England, the good, the bad and the ugly

It was a game of two halves in Wigan and it's been a Four Nations tournament of two halves so far for England - 80 poor minutes and 80 good ones. Better than 160 bad ones, which was the case at the same juncture in the World Cup a year ago. But without an 80 minute performance against New Zealand - yes, just like the World Cup, it's a must-win game against the Kiwis next Saturday - England will not get another crack at the Kangaroos at Elland Road on November 14.

It was a lovely afternoon in Wigan - warmer and drier than Melbourne a year ago, would you credit it - but for 32 minutes England were transported back to the nightmare of the Telstra Dome. It was a Halloween horror show, the 26-0 half-time scoreline worse than the 22-4 by which they trailed at the break in Melbourne, with Greg Inglis and Billy Slater, England's tormentors that night, again running riot down England's right side where Danny McGuire, Lee Smith, Kevin Sinfield and Tom Briscoe were torn to shreds.

ENGLAND SHOW SIGNS OF HOW TO CROSS FINAL BARRIER. READ REPORT IN MONDAY'S TIMES HERE

An Anglo-Australian encounter back on BBC 1 live on a Saturday afternoon for the first time in 14 years, and I imagined a disgruntled nation switching over in their hundreds of thousands to the racing from Newmarket or Oklahoma!

The jeers rang out at half time. "We had a talk," coach Tony Smith said. "We didn't like the situation we were in and we didn't like the scoreboard. It was either pull together and do something about it or ... I don't know what the other option would have been." And so England re-emerged like men possessed, like a team who knew they couldn't lie down. For 40 minutes, they forgot they were playing Australia. And for 40 minutes, the Kangaroos weren't a team of supermen. They were exposed as vulnerable, they missed tackles, they lost their rag, just like any other team.

Sam Tomkins hadn't touched the ball and England were 16-0 down, but the Wigan home-town hero displayed all the virtues of creative thinking and daring absent in the first half. Sure, England had nothing to lose, but their second-half display, in which a young England grew in stature, left me and so many others lamenting their cowed approach in the first-half, during which the kicking game was laughable compared with the balls put on a sixpence by Cameron Smith and Darren Lockyer.

And so Tomkins began to chip and flick the ball and take on the line. Australia were forced to bend their backs and James Graham, Sam Burgess, Eorl Crabtree and Gareth Ellis ripped into the tackles. The dynamic changed, the Kangaroos were rattled and we had a game at last. It was too late, of course - and, subconciously, Australia knew they'd already atoned for their opening draw with New Zealand -  but unanswered tries by Burgess, Ellis and Lee Smith helped give England a 40 minute performance to build on.

The youngsters, Tomkins, Burgess and Kyle Eastmond, all 20, didn't give a monkeys who they were playing and Sinfield rose to the occasion; they were the ones dictating. Changes for the Kiwis ? Danny McGuire had a poor game, his kicking and last tackle options were simply not up to the job, so it would be no surprise to see a half back combination of Tomkins and Richard Myler for the showdown with New Zealand in Huddersfield and Eastmond playing more of a role.

It will take 80 full on minutes against the Kiwis, who made mincemeat of a depleted France after a competitive first half in Toulouse. The tournament is bubbling nicely and next year Papua New Guinea will join the Four Nations party in the southern hemisphere after they beat the Cook Islands 42-14 in the Pacific Cup final. It won't get any easier for England in 2010. Not with a trip to steamy Port Moresby to face the Papuans, who they only just squeezed past in the World Cup.

Wales and Scotland will meet in the European Cup final in Bridgend this Sunday. A young Welsh side under Iestyn Harris beat Ireland 42-12 and Scotland overcame Lebanon 22-10 yesterday. Lebanon and Ireland will contest the third-placed match and Italy meet Serbia in the first of an international triple-header at the Brewery Field.

Comments

[Arthur Snott]

It would be great if we made the final, I am worried we won't after the Kiwis massive slaughtering of the French.

We played well second half with some lovely ball handling and passing etc but simply didn't score enough points the damage was done.
Don't uner estimate the kiwis I think they will be tougher than the aussies!

[Mike Hunt]

Great Game a real game of two halves.....not enough second half but did the aussies take the foot of the gas?
I don't think so, well done to the young GB halves, but I Know the kiwis will win this, sorry but they have the warrior mentality, ie captain cook did not disicover NZ it was already there in the shape of the maori warrior!

[St.Di]

I'm not sure the Kiwis slaughtering of the French was an indicator of anything other than the French side's inability to play with intensity for the full 80 minutes. I think England should be able to do that given that we have a squad of Superleague players whereas France once again was suffering from injuries and illness, meaning that many guys from the lower divisions were playing, some on debut.

