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

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Tonga beat Australia recently.

Samoa beat Tonga and England.

NZ have lost to Fiji recently and nearly again last week.

There's definitely a chance. I wouldn't put money on it, but I wouldn't lump my life savings on Australia either.

I know what you are saying but I haven't seen anything near as impressive from this Samoan team as the Tonga team showed before Covid to beat Australia and co. Samoa beat a Tonga didn't really perform last week and an England team that certainly didn't today. Yes you can say that was partly down to Samoa but I don't see how they can trouble Australia based on what we have seen so far.

[lanzer98]

6 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Tonga beat Australia recently.

Samoa beat Tonga and England.

NZ have lost to Fiji recently and nearly again last week.

There's definitely a chance. I wouldn't put money on it, but I wouldn't lump my life savings on Australia either.

If Samoa can replicate NZ’s performance from yesterday it‘ll be a close game. Samoa has all the ingredients: Sheer power and strengths, handling skills, kicking game, mentality 

[The Masked Poster]

7 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Tonga beat Australia recently.

Samoa beat Tonga and England.

NZ have lost to Fiji recently and nearly again last week.

There's definitely a chance. I wouldn't put money on it, but I wouldn't lump my life savings on Australia either.

I would.

Samoa will give it a go, of course they will. And the match may even be competitive for a while. But Australia will walk it in the end. 

Then they will all go back home and say "See, I knew they were no good" 

[MatthewWoody]

1 minute ago, The Legend said:

He had a player called Sam Burgess in his team. He also lost to Papua New Guinea and played Blake Austin on the wing. 

True. 
But in terms of World Cup football, he did better. 
Got us to a very contested final down under. 
This year, we lost the SF at home with Samoa. 

[MatthewWoody]

I'm waiting for some players to announce their Int RL retirement. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

Well 2 fantastic semi finals if you take our England glasses off, a match for any sporting world cup not just RL.  Witj England glasses back on too many below par performers. 

Thought Makinson, Farnsworth and Whitehead were a good left side all players well, Right side bad in both aspects of the game. Williams played well overall with telling breaks and try asststs. Hill and Burgess okay but not as effective but down to Samoa playing a lot better, micky mac poor and cruelly exposed in defence (what he was selected for). Radley played well thought he should have been on for the full game. But outstanding from Samoa their big players showed up. 

[RugbyBaller]

2 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

I'm waiting for some players to announce their Int RL retirement. 

I announce mine  

[Balmainboy]

3 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

True. 
But in terms of World Cup football, he did better. 
Got us to a very contested final down under. 
This year, we lost the SF at home with Samoa. 

2017 england team was much better. Had a seriously top notch forward pack to work with. Today, tbh, England's forwards couldn't match Samoa's over the 80. 

[Wendigo7]

7 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

I'm devastated. I keep thinking about it. 

Yeah I’m genuinely gutted atm. 

[Davo5]

2 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

I'm waiting for some players to announce their Int RL retirement. 

You’d expect half a dozen to call it a day.

[Wendigo7]

So who’s left after this? 
Any obvious replacements?

[The Legend]

6 minutes ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Well 2 fantastic semi finals if you take our England glasses off, a match for any sporting world cup not just RL.  Witj England glasses back on too many below par performers. 

Thought Makinson, Farnsworth and Whitehead were a good left side all players well, Right side bad in both aspects of the game. Williams played well overall with telling breaks and try asststs. Hill and Burgess okay but not as effective but down to Samoa playing a lot better, micky mac poor and cruelly exposed in defence (what he was selected for). Radley played well thought he should have been on for the full game. But outstanding from Samoa their big players showed up. 

I thought England without playing well showed a lot of character out there. They kept getting up off the floor and coming back. I just don't think we handled the pressure moments welll enough. 

Even in the last minute when Whitehead made a break, he flung the ball out blind when he just needed to take the tackle. With one more play after that we'd have been in position for a shot at the drop goal. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by The Legend

[AJK66]

Desperately disappointing.

Very poor from Welsby especially, Watkins, Young and McIlorum. Williams hit and miss. Up front we just did not do enough. Then when we finally did get a roll on, Radley gave Crichton a walk in. Well done Samoa, but I'm sure they know that next week there will be no favours.

Is the result good for the game in the wider sense, as some have been suggesting? An emphatic no. The final will be a one sided foregone conclusion, without the levels of emotion that a northern v southern hemisphere clash would have produced. So the game will not grow whatsoever from this. There will be another stage managed ahistorical war dance and the players will start hugging each other before the game has even kicked off. A scripted southern hemisphere love in. Again.

[corkonian77]

25 minutes ago, redjonn said:

Well yes the best atheletes as they grow up tend to go to other sports here... Australia it being the top sport there tend to play RL.

It's were the focus and rewards are.

Simples really whatever organisational aspect one may come up with.

I totally  agree with you.

The average  player in the worst team in the English  Championship in Football  Is on £9,000 a week.

