Entry 1: 1st November
On the day when a lot of clubs are starting a long pre-season, on a night that is dark and was particularly wet when I left work, I was thinking about international Rugby League.
I've been keeping up with the Four Nations and in my opinion England alone are a running a distant third in the world, way behind the Kiwis and those Aussies too!
I suppose I didn't need a certificate from Mensa to work that out. Looking at the two games I feel that we have been heavily outplayed by both Southern Heisphere nations and it got me thinking about why this was so?
The first game saw a particularly slow and ponderous first twenty minutes and by the time England woke up they were 12-0 down. Players that haven't made many handling errors all season were coming up with plenty and the pack was out thought, out manouvered and outmuscled quite badly. This in turn gave the halfs and backs very little to work with.
Early in the second half when Kenny-Dowall marauded through the middle for his try, evading four in the process and the majestic Benji Marshall made it 18-0 with the conversion. At this stage I feared for England. Suddenly they got a bit of possession in the Kiwi half though and James Roby got the visitors moving with a try to which young Gareth Widdop goaled. 18-6 quickly became 18-10 as finally England shook off their lethargy to score a wonderful try. Roby and clubmate and skipper James Graham started the move before the ball reached new Saints recruit Michael Shenton. After a quiet first half Shenton was enjoying his second and after splitting the defence he found Kevin Brown. Despite Brown seemingly running through treacle, he linked with Widdop and the Melbourne Storm fullback crossed the line before missing the conversion.
Inspired, England again looked to have got on the scoreboard after around 55 minues when Brown won the race with Gregg Eastwood to claim a Sam Tomkins kick. Surprisingly the video refere ruled against England and just under two minutes later that man Marshall popped up in suport of Jason Nightingale to loop around the cover and head into the corner. The conversion made it 24-10 and there was no way back. The nervous start killed the game from an England point of view but I would put it down to a little bit more than that.
I reckon it came down to the intensity of the Kiwis and the patience they showed in the first fifty minutes.
A plus was that when England clicked into gear, they looked improved and even dangerous but until they can find their own style or brand of rugby then they will continue to struggle.
For me that Kiwi pack is currently the best in the business and roll on next weekend when everyone has a chance to see a Final dress rehearsal when they will take on Australia.
I'll be back with some thoughts on the England/Australia game tomorrow.
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