Where the Kiwis will cause us trouble (assuming we play as least as well as we did in the second half against the Aussies) is in their sheer size. Many of our players are small by comparison and so tackling the Kiwis could be a challenge!

I'm more hopeful of a competitive match against the Kiwis than I was on Friday but I'm not deluding myself. We will really have to shine and put our all into the game if we are to win next weekend.

[michael]

sadly i think england will perform against the kiwi just as they did against the aussies.. one good half of football.. which wont be anywhere near enough to get the win.. i hop eim wrong though..

[Jim Savage]

Sorry to rain on yer parades,gentlemen,but after watching that wonderful second half performance by England I think we`ll beat New Zealand next week and go on to stuff Australia in the final.
Hows that for a bit of OPTIMISM from an English rugby league fan!!!
The reasons for my optomistic outlook?.I have been watching Great Britain get hammered by Australia for 31 years now.1982 was the worst,but we were at least playing the best "rugby" team ever assembled.
England`s gritty,committed,skillful perfomance in that second half was THE BEST I have ever seen MY NATIONAL TEAM play vs.Australia,apart from that wonderful Test in Melbourne in 1992.
Our lads were just bloody fantastic in that second half.I LOVED the way our forwards,especially that great Bradford Northern prop Burgess,gave it to those Aussie "superstars" in that second half.Those pampered beach-dwellers bloody knew they were in a game after the restart.We need more of that physical committment.
England 26 NZ 18 and then England 22 Australia 14 in the final...

[King of Rugger]

Poor deluded Jim Savage. I'd love to agree but I think the Kiwis will edge past England. They've too much beef up front and I reckon they'll beat the Aussies in the final.

[Daniel]

Lee Smith shouldn't be there. He's off to the other code, so we'll learn nothing from his continued presence in a team that should be building for the next Rugby World Cup. Quite apart from that, it was on his side that the Kangaroos did so much damage in the first half.

Definitely plenty of food for thought in that second half, but there was just too much to do.

The French were always in for a hiding. It has been just the beginning of a long climb back for the Treizistes, hopefully towards something like their last golden generation who played in the Fifties. Injuries, Ferriol's (deserved) suspension and illness just made the beating worse. They'll improve.

I'm really looking forward to England playing in Port Moresby next time around. GB/England have spurned the world's most Rugby-crazy country for far too long.

[Steffy]

A very odd game of rugby. At the end of the first half I was thinking international rugby for England was dead. At the end of the game I was full of hope. Bring on the kiwis.

[grant]

I though Super League was going to make everything fine with English RL. Instead we're even further behind as far as skill goes, and even further behind in terms of crowds. Only 23000 turning up to see the best team in the world is pretty crap, especially when you consider that the ruggers wil get 3 times that to watch 2 crap teams (Eng and Arg) play at Twickers.
Having said that, it was a pleasure to watch the flawless first half of RL by the Aussies.

[Jim Savage]

A FIVER!!!My five bucks...or pounds,says England beat the Kiwis and then beat Australia.How `bout it "King...".

[bob of queensland]

My prediction: NZ 34 d ENG 18 and AUS 40 d FRN 4 (the aussies will save their energy for the final) then in the final AUS 25 d NZ 12

c'min spinner.

[King of Rugger]

Five bucks ? You cheapstake Jim Savage. Ten florins on the Kiwis to win.

[Jolly Swagman]

Dream on you pommie b......s Locky and the boys wuz jut toying with yerz second half the kiwi fellas is gonna wipe the floor with yuz then we'll kick there butts in the final pay back for the WC. yer just a third class RL country get used to it youv'e won sod all for years and you won't win anything ever. Now pass me a sheila,a VB and some mud crab Im outta here Losers

[Jim Savage]

Alright "King..." lets get to it.
The gloves are off,pal.No more Mr.Nice Guy ( forgive me,Alice Cooper ).A REAL WAGER.
Pick your winners,buddy.Post them here and whoever is closest ( Mr.Chris "Ken" Irvine can be referee...unless Mr.Irvine is the charleton a.k.a. "King Of Rugger" as I am starting to suspect ) wins and the loser has to donate 25 of your English pounds to the BARLA club of the winner`s choice.
So sure of victory,"King..." I hearby nominate the Rylands Recs. ARLFC of Warrington,Lancashire as my club of choice to recieve your lucre.
As we say here in Boston,"You in ?".

P.S. Dont worry "King..." I wont welch on our deal.If England dont beat NZ and then Australia I`ll happily cut a check to Victoria Rangers,Keighley Albion ( sorry Keighley Town,no dice ) or Queensbury or whatever hillbilly Yorkshire club you choose.No problem,pal.

[Numptyboy]

King of Rugger, sounds a bit of union nancy to me. You're on to a winner Savage.