[StandOffHalf]

11 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I don't think it was 'all the haters', I think it was just me who used that term.

I admit I was wrong and he has played very well in the last few weeks and has taken Samoa to a deserved World Cup final appearance.

I think I might have used it once as well.

He showed up big-time and has gone from level to level. Wonderful to see. His interview post-match was pretty fantastic as well.

I'm warming to him, despite his in-your-face brashness. A bit silly of him to trot after Tomkins and give him a shove, but - apart from that - he really guided and inspired his team wonderfully today.

[Big Picture]

33 minutes ago, Jughead said:

No, not really. England is a tiny island compared to most of the planet. New Zealand is, too. 

That’s great for Rugby League in Samoa then that you’re saying their other rugby team aren’t very good. Might mean a greater chance of rugby league growing in Samoa, to add to a World Cup final. 

Samoa going from perennial quarter finalists and getting beat by the first decent team they play to being in a final, having some excellent games against similar nations, beating an established nation like England and having numerous exceptional players in their arsenal is superb for rugby league. 

England is a populous country home to the world's richest soccer league, that's a far cry from being tiny.

And growing RL in a tiny, poor country less populous than Southampton will do what for the game exactly???????

Such a country being perennial quarter finalists is a problem for the game, and a big problem at that because it showcases just how minuscule its footprint is in the world.  The idea that Samoa getting to the Final is in any way good for the game is totally ludicrous.

[shrewsbury roughyed]

5 minutes ago, Balmainboy said:

2017 england team was much better. Had a seriously top notch forward pack to work with. Today, tbh, England's forwards couldn't match Samoa's over the 80. 

McIlorum aside I don’t think the forwards were particularly bad. Of course it was tougher than the previous games. Cooper and briefly Mckeechan offered something from the bench. Knowles and Thompson were pretty anonymous. What lost is the game were ineffective ends of sets from a lack of calmness and communication  where it mattered, plus one interception, one dropped ball, two defensive misreads and a 6 again and penalty. We had enough and should have been good enough to win- we just blew it. I’m still numb tbh

[Tommygilf]

18 minutes ago, Alan Robertson said:

I'm glad that regular victories against France with some victories against NZ are enough to satisfy you.

Oh believe me they aren't

[Dave T]

Guys, don't knee-jerk. We lost an epic world cup semi final. They are meant to hurt, take it, just as we enjoyed the victory over Samoa a few weeks ago. 

There will be lessons learnt, but we lost a great game of Rugby. We need to play more, sort combinations, bring the right coaching team and structures in, basically do a lot of what we did under McNamara that it could be argued Bennett benefited from. We saw after another two years that Bennett's impact led to us being 3mbarrassed on tour. 

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, Big Picture said:

England is a populous country home to the world's richest soccer league, that's a far cry from being tiny.

And growing RL in a tiny, poor country less populous than Southampton will do what for the game exactly???????

Such a country being perennial quarter finalists is a problem for the game, and a big problem at that because it showcases just how minuscule its footprint is in the world.  The idea that Samoa getting to the Final is in any way good for the game is totally ludicrous.

What on earth does the Premier League and Southampton (you seem to really like bringing them up) have to do with rugby league? That’s just knee jerk babble at this stage. 

 

[Maximus Decimus]

16 minutes ago, lanzer98 said:

If Samoa can replicate NZ’s performance from yesterday it‘ll be a close game. Samoa has all the ingredients: Sheer power and strengths, handling skills, kicking game, mentality 

They've got no chance I'm afraid. Lost too many troops and looked out on their feet.

Aussies will be better for a real test and an extra day. I predict a 30+ victory.

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Big Picture said:

England is a populous country home to the world's richest soccer league, that's a far cry from being tiny.

And growing RL in a tiny, poor country less populous than Southampton will do what for the game exactly???????

Such a country being perennial quarter finalists is a problem for the game, and a big problem at that because it showcases just how minuscule its footprint is in the world.  The idea that Samoa getting to the Final is in any way good for the game is totally ludicrous.

Nonsense 

weve just had 2 highly competitive semi finals of a WC with the winners not known til the last minutes, when has that happened before?

[MatthewWoody]

So McNamara for England? 

[The Masked Poster]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Guys, don't knee-jerk. We lost an epic world cup semi final. They are meant to hurt, take it, just as we enjoyed the victory over Samoa a few weeks ago. 

There will be lessons learnt, but we lost a great game of Rugby. We need to play more, sort combinations, bring the right coaching team and structures in, basically do a lot of what we did under McNamara that it could be argued Bennett benefited from. We saw after another two years that Bennett's impact led to us being 3mbarrassed on tour. 

You've got more confidence than me if you think 'lessons will be learnt'. They never have been in the past and I don't see why this time will be any different. The only thing that will change is that in 10 years time it will be different players and coach failing gallantly. 

[N2022]

20 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

I'm waiting for some players to announce their Int RL retirement. 

Well the next games are 4 years off ...