The last game we played wouldn't suggest so imo. If Johnson doesn't play well, NZ tend to not fire in general. He was poor in the Aus V NZ test in Perth and Aus won easy. He was pretty awful at times tonight, but when he did fire at the end he nearly drew them the game. Ateotd we didn't exactly play great against NZ and lost by a single Johnson DG, it's not as if there's a great deal of difference between the 2 sides even with Johnson playing well.

On the subject of Today's games and England's next one against Aus.

Today it appeared to me as if England thought it'd be a formality & thus wouldn't need to get out of 3rd gear. Before they knew it though Scotland had scored twice, giving them a huge boost in confidence & they stated to believe. In the end we had enough quality & good spells in the game to win fairly comfortably. The generally intensity though was low from England & the tactics were basic to say the least. Add that to the god knows how many penalties, that made it so stop and start, turned the game into a turgid affair.

The Aussies had a great first half but didn't put the points on the board that they should have. They controlled where large parts of the game were played, with there go forward and a good last kick but if you can stay in a contest with them like NZ showed there is a chance of us winning. For as much as a downer the game was today for England, I think (Hope) they'll be well up for it against the Aussies. To have a chance of winning against them, we need all our players playing to their abilities, especially our more experienced better players. To complete our sets, cuts out the errors and be more creative than we have been in this must win game. Plus a bit of extra intensity wouldn't go a miss. Conversely the Aussies have be a little under par.

No one expects us to be the number one sport in the UK but it's disappointing that a England international with a game between the top two international teams in the world thrown in was played in fromt of a third empty stadium.

I agree it should have sold out regardless of were it was played 32,000 stadium watching a double header should have been an easy sell we always need to blame something last night it was bonfire night last week it was hard to get to Hull on a Friday if England RU had been playing anyone anytime you can guarantee 80.000 sell out

Coventry just didn't appeal.

We looked at the fixtures and where they were.

Anfield was a no brainer, top stadium, top game guaranteed and a chance for a seat in the "Kop", it was a simple decision.
Then there was a choice between Huddersfield or Coventry and for us, we didn't want to miss seeing the Kiwis, so Huddersfield got the nod (just in case we didn't make the final) and it looks like we picked the right games.

Coventry is virgin territory for RL and on that basis 20,000 + isn't shocking but trying to sell a lopsided game is never going to be easy.
Regardless of any hype, Engalnd were always going to beat Scotland comfortably.

The RFL should do more to sell tickets through the clubs and use this network to sell tickets for the International fixtures.

Union does very well at allocating tickets through the clubs, right through the different tiers and if clubs dont sell their allocation, they dont get options for future games, which means that if they want tickets for the big games, they have to sell tickets for the less important fixtures.
This also generates interest in the fixtures etc, etc.

Probably the worse performance by England, I have ever had the displeasure of seeing. Not one player deserved more than a 5 out of 10 performance.

Sam Burgess a great player but on the evidence of his first 2 games as the captain, a captain he ain't.

Why should have it been sold out regardless where it was played? Fact is Coventry is one of the worst places they could've chosen to have a double header.

And in its current state the Four Nations are mind-numblingly boring

under macnamara at least we made some progress, under bennett we have gone backwards!

we just dont have the half backs im afraid, not good enough which is a shame as we have the forward power.

sam burgess hasnt been the star we expected for this tournament.

coventry was a stupid decision, they wont get another game.

well played scotland, showed determination and heart.

what a crying shame we wont make the final on home soil

It seems incredible that they didn't think to put at least one game in Scotland.

How are you going to sell the game to the Scots if they have to travel 100's of miles.

Well that was poor, and most of the crowd around me soon lost enthusiasm and got the iphones etc out.
We seemed obsessed with the short drop off pass even when quick hands out wide would have given our backs a chance, we seemed to play in slow motion and the halves really didn't get us going, afraid to say, Brough and Addy outplayed us in that department, although credit to him, Williams improved and deservedly got MOM.

As for the criticism of Watkins, not a lot he can do when the play never goes further than the 2nd rowers before it's switched to come back inside again, overall a poor showing from England, but Scotland played well so credit to them.

Watched the union Wales v Australia game prior to the league England v Scotland, excluding the scrums the union game was much better, the league game was boring. Agent Bennett has turned England into a basic one dimensional team and looked as bored watching the game than I did.

Just a note on Coventry, i heard a lot of Midlands and southern accents and saw lots of people wearing club attire from rugby teams of both codes from all around the south and midlands, not including a significant number of wasps fans, and spoke to people who had never been to any kind of rugby game, so that has to be a positive, that's if they enjoyed the games and want to come again?

You are right what you say but i would also like to add there looks to be little or no organisation in our play at all. Nobody is clearly sailing the ship like Thurston for Australia and Johnson for NZ, our line depth is so flat no angled runners only thing we do is that out the back play for Lomax which is so predictable and slow.Contrast that to the Aussies in the last two games, with Cordner, Merrinm, Thaiday and the rest providing great options and bending the line.

Watkins has had his criticism, but i bet he has had no more than three or four passes to him in the two games, and only once in space that i recall. we have two great finishers on the flanks so why can't we play to them? Bashing it down the middle time after time against a spirited but limited scottish side showed our lack of general idea and Leadership.

Just the sort of comment you expect from fans of so called "top" teams like Leeds- life doesn't exist outside SL as far of those with their head in the clouds are concerned.
Coventry bears have a rugby league team in the area perhaps they may be hoping to get a few more locals interested in the game eh......

The stadium is fantastic. The game was excellently stewarded and organised by stadium staff- no ridiculous bag searches or refusal to allow own food and drink- there were only 3000 less than a game played in the heartlands the previous week....
The error was with the scheduling. Kick off should have been played earlier and it should not have been played on bonfire night at all.
I liked it - the stadium is better than Newcastle so perhaps they win the bid next year

I'd be surprised if even one mini-bus load of Scots attended the game, if even a car full.

Don't think the venue was the wrong decision at all. The date and kick off times were more of the problem.

As for Bennett and England.. He has definitely got England playing some very basic and boring footy. Watkins is getting lots of stick but he hardly touched the ball.

Also Bennett and his pre or post match interviews are so bad to watch. He gives the interviewer nothing at all and gives off the impression that he would rather be somewhere else.

there were plenty of Scotland fans around us, and i saw plenty of Scotland flags around the ground,which is a good thing surely?

I think the stick Bennett has received for his interviews is unfair. The dour, contemptuous demeanour is exactly the same as it has been his whole career. He isn't going to change now.

Amazing best coach of his generation and people always find something wrong.

He is a dry person to interview apparently he hates doing them. And over 20 odd years I would hate them as well.

I'd go back to the tri nations but play each other twice and have a second tier comp played at the same time and play double headers every time there isn't going to be a fourth team to match the big three ever

It could well go down to points difference to decide the finalists.

I hope you're right, that would mean beating the Aussies next week



After watching them dominate NZ (apart from the scoreboard) and England making hard work of beating Scotland, I'll take any kind of win next week.
You should get a decent price at Ladbrokes.

yep, me too.

Boring to watch though - International RL has actually become worse to watch than RU

Maybe but on current evidence he is taking us backwards.