4 Nations: England vs Australian Kangaroos

[~lee~]

It's terrible from England so far, there's no movement, no running into gaps, no dummy runs, it's all straight and sideways. It's so easy for Australia, almost like a practice game after last week.

[~lee~]

England 16-26 Australia

England (0) 16
Tries: Burgess, Ellis, Smith Goals: Sinfield, Smith

Australia (26) 26
Tries: Lockyer, Slater 2, Inglis, Morris Goals: Thurston 3


England mounted a bold second-half fightback but lost to Australia after a miserable first-half left them with too much to do in their Four Nations match.

Two tries from Billy Slater and scores from skipper Darren Lockyer, Greg Inglis and Brett Morris helped the Kangaroos lead 26-0 at half-time.

England improved considerably after the break and finally enjoyed a spell of pressure close to the Australian line.

Sam Burgess, Gareth Ellis and Lee Smith scored but the damage was already done.

Tony Smith's team, who defeated underdogs France in their opening fixture, take on New Zealand in Huddersfield next Saturday and need to repeat their second-half showing if they are to have any chance of defeating the world champions.

It was a painful opening 40 minutes for the home side, who lost 52-4 to Australia in Melbourne at the World Cup last November and appeared destined for another hammering.

With a youthful back division operating behind a combative pack, many home supporters were looking for signs of improvement and, perhaps, a bright future - but any hopes of a shock victory were quickly extinguished.

England once again had their defensive weaknesses ruthlessly exposed by an Australian backline that is much heralded but nonetheless spluttered against New Zealand last Saturday.

Inglis was the first to puncture it after collecting a long pass from Lockyer, and the powerful centre slipped the ball back inside for his captain to score his 33rd try for his country.

It came after a cagey and relatively even few minutes - and even after conceding England threatened, with Sinfield almost catching the Kangaroos defence out with a grubber kick and then going close to the opposition line before throwing an optimistic pass that was intercepted.

But in truth Australia were vastly superior to their opponents and soon put the game beyond England.

Australia attacked time and again down England's right side, with centre Smith and winger Tom Briscoe subject to a stern examination as the defensive line became stretched.

The visitors worked the ball from their right to left for Slater to score before another powerful break from centre Inglis culminated in an inside pass for the Kangaroos full-back to score his second try in a matter of minutes.

Man-of-the-match Inglis was wreaking havoc and England seemed to have no answer.

England's NRL-bound forward Burgess failed to collect a poor pass and within seconds Inglis was sent clear for an 80-yard sprint that looked effortless but easily evaded the chasing defenders before the Melbourne Storm player scored under the posts.

Another sweeping move from right to left resulted in the final score of the half, with winger Morris touching down in the corner.

England coach Smith make a tactical change at the break, moving Smith out to the wing and bringing on young St Helens star Kyle Eastmond at centre.

And if England had been awful in the opening half they produced a second-half display to rebuild their confidence and suggest they can hurt the world's best teams.

England finally enjoyed a spell of possession and played the majority of the second-half inside opposition territory.

Smith's team played with a determination and invention previously absent and finally forced some errors from their opponents; Inglis and Petero Civoniceva knocked-on, while Johnathan Thurston was sin-binned for persistently spoiling around the play-the-ball.

England, with McGuire and Sam Tomkins to the fore, started to ask some questions of their opponents, with teasing kicks and ambitious off-loads.

Ben Westwood was held up over the line and then Burgess barged over from close range, the try eventually awarded by the video referee.

Burgess was correctly denied by the video referee after a high kick from McGuire but Gareth Ellis added another with a close-range finish.

A looping pass from Eastmond was collected by Smith, who just crossed in the corner. The conversion was missed but England had scored 16 unanswered points after the break to add respectability to the scoreline.

bbc.co.uk

[Capital_Shark]

Okay, I held off because I've always liked Tim Sheens and thought he was well and truly overdue for the top job with the Kangaroos, but I don't think he's the right bloke for the job at the moment.

Why the hell did he pluck Smith for Farah at the back end of that first half? Not only was Smith giving his usual best hooker in the world routine, it was working very well to the tune of 26 unanswered points for Australia - Farah comes on awestruck and out of his depth and is found out immediately after the break; missing a tackle for the Pom's first try.

I'll bet Darren Lockyer is happy DIEHARD doesn't pick the squad because I'm sure he loved Gallen standing next to him. Did Locky even have to make a tackle? Morely had his sights set on him, particularly in that 2nd half, but only seemed to find Gallen up in his face. Which brings me to question Sheen's call to pull Gallen (another 80min player like Smith) at the back end of that 2nd half, which lead to the Pom's second try - the only one down Lockyer's side of the field - then the backtrack and waste of an interchange to quickly throw him back out there.

We only had 37% of the ball in the second half, so that explains the lack of scoring from us and we probably did pretty well to only concede 16 - I don't know what the first half share of possession was, but if anyone does fill me in I'd be interested to see. Questions have to be asked of how we let them dominate possession for that long. A side like that should be able to claw back and level out the possession stats better than that in 40 minutes of football.

