoa but right now I’m not much interested in the final . We win all those games by loads and then again on the big day look totally different . That’s the big frustration , win or lose but we didn’t really show up 

[johnh1]

Well I enjoyed the game immensely. And I will be at OT next Saturday supporting Samoa. Should be a great game. Hope everyone turns up to watch TGG at the top level.