32 - 18 15 mins to go

They were outstanding at times, certain players especially, but I bet a combined Leeds/Wigan would have beat them tonight. We just had really poor players in sme areas ad the Aussies exploited. But we had plenty of chances to make it much closer, and some por calls at times from the ref.

Golding and Lilley had excellent games for us. Sutcliffe looked good at times, so too did Minns after first half hour of game. Mulhern looked powerful, and Baldwinson kept running it it without making much damage. Tanks looked ok and for me better than Walters and Minchella. But Milton, Norfolk, and Handley looked really poor, along with a couple of others.

For them, Gela, Tracey, and Stone were absolutely outstanding.

They had a huge pack and for that first 25/30 minutes we just couldn't handle them.
As Gotcha said we had chances to make it closer but they were deserved winners i'd also say Liddle(9) Sele(1icon_cool.gif & Amone(10) were strong for them.
Dont know what anyone else thought but after the all in scuffle how only 2 ended up in the bin with them getting the penalty i'll never know it was in front of where i was sat and they even had 3 subs come wading in after they started it with a cheap shot on Brierley in touch!

Mincella won't make it at Leeds or any other super league club, looked well out of his depth tonight. So did a few others. But some held up well.

Stone for them was outstanding and not a big player either.

Nice gesture by those young Aussies to leave a floral tribute in remembrance of Graham Murray

Interesting comments regarding Minchella & Handley given that they are in the England team for the test series.
Worryingly for England, i thought 3 of the 4 Wigan players from the England team were poor last saturday as well.

Not sure who is in the England squad from Wigan tbh but thought they were pretty unlucky and assuming there are stronger players elsewhere a combined team should go pretty close. These three games the Aussies have had together will definitely give them an advantage.

Handley was the major reason we lost at London - he needs to work a lot harder on his game if he is to make a career in RL

I thought we were much sharper when Robbie Ward was on the pitch and as others have said Mulhern looked the part, as did Lilly. And WTF do they feed their 'school boys' down under? They're fookin' massive.

I thought Ward looked much stronger than his size, but felt when he went off the team as a whole went better, as Lilley did a lot more. And the replacement Frankland got through quite a bit of work.

Minnsie put a massive hit on Stone which I enjoyed

We seemed a lot better after the biff.

When was the last time the academy played before last night?

Seven weeks ago was the last Academy game. For the lads at Bradford and London, might have been a week or so earlier?

Not to mention it'll have been the first time in around a year since the likes of Baldwinson, Tonks, Minns and Sutcliffe will have played a match with the majority of that squad.

Rhinos have got 4 players in the 1st test v Australia therfl.co.uk/news/article/31437/ ... ng-academy

Rhinos have got 4 players in the 1st test v Australia therfl.co.uk/news/article/31437/ ... ng-academy

Thought the ref was pish poor. Having let the Aussies get away with plenty of "flat" passes he pulls us up when we looked certain to score at 28-18. He penalises us and they go straight over in the next set of six to kill the game. How he never sent the lad off for the late, head high tackle when we scored our last try is unbelievable. Of course, the lad would have been ineligible for Saturday's game so the ref cheated. There was also a late shoulder charge in the same move that layed a Leeds player out, not penalised. My advice to England on Saturday would be to hit late with the shoulder and hurt to create doubt. Fight fire with fire. As long as there is no contact with head it's worth it if they are going to score anyway.

Quote ="The Chin's Back"Rhinos have got 4 players in the 1st test v Australia therfl.co.uk/news/article/31437/ ... ng-academy'" & good to see that two of those are from my local club Oulton Raiders.

Quote ="The Chin's Back"Rhinos have got 4 players in the 1st test v Australia therfl.co.uk/news/article/31437/ ... ng-academy'" & good to see that two of those are from my local club Oulton Raiders.

22-18 to Australia in the first Test. Four tries each, Australia's superior goal-kicking won the day in front of a 1,300 crowd.

1,586 to be precise, hopefully they'll open part of the North stand on friday

Aussies were the better side but England did create a few chances. Somehow we need to find a pack to hold theirs.
Toby King was Englands standout player.

Game 2 - England 28 - 14 Aussies. Well done young lads, the future appears bright! Tries from Leeds academy products Ash Handly and Robbie Ward.

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/31 ... -top-marks

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/31 ... -top-marks

And a man of the match performance from Ash Golding. A player that Leeds probably need to get out into Championship One at some point to get some games against grown ups.

Yep with no A team needs first team rugby now,

Video from the game including an interview with James Graham. www.englandrl.co.uk/news/video?5UESyVcuk48

Video from the game including an interview with James Graham. www.englandrl.co.uk/news/video?5UESyVcuk48