I'm gutted with the loss but 60 minutes into the game I was jumping around thinking we might pull it off... it wasn't to be though



I thought the England players showed more heart and guts than during the World Cup so I can live with that... the Kangaroos are so good at rugby it is frightening at times



Don't ask why, but I had the misfortune of watching the full 80 minutes of England vs. Argentina at Twickenham on TV yesterday and it is no exaggeration to say that there was more rugby played in the first 10 minutes at Elland Road than in the full 80 there (the Twickenham crowd were booing England off at half time so even they may be getting the message!)



I am proud our sport can produce a game like that yesterday evening



Well done to Australia

The writing was on the wall looking at the stats from the first half and it was only a matter of time before they edged us.



What really stood out for me was the attacking lines. when Aus had the ball they ran with dummy runners and with plenty of players in motion, wheras we attacked individually and ther was very little fluidity.



Also, the majority of their tries in the last 20 minutes came from kicks not from running through our line. The standard of kicking was exceptional.

I don't think them playing SOO has anything at all to do with them being better than us.



After all it's only 3 games a year.



The SOO players also back up and play in NRL that same weekend which means they playing 2 games in 3/4 days! Can't be great on the players.



We moan like hell about the 2 games at Easter about players no getting enough recovery, burnout and how super league takes a dip the following weeks after the Easter games. These Aussie guys do it 3 times a year!



So IMO SOO has no impact on it all.

Shenton was the top try scoring centre in Superleague this year...

The main reason they had more runners in there attacking line was because they had two halfbacks that have played a lot of rugby in the NRL and at international level.



Not taking anything away from tomkins or eastmond but they havnt played enough rugby at super league level to form a good attacking pairing.



All our play was from sinfield at dummy half which is a lot easier for the Aussies to defend.

Awesome attacking play, sat in the stand and could not keep track of the runners, just awesome rugby league.



They make it look so easy and its a pleasure to watch.

Especially with the passes he was throwing out.

Tomkins and Eastmond are both world class talents, but if they were Australian no way would either of them be considered number 7s, I think that is one of Englands biggest problems, we dont produce complete halfbacks, the same can be said about Burrow and Mcguire in my opinion, both can be match winners and even unplayable at times but dont get the team around and lack some of the basics physically and mentally needed to be a top class 7, which the aussies have a lot of players capable of this (although many pundits in Australia are saying the position of halfback is dying) aswell as coming up with moments of magic now and again, last night Eastmond just looked to lack the character in my opinion needed, and although he is just a kid its not something that players tend to pick up with experience.

I think that pretty much mirrors what me and my mate were discussing in the pub last night.



Up front, we had the measure of the Australians. When they broke our line, it was invariably attacking through the 3/4s and we had no answer to it.



The issue, as you point out, is that the players are not exposed to week-in-week-out intensity. Trawl back through the Leeds and St Helens forums and there will be plenty of posts reading "we didn't get out of second gear". Teams shouldn't be able to win games like that but in SL, they can. Until other clubs can compete, things won't change.

I think that sadly reinforces what we've been saying about the intensity of the competitions. Shenton is top scoring centre in SL. In the NRL he would struggle to start in any side. That's not a criticism of Shenton, by the way, I think he was the best English centre available this year. But he's a long way from Senior, Gleeson or Newlove as an attacking centre. Sadly, once I get past those three, I'm really struggling to think of a deent attacking centre the English have produced in the Super League era.

Perhaps it's cause those positions have been taking by overseas pension seeking crocks?

But I suppose you could argue that if that was the case how come the players mentioned above in Senior, Gleeson and Newlove never had there places taken by such players then?