Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:09 pm  

Widdop was also great. Can’t believe some would move him to FB when he’s had such an impact at SO.

Wingers great too. Roby was very strong. So was SBurgess till his injury. Thought Hill and Graham went ok too.

Gale and the centres need to improve.

Lomax I’m not sure about. He dropped some balls which stands out, but he also added the extra man and created questions for the defence throughout. I was swearing at him, but noted that the Aussies credited the back three after the game.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:12 pm  

first half we just couldnt get any field position, aussies pinned us back every time... we got off too a perfect start mind! did anyone else notice the bbc commentary was ahead of the game? annoying.

second half we were alot better, roby changed the game for us, we grew in confidence and thats the way we can beat them...hope to meet again in the final now.

for me lomax should not be playing, ratchford would be so much better (shame it isnt hardaker in the first place!)

we lost burgess too which any team would miss, hope they can get him ready for the comp later on.

oh and a note of the ref, what a difference it makes to watch a game thats allowed to flow! sl refs please take note.

interesting the ref corrected thaler when thaler was going to give the aussies a penalty!

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:19 pm  

oooh Gravy! wrote:

I think picking players just because they've played together, regardless of form is our downfall. We should be picking the form players for each position. It shouldn't be harder to get out of the team than it is to get in it!

Agree with that. And in some cases dropping players helps them liven up, instead of just coasting because regardless of how they play they're still going to be in the team.

The problem in my opinion is until we get a decent international calendar, we're going to keep doing it because like I said it becomes better the devil you know. More international rugby would give us more of a chance to test new players giving them an opportunity.

I don't want to pick on players, but Kalum Watkins is an example of someone who is picked regardless of how he's played. Because we know what he can do. More internationals gives us a chance to see other players, and gives him the kick up the backside he needs.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:24 pm  

I don’t think Lomax should be scapegoated, he made the same number of errors as the Australian full back.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:28 pm  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

I don’t think Lomax should be scapegoated, he made the same number of errors as the Australian full back.

He dropped the kick which he should have held. The other error he made came about from the winger coming out of the defensive line to stop him from putting Batemen or Hall away.

In the second half when we started playing, he made a few good balls to put us away down the right hand side. He was isolated by the Aussie kicking game as they tried to pin him back. I know some don't like the idea of stats, but Lomax made 144m from 17 carries.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:29 pm  

Was actually far better than I expected - thought theaussies were blowing at the end .

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:37 pm  

Both wingers were brilliant in my opinion. Other notable performances were Graham, Widdop and Roby. I'm probably gonna get shot by the other Cas fans on here, but I'm sorry Gale isn't an international half. If someone can tell me what Heighington brings to the team I'm all ears, but my opinion is absolutely nothing! He should be nowhere near that team, he was cr@p last time he was in the squad and he was cr@p today. Ref made a few mistakes, but on the whole he had a good game and, more importantly for me, let the game flow. I'm not too disheartened by todays performance, but I don't know where we are going to get that extra few percent needed to beat them. I hope I'm wrong though and we can beat them when it matters the most, the final!

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 12:44 pm  

Should be able to beat the Kiwis on that showing and make the final then we'll just have to hope that one of the Aussies has a brainfart in the final like Ben Flower cause that's the only way we'll beat them in the final.

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:02 pm  

I'd stick with Lomax, Gale & Widdop. Lets have some continuity. Lomax and Gale have 2 games to keep their place. Both need to improve.
Gale made two wrong calls in defence which led to tries.

Heighington needs dropping, just a plodder. No need to panic. Losing Walmsley was a blow and we lost our best player early on. Defensively we were absolutely outstanding.

For the next game i'd go:

Lomax
McGillvary
Watkins
Percival
Hall
Widdop
Gale
Graham
Roby
Hill
Whitehead
Bateman
O'loughlin

Hodgson
Walmsley
Burgess
Taylor

Re: GAME ON GROUP A : Australia v England - Fri - 10:00:00 : Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:04 pm  

caslad75 wrote:

Both wingers were brilliant in my opinion. Other notable performances were Graham, Widdop and Roby. I'm probably gonna get shot by the other Cas fans on here, but I'm sorry Gale isn't an international half. If someone can tell me what Heighington brings to the team I'm all ears, but my opinion is absolutely nothing! He should be nowhere near that team, he was cr@p last time he was in the squad and he was cr@p today. Ref made a few mistakes, but on the whole he had a good game and, more importantly for me, let the game flow. I'm not too disheartened by todays performance, but I don't know where we are going to get that extra few percent needed to beat them. I hope I'm wrong though and we can beat them when it matters the most, the final!

Broadly agree, and although I havent written Gale off just yet, the worse thing is we dont have another scrum half in the squad to put any sort of pressure on Gale, with McGuire and Sneyd sat at home. (At least Brown is getting a free holiday)

Also can we please let that be the last game Bateman plays at centre, he has played 4 games there now and surprise surprise they are the only 4 of the last 10 tests Hall has played without scoring, he doesnt know when to pass and the Slater try shows that he doesnt know when to jam in either. Nit his fault btw, he just is not a centre.

Also Im even more convinced that we should have picked Tomkins over Lomax, he had a 3 on 2 on the left and didnt see it and from what I have seen this year Tomkins is better defensively and positionally