England match reaction

[St Helens RLFC]

Smith left humbled by record loss

Tony Smith said England's record World Cup defeat at the hands of defending champions Australia was hard to take.

"We are hurting and embarrassed," said the England coach after the 52-4 loss. "We need to improve - and we will."

Smith said he was confident his team would bounce back, adding: "These sorts of experiences bring you together, and that's what'll happen with these boys."

The Kangaroos ran in nine tries at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne to reinforce their tag as hot favourites.

Centre Greg Inglis and full-back Billy Slater claimed a hat-trick apiece, while Anthony Laffranchi (2) and Joel Monaghan added the others.

"They've got speed and some exciting players," said Smith. "Hats off to them, I can't praise them enough about the way they played, but we need to execute better in some areas."

But Smith insists his side are still in with a chance of the ***le.

"I thought there were signs in the first half that we can trouble Australia," he said.

"At half-time, there were a lot of positives in the dressing room. We all felt we could get back into the game, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way."

He added: "It's a tournament that you get another chance at.

"We're disappointed with our performance but you don't have to be at your best just yet. As long as we get closer and closer to our best, we are still in with a shot."

England's defeat surpassed the 49-6 drubbing they took from New Zealand in the 2000 World Cup semi-finals in Bolton.

They face the Kiwis again next weekend in their final pool game - and will almost certainly meet Stephen Kearney's side in the last four.

England captain Jamie Peacock is hoping for a sudden turnaround in fortunes ahead of the game in Newcastle.

"I don't think we can get much worse," the Leeds Rhinos forward told BBC Sport. "We need to get better quickly."

He also felt England could have got closer to Australia had they capitalised on their period of pressure midway through the first half.

"When you've got that much dominance in a game you need to come away with more than one try," he said.

"That wasn't good enough. Credit to Australia, they held us out, but we should have come away with more points than that and it might have been more of a competition."

BBC Sport

 

[Maccaweeny]

What's the following of Super League like, as in terms of how moneyed the clubs are and how many people play/support league? Just wondering if Australian success in league is a result of money and numbers or a players culture, such as with the AB's.

 

[sanzar]

So Dan give us your view of what happened here and perhaps why it is that England don't seem to be able to produce the backs that Australia do. The scary thing for you boys is that you basically just played the Queensland Origin team... NSW lost to them this year, but they sure as f*** didn't get thumped 52-4, which means that our second team is potentially better than your first. What on earth is wrong with the Super League that this could be the case?

 

[QLD]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (sanzar @ Nov 4 2008, 05:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

So Dan give us your view of what happened here and perhaps why it is that England don't seem to be able to produce the backs that Australia do. The scary thing for you boys is that you basically just played the Queensland Origin team... NSW lost to them this year, but they sure as f*** didn't get thumped 52-4, which means that our second team is potentially better than your first. What on earth is wrong with the Super League that this could be the case?[/b]

Imports are ruining the league, just like foreigners have invaded the English Premier League and the England Soccer Team has been **** ever since.. oh wait they've always been ****?

But seriously SL stop taking our players!

Sanzar maybe we should have a Queensland, NSW and Aboriginal teams at the next world cup so England have a better chance at getting a lower losing margin? and change back to Great Britain, those 1-2 scottish/irish/welsh players that would make the team really helpp too..

 

[Gay-Guy]

Yeah filling the Super League with players who don't cut it anymore in the NRL will make the SL a lesser comp. The imports are on the decline in their careers and don't push the SL standard up the way they did when they were in their prime with the NRL as well as making less starting spots for home grown talent to flourish. Would be a different story if the SL took players who were at the height of their careers in the NRL.

 

[QLD]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gay-Guy @ Nov 4 2008, 07:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Yeah filling the Super League with players who don't cut it anymore in the NRL will make the SL a lesser comp. The imports are on the decline in their careers and don't push the SL standard up the way they did when they were in their prime with the NRL as well as making less starting spots for home grown talent to flourish. Would be a different story if the SL took players who were at the height of their careers in the NRL.[/b]

Yep, very good points.