[TITAN PETE]

I'll have to agree with CS again as i thought Smith must have broken a leg to take him off especially so early in the match

The standout Aussie's were Lockyer,Ingliss,Watmough & GALLEN but i think we are blessed to have such great backrowers as i believe both the Poms & Kiwi's have our number easily in the Front Row department.

I think the poms will improve over the coming years when they get rid of Pea**** & have the likes of Burgess,Crabtree,Eastmond with young Tomkins leading them in the future

Does anyone think the ref had it in for JT , maybe Thurston thinks he's the captain in every game & can't keep his mouth shut

[Capital_Shark]

I'm with Pete, thank God we've got such quality and depth in Australian second rowers because our props are letting us down big time. Brett White for Christ's sake - his selection should send alarm bells ringing. We've lived off the back of Petro and Price for yonks but that is coming to an end.

[DIEHARD]

England were woeful in the first half and it looked set to be a 60point smashing. But to their credit they clicked in the next 40mins. Tomkins was pretty good and will only get better. Possibly and finally a long term halfback for the Poms. Unfortunately McGuire was rubbish but I think they should give him a go at fullback, I think he would excell there. Playing what he sees and supporting, a bit of an x factor.

We are in trouble with prop strength and the Maroons problem is now the Roos problem. Lack of quality props to take up the mantel.

Inglis was very good and must have terrified the poms everytime his lanky legs started chewing up the metres. Ridiclous that Smith was taken off at all, especially at Test level.

It's been an interesting 4 Nations so far! But Australia have France next, so what do we do. Field our best team and work on our combinations or give the other Roos a run? Then it's time for the Final... hopefully. And the Kiwis are always good in Finals against us!

[Capital_Shark]

It's been an interesting 4 Nations so far! But Australia have France next, so what do we do. Field our best team and work on our combinations or give the other Roos a run? Then it's time for the Final... hopefully. And the Kiwis are always good in Finals against us!

I don't think we've given ourselves the luxury of fielding our less experienced team. We need to show we can string two halves of football together before waltzing into a final against NZ. NZ would carve us up on current form.

Might be worth grabbing a bit of NZ to win the tourney at $5.

[~lee~]

..... and why are you all assuming England wont beat NZ?

[TITAN PETE]

..... and why are you all assuming England wont beat NZ?

You must know something that the rest of the world has missed in the past couple of years

[~lee~]

2007 Great Britain 28 22 New Zealand
2007 Great Britain 44 0 New Zealand
2007 Great Britain 20 10 New Zealand


Admittedly 2008 wasnt great but we normally go alright against the kiwis.

[Capital_Shark]

2007 Great Britain 28 22 New Zealand
2007 Great Britain 44 0 New Zealand
2007 Great Britain 20 10 New Zealand


Admittedly 2008 wasnt great but we normally go alright against the kiwis.

We'll see how healthy the betting account is after the Cup is run in about 30mins and if its in good nick I might neglect the fact its now late 2009 and the Kiwis have won a WC and regularly troubled Australia (while beating the Poms) since the string of wins you're talking about and throw a little something the Pommie's way for an upset.

[Chaos]

Firstly, I agree with Smith staying on the field for 80 mins...he's the best league player in the world and has the fitness...replace Farra with another forward

The biggest difference between Aust and England was England's right hand centre...if anyone watches the replay, just watch England's number 3's defense, came in off his man every time. Inglis and Slater were receiving the ball with open space...they didn't even have to offer a palm or a turn of speed...I didn't see him get caught out in the second half and I suspect he had a talking to at half time.

The Aust forwards didn't dominate the game and although I like Hindmash in defense, lets not let him run the ball.
I'd replace Gallen with a running forward...oh why didn't we take Creagh over.
Gallen might be hard but he gives away stupid penalties and this isn't the stage to be producing them.

England's half back played well...totally outplayed Thurston, who isn't getting through with his dummy and run...Taking Smith off didn't help Thurston.

[Capital_Shark]

I'd replace Gallen with a running forward...oh why didn't we take Creagh over.
Gallen might be hard but he gives away stupid penalties and this isn't the stage to be producing them.

Usually I'd agree, especially in rep footy, but its not the case in this tournament. He's given away 1 penalty and made 0 errors. Statistically Gallen has been Australia's best up front by plenty; most runs, most meters, most offloads, most tackle breaks, most tackles and 4th for missed tackles.

[TITAN PETE]

Usually I'd agree, especially in rep footy, but its not the case in this tournament. He's given away 1 penalty and made 0 errors. Statistically Gallen has been Australia's best up front by plenty; most runs, most meters, most offloads, most tackle breaks, most tackles and 4th for missed tackles.

He also lead the tackle count against the Poms with 40 from about 65 minutes play

[Chaos]

Usually I'd agree, especially in rep footy, but its not the case in this tournament. He's given away 1 penalty and made 0 errors. Statistically Gallen has been Australia's best up front by plenty; most runs, most meters, most offloads, most tackle breaks, most tackles and 4th for missed tackles.

I'm not a big statistics person but you have a point...having Hindmarsh tightens up our defense but we lose some go forward in attack. Having Gallen lead most meters shows our forwards aren't providing momentum.

If you keep Gallen...Maybe a player like Watmough could provide some spark of the bench?
I'd still drop Farra!