Australia 90-4 England

[Richard de la Riviere]

Well, that wasn't pretty. 

Over the coming days, I'll provide some analysis of how the RFL should respond, but in the meantime, here's my match report...

https://womensrl.com/?p=637

[BroncoFan]

By far the most important thing to come out of this flogging is that there can be no more jobs for the boys.

When Craig Richards finally quit I was excited that England could find a professional best man for the head coach.

Instead it went to an amateur.

England need to find the best they can and for example ex Aussie coach Brad Donald is available and would be amazing.

Edited March 6 by BroncoFan

[BroncoFan]

It won’t put a downer on the start of the WSL season, I can’t wait.

 

Edited March 6 by BroncoFan

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Richard de la Riviere said:

Well, that wasn't pretty. 

Over the coming days, I'll provide some analysis of how the RFL should respond, but in the meantime, here's my match report...

https://womensrl.com/?p=637

I don’t see how England progress with the set-up and attitudes to the game as they are. If there are plans to develop the women’s game then they seem to be either invisible or reactive.
Losing 90-4 didn’t come out of nowhere, it was probably the most likely outcome from the moment the match was announced.

Either the RFL can carry on with essentially a park game that has occasional big moments as the undercard for men’s games, or it can actually look for distinct funding & sponsorship and resource growth and development.

Changing the manager might make the next game 60-0 but that will be the limit of our ambition without meaningful change.

[moorside roughyed]

I've not seen the game but with that scoreline I probably don't have to. Light-years behind the Aussies. Can't England women playing the Aussies again anytime soon. If the rfl are serious about the women's game they need to take it more seriously with a sound plan and investment. Otherwise forget about the international women's game and keep just a national game. 

Edited March 2 by moorside roughyed

[The Blues Ox]

Absolute technical master piece by the Aussies. They are just so good to watch and although the scoreline was somewhat expected it was a joy to watch players like Aiken and Kelly put on a master class in attacking rugby.

At times it felt a little bit painful to watch some players who are stand out players in our Super League look massively out of their depth but that is where our game is at the moment and odd team and squad selection did not help that. What would the game have lost by not picking some of the old guard and instead going with some younger players?

[DoubleD]

Inadvertently saw the score this morning before catching up on the game. Glad I did as I’ll give that abomination a miss and save 2hrs of my time. 

What an utter shambles and embarrassment, losing by more than a point a minute. Bear in mind they only played 70 minutes as well, it would have topped a century in a full length match. 

I think most agree with some of the strange squad selection and clearly missing a few that would’ve helped but the reality is we’re streets behind. The girls need to stop posting about doing weights in the gym and focus on fitness and endurance training. You only need to look at the physique of some of the Aussie players. Yes some of that is genetics, which can’t be helped but the speed and fitness of their team is where the gulf lies and the focus should be for our elite, if you can call them that 

[RigbyLuger]

It's interesting how some journalists have become overnight experts on the women's game! Almost as if they haven't paid much attention since the World Cup.

[Impartial Observer]

Yes a different team selection may have reduced the loss but i doubt by much. Let's not lose sight that at the last World Cup Australia beat PNG by 80 points and NZ by 50. They are so far ahead of everyone else. How do the England players get meaningful opposition to get tested? Wales and France are as far behind us than we are to the Aussies.

[DoubleD]

26 minutes ago, Impartial Observer said:

Yes a different team selection may have reduced the loss but i doubt by much. Let's not lose sight that at the last World Cup Australia beat PNG by 80 points and NZ by 50. They are so far ahead of everyone else. How do the England players get meaningful opposition to get tested? Wales and France are as far behind us than we are to the Aussies.

The Kiwi ferns have beaten the Jillaroos since the World Cup in 2023 and were competitive in the games this year. They will likely further improve when the Wahs rejoin the WNRL

[unapologetic pedant]

Our inadequacies are patently fundamental. Long-term investment is the only solution.

Couple of matters not necessarily determined by superior finances might be worth considering -

It was clear in the period when the Jillaroos were scoring back-to-back in the first half that fitness levels had become an issue quite early on.

Some posters in the General Forum say the Aussies are full-time. I have yet to see evidence that NRLW players are full-time professionals as we would understand the term from men's RL. If they are, the label would presumably apply as much to Georgia Roche as any of the Jillaroos. So why such a palpable contrast between Georgia and Tarryn Aiken?

From the article -

"Robinson's hat-trick try was absolutely superb. Joseph found Aiken who handed on to Sergis. Her offload to the tryscorer was sublime, but Robinson still had to beat several defenders to score".

A poster in the match thread said forward passes were let go. Would guess the above-mentioned offload is one that he had in mind. I believe this punitive instinct is a major problem for RL in England. Especially women's RL. All too often creative attacking play is rubbed out by officials or depicted as suspect by fans.

Skill levels are consequently stunted. Why coach players to produce slick intricate moves when such play risks turning the ball over if a touchie thinks he might have seen a forward pass or a ref thinks he might have seen an obstruction? The effects were manifest at the top end of WSL last year. York were able to win the comp with no-frills tactics. 

Edited March 2 by unapologetic pedant

[lucky 7]

A predictable result in my opinion with the Aussie's being full time and the English girls amateurs on expenses only.