Players are leaving around 30, earliest at 28 the good ones from origin.. but rep footy takes a toll on the players.

The ones that leave in there early twenties are the ones that know they wont play rep footy and go for a quick 2-3 paycheck, then might stay on for a bit longer.

But foreigners are making the ESL a lot weaker in terms of developing potential English talent.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

The days of past-it NRL players going to the Super League finished years ago. About 8 years ago in fact. I've been saying this for years - I think the NRL is scared of the Super League. We have taken players at the peak of their powers like Jamie Lyon and Matt King and Michael Monoghan.

I do not accept the NRL is a superior league to Super League, and I don't care how good the national teams are.

 

[Bullitt]

The club game and the international game in either code now have sod all to do with each other; Look at Ireland in Union for example...

Ireland: ****.
Munster: Arguably the best team in the world.

Back to RL, I've decided from what I've seen that the sport isn't ready for a World cup. There's the one great super-power in the form of Australia, the 2 middle of the road teams in England and NZ, then there's a bunch of other amateur-Sunday-league teams making up the numbers. A lot of people criticized the RUWC for similar reasons, but we're not going to see anything like Argentinas meteoric rise in this World cup.

It's a steady precession of part-time players bumbling around team-mates who they only met for the first time 6 weeks ago with the occasional "Big Game" thrown in for good measure. The crowd numbers are also abysmal.

Not even slightly impressed with the whole thing. And before hand I was really looking forward to it all.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

Ireland winning that group is the league equivalent of Argentina and then some. I'm not saying it's going to spark a huge rise long term but Ireland beating Samoa has sent shockwaves through international league.

I'm loving this tournament apart from the games in the super group. I don't think I've watched a bad game in the other groups. Much better than 2000 tournament.

 

[QLD]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (St Helens RLFC @ Nov 6 2008, 06:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The days of past-it NRL players going to the Super League finished years ago. About 8 years ago in fact. I've been saying this for years - I think the NRL is scared of the Super League. We have taken players at the peak of their powers like Jamie Lyon and Matt King and Michael Monoghan.

I do not accept the NRL is a superior league to Super League, and I don't care how good the national teams are.[/b]

Jamie Lyon quit the NRL for a year than sparked his career back by going to England and Kingy only left because the former Garbo was a late bloomer and needs to cash in early in his career to make up for the years he missed.

FWIW I like it when players go early, when they are 24-26. One example is Tonie Carroll, plays NRL and State of Origin for 4 years at a younger age, goes to England for 2-3 years then comes back in career best form, plays more origin and debuts for Australia. Then, he gets the chance to retire from the game in the NRL, at the Broncos. Its a shame some of these players are picking ESL over there club, state and country, buts thats whats gonna happen when they are offered huge amounts of money.

Your kidding yourself if the NRL are scared , Dan I will just remind you 52-4, and we have a lot of talent coming through the ranks believe me. Just look at what a success the u20's has been in nuturing more talent... one goes, one more comes through, and we could have 30 of our best players injured for Australia but we would still beat you.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

I wouldn't mind but Tonie Carroll was rubbish when he was in Super League and hated by his own fans!

Like I say - I think the NRL is scared of the Super League. We don't have all that much more money to spend than the NRL- people come to the Super League because it's a damned good competition. This fact is is ignored by the ignorant and arrogant NRL, who cite this fictional huge defecit in spending power.

 

[Fa'atau82]

Well, if you ask me it's down to 3 things that makes this gulf between Australia and England.

1. The sport is only played in the North of England.
2. Australia tend to prefer RL as it is more similar to Aussie Rules and all kids grow up knowing how to play footie (not soccer).
3. Far too many imports in Super League.

Yet didn't i see that Leeds beat an NRL team in what is the soccer equivalent of the world club cup?

So it's not so much the Super League that poses a problem, it think it is purely down to the fact that having a sport played from one region of a country like we do in England, effectively means it's like Wales vs Brazil at soccer, we simply do not have the huge pool talent to challenge, even though we have some great players.