After watching the Four Nations match between Australia and England it is apparent that Australia and even New Zealand are more than a class above the English. Australia and New Zealand both pull off their backline movements and second-man plays with relative ease, whereas the English tend to struggle with using these to any good effect. Most of Australia's tries against the English were simple second-man plays with Thurston simply selecting his target to pass to, stock-standard in the NRL. The English could not cope with the speed of the play and even players such as Jack Reed and Gareth Widdop struggled to pick it up even though Widdop's own teammates were the ones calling the shots.
The English have always struggled against Australia and the speed with which they play at. Sure they have some good young players such as Sam Tomkins but they need more than that. Their line speed in defence is extremely slow and rarely do you see the English forcing Australia's forwards backwards. When their outside players rush up to try and close a play down they are either too late or hit the wrong player, whereas the Australian outside backs are very well skilled in this department. It's also hard for the English to develop a representative mentality when they rarely play Internationals and to my knowledge don't have a type of State of Origin series. These Rep. games help the Aus players develop their intensity and the higher level of skill which is needed in International games. They have floated the idea of a Barbarian series where the English National Side will take on a side compiled of ex-NRL players such as Brett Hodgson, Joel Monaghan, Lance Hohaia etc. This will help them but I think more needs to be done in the way their competition is run.
For example; Their rules accommodate slow play-the-balls and give maximum advantage in that area to the defending team. In the NRL, with 2 referees, the ruck is quicker and arguably better policed. Also, the English rules seem to be a lot more concerned with player welfare. An example would be that when Tony Williams hit Tony Woodcock high in the match this morning, the English commentators were calling for him to be sent off even though his arm hit the should of Woodcock and then hit him high. This heavy policing of high tackles gives less room for error and therefore the English players aren't as prepared to tackle high and close the ball down. This means that the Australians can easily get an offload away or break tackles. Also, the wrestling tactics aren't as heavily employed in order to try and slow the ruck down, they rely more on just taking their time. When Australia wrestled them in the tackle it made it harder for the English to play the ball because of the twisting and "turtling" of the player. Often when England tried to emulate this it resulted in a penalty as they hadn't been coached properly in how to do it and would often get entagled in the Australian players and give a penalty away.
One thing that will always be hard to match is the skill level. When Sam Tomkins produced a flick-pass for a try, the commentators reacted like it was a new trick when it has become stock-standard to see flick passes in the NRL, especially from players such as Benji Marshall. The kicking is also a concern for the English, when Australia needed it Thurston, Lockyer, Smith and Cronk all stepped up and put their kicks where it was needed. The English on the other hand put up just one contested bomb the entire game and the rest of te kick were pretty poor in accuracy.
Sorry to go on like this but until England fixes many of their problems they will always struggle to match it with Australia and New Zealand.
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But in saying that I thought the whingeing poms went alright today
It always comes back to money. ESL average half the crowds that the NRL gets, despite there being a hell of a lot more people to attend games. ESL is a little better off than the third tier of Football, and doesn't match up to Union either.
That aside, I agree that the lack of additional Rep experience hinders their ability to step up. This year they did hold the first 'International Origin' match, which pits the England team against a team made up of all non-English players in the ESL.. hoping this helps them step up, and gain a bit more media attention.
This is rather hard assessment of the English concidering the 12 - 8 half time score. The English were unlucky not to be in front, if it wasn't for some slater magic and some stray goal kicks, add to that a disallowed try and Gareth Ellis getting injured really hurt the their edge defence.
To qoute you on "One thing that will always be hard to match is the skill level. When Sam Tomkins produced a flick-pass for a try, the commentators reacted like it was a new trick when it has become stock-standard to see flick passes in the NRL" I thought it was a very classy movement and if it was done in the NRL Phil Gould would be going over the top! so i think this statement is a little pot calling the kettle black, like our commentators don't get excited about an out-ball!
The English's only really weakness is they don't have an organiser, they are a little bit like the NSW origin team at the moment in that regard, infact i would say this English team would beat a Ricky Stuart coached NSW team.
I would argue the English on their soil, would be on par if not very close to with AUS & NZ and that will fold out in the rest of the tournament.
I thought the aussies looked a bit off to me and made england look half descent ,but aussies at there best are an easy 40 to 50 point winners .
Whats with watmough? he is allways been an idiot giving away stupid penalties and dropping the ball for nothing.
The defensive structures used by ESL teams are nowhere near as effective as those used in the NRL. Consequently, when an English team (made up of players largely sourced from the ESL), they don't compete defensively against either Australia or New Zealand from the full 80.
ESL players, in my opinion, also don't appear to be as fit.
Add these two factors together, and when watching the English go 'round, it's very much a matter of when they're going to break defensively, rather than if. The English team would benefit from having more of their top flight players playing in the NRL. Similarly, I think they'd also gain significant benefit from sourcing their coaching staff from the NRL ranks too - at least then they might have a better chance of countering the style of game played by Australia and NZ.
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