[unapologetic pedant]

One bit of good news -

"Whitfield is now back at the hotel with the team and is doing well"

[The Blues Ox]

My take from the other thread:-

Ive said elsewhere and I hate to say it but there is too much emphasis on winning at junior level. Coaches talking about the U12's as though its the world cup and any deviation from give it to the biggest players is met with derision. Teams doing malcolms because they are getting drills wrong without actually addressing the real reason they are getting things wrong.

In comparison to lads at a young age who may get a ball in their hand at any given opportunity, even by the time they are 13 or 14, girls are thousands of hours of rugby time behind lads of the same age. It is a must at junior level that teams are spending the majority of time on cores skills and basics rather than thinking about shape or anything similar. Until that happens and coaches stop acting like winning a u13's trophy is the be all and end all, we won't go anyway to catching up to the Aussies and our Womens SL will continue to be poor quality in comparison.

[The Blues Ox]

Just further on from that and also mentioned in the other thread, watching while Whitfield was injured, England did a walking passing drill and for anyone who has a spare minute give it a watch and the skill level on show from the girls at the pinnacle of our game is poor to say the least. This is international players who can't pass a ball correctly, in comparison watch the Aussies do theirs a minute or so later and everything is just so technically sound. 

I truly believe that coaches in this country are spending too much time on things that really don't matter that much if a players core skills are poor. Obviously the Aussies do have a weather advantage when it comes to training and a lot of girls over here don't start playing till after 14 and any girl entering a established u16's team simply will not get chance to do much work on basic skills making it a viscious circle.

[unapologetic pedant]

31 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Just further on from that and also mentioned in the other thread, watching while Whitfield was injured, England did a walking passing drill and for anyone who has a spare minute give it a watch and the skill level on show from the girls at the pinnacle of our game is poor to say the least. This is international players who can't pass a ball correctly, in comparison watch the Aussies do theirs a minute or so later and everything is just so technically sound. 

I got an impression our passing during the game was below par. Will have to watch again to confirm. Keara Bennett wasn't her usual proficient self at dummy-half. Maybe they were all so severely rattled that core skills began to break down?

 

1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said:

 Obviously the Aussies do have a weather advantage when it comes to training 

Timing could be offered as a mitigating factor in the magnitude of the blowout. Both squads hadn't played for months. One had been training through an Australian summer, the other through an English winter.

This doesn't detract from your general strictures regarding junior RL in England.

[RigbyLuger]

The thread of the main board is a great way of outing those who probably want women nowhere near a RL pitch.

[Richard de la Riviere]

Here's a transcript of Stuart Barrow's press conference if anyone is interested: womensrl.com/?p=639

[RigbyLuger]

It's good we have journalists and writers who pay attention to women's RL all season, and not just when they can write about how there were "no winners" on Saturday because they never see any games.

[stookie]

19 hours ago, Richard de la Riviere said:

Here's a transcript of Stuart Barrow's press conference if anyone is interested: womensrl.com/?p=639

Hey Richard, just for info that link is actually a twitter link

[BroncoFan]

I watched it back to see if I would notice anything else which grabbed my attention.

For me, Liv Wood & Hollie Mae Dodd were really solid and were England’s best forwards.

If only Liv Wood  was playing behind two big dominant props then you would really see how good she is. My backrow was always Wood, Dodd & Andrade with Jodie C playing number 6.

 

[RigbyLuger]

A fair summation

 

 

[unapologetic pedant]

On 06/03/2025 at 06:43, BroncoFan said:

I watched it back to see if I would notice anything else which grabbed my attention.

Same here. 

We all knew England would lose by a substantial margin. Should acknowledge too the perennial truth that when a game gets away, there is no hiding place in RL. That said, it's worth looking at some of the detail of how this particular game got away. One other proviso - references to WSL are to games between top-4 sides.

Promising opening 5 minutes. I believe that pattern could have held to at least the 20-minute mark with better defensive decision-making.

First try lead-up, Tamika Upton collects a kick and sends Jakiya Whitfeld down the right. Reminded me of Beri Salihi linking up with Grace Banks when both were at Wigan. Ambitious back-3 expansion is something kick-chasers rarely have to contend with in WSL where fullbacks simply secure the ball, hit it up, take the tackle, set up for play 2. Beri seems to have fallen into this mode at Saints.

Second try lead-up, Kezie Apps break after Olivia Higgins jumps out of dummy-half on tackle 5, is caught by the marker and immediately seeks to offload. I suspect a big hole opened up behind the ruck because our girls briefly switched off and were mentally preparing to defend the kick on the next play. They weren't expecting Olivia to part with the football since, as Craig Richards would say, "there's no need to get an offload, just hold the ball".

Tamika Upton's hat-trick try later in the first half also deserves attention. The way Julia Robinson quickly spun out of Eboni Partington's ill-advised challenge undoubtedly required athleticism. More significantly, it shows that counterattack was on her mind as she took possession. In WSL, the winger's focus would be to catch the ball, surrender in the tackle, set up for play 2.

Stu Barrow stresses the need to match the Jillaroos in physical intensity. We could accomplish this goal and still be comprehensively outplayed. If WSL coaches persist with "complete-your-sets, get-to-your-kick" dogma, our players will 1) Fail to develop their attacking skill sets. 2) Never learn how to defend against players who have developed their attacking skill sets.