It was absoutley shocking that it took coach Tony Smith 40 minutes to change the right hand flank as the Australians were running through like a knife threw butter. But it wasnt just the god awful defending on that side what let us down. When we did have the ball we didnt control it properly at all and to be quite honest it was a complete and utter disgraceful first 40 minutes.



However...



In the Second Half we showed fight and belief. A great second half performance by Sam Burgess who was outstanding. Kyle Eastmond has to start next week because he looked lively and dangerous when he had the ball in hand. Tomkins certainly showed some great promise at International level when we had more of the ball in the 2nd Half. I certainly dont believe the Aussies took the foot of the gas and they were certainly rattled without doubt. Personally I feel Jamie Peacock had a poor game and really needs to step up to the plate next week. For sure he is a World Class forward but today he didnt seem to rally the troops behind the sticks and got smashed everytime he took the ball up especially in the first half. Talk is cheap action is what is required now.



Team for NZ



Briscoe

Smith

Eastmond

Shenton

Hall

McGuire

Tomkins

Morley

Moore

Peacock (capt)

Ellis

Burgess

Sinfield



Bench



Roby

Westwood

Graham

Crabtree

I'm not convinced the Aussies particularly eased back in the second half. The Aussies don't like to lose at ANYTHING, and they're now at the stage where everyone wants them to lose - the pressure is well and truly on for them, so any slip ups, any losses are trebly humiliating for them as it is for anyone else.



For me it wasn't so much the second half that was so much better. England started to show shape earlier than that. England kept Australia scoreless for FIFTY minutes. We seemed 'harder' when Burgess and Crabtree came on (though I wish Crabtree would show a but more aggression - he ambled into some of those drives yesterday), and our real improvement came with the introduction of Eastmond.



McGuire is overrated. He needs Rob Burrow at his side to look even remotely good, so he needs firing off. Tomkins was immense. He's not the quickest, but he's got a great step and defensively, he was magnificent. Nothing got past him. He MUST stay in, however he should play stand off, and I would throw Eastmond in at scrum half. Why not - what have we to lose? And they have both earned it.

Quote ="BigRedV"Bittersweet is right. A bitterly disappointing first half where the difference is sheer talent was evident. Some sweet moments in the second where England showed some ">spirit.'" I don't think the difference was sheer talent. Yes Inglis is very talented but if you give a player like that acres of room to play then he will score tries. The Aussies didn't have to use talent to create their tries they simply used talent to exploit England's shoddy defending down the right side. I think it is a shame that Smith didn't correct things sooner than he did because I would have liked to have seen how the Australian's would have coped with a dog fight. They were certainly rattled in the second half when the England forwards were making inroads putting them on the back foot. Had the game not run away from England the partisan crowd would also have put presser on the Aussies. I am not burying my head in the sand suggesting that the Aussies are not more talented overall than England but I honestly believe they are not as far ahead as some people are suggesting. For sure they have the talent to exploit any weaknesses.

Quote ="BigRedV"Bittersweet is right. A bitterly disappointing first half where the difference is sheer talent was evident. Some sweet moments in the second where England showed some ">spirit.'" I don't think the difference was sheer talent. Yes Inglis is very talented but if you give a player like that acres of room to play then he will score tries. The Aussies didn't have to use talent to create their tries they simply used talent to exploit England's shoddy defending down the right side. I think it is a shame that Smith didn't correct things sooner than he did because I would have liked to have seen how the Australian's would have coped with a dog fight. They were certainly rattled in the second half when the England forwards were making inroads putting them on the back foot. Had the game not run away from England the partisan crowd would also have put presser on the Aussies. I am not burying my head in the sand suggesting that the Aussies are not more talented overall than England but I honestly believe they are not as far ahead as some people are suggesting. For sure they have the talent to exploit any weaknesses.

I think they are far ahead in the quality of player they produce. Some of their individuals just have the right rugby league DNA.



You are right though that they are not invincible. Take nothing away from England's efforts today but I think it is NZ that are proving this rather than us.

Very pleased with Crabtree's efforts, he played like a demon and seemed to be very proud to be wearing the England shirt. Never rated Eorl to be honest, but thought he was a gem yesterday.



40 minutes of rape down our right side was just ludicrous, why the hell was it allowed to go on for a full 40 minutes.



Bye bye Mc Guire your international number is up sir.

Morley has changed his game and is alot calmer version of the one of around 3 years ago plus. Still a fine Prop Forward and imo still one of the best in the world.