John Wilkin?

The trouble with Chase's kick is that, like any showboat move, you can only get away with trying it if it works. You can try it, but you better not screw it. Failure is not an option. Do not attempt unless you are certain.

I agree if you're on the back foot it's an option. But we wern't, Lockyer had kicked the ball dead to slow us down and get re organised. Then Chase gave them the ball, they scored, then in the second half he passed them the ball in their 25 and they scored.

I honestly think that Leeds on a good day would make a better fist of beating Australia than England. Wire, Sts and Wigan fans may feel the same about their teams. This suggests to me that the players cannot adapt easily to playing alongside players with whom they're unfamiliar - and the less orthodox the player, the greater the difficulties facing their team-mates. This is why Chase at 7 cannot work for me. Nothing to do with him being a New Zealander.

sorry but this england team have gelled and played better together than just about any GB/ENG side in the last 10 years

To be fair, had Boyd needed to bust a gut and pull out a good piece of play to keep it infield I wouldn't have been half as critical.

It's the fact he was way off in terms of both weight and angle of the kick that made it even more infuriating.

Good to see the "Sinfield isn't an international half-back" crowd out in full force again. Have a look at how many of England's tries in this tournament he's had the final or penultimate pass in, and compare that to his supposedly more creative half back partner.

If Rob Burrow had put in three performances like Chase has he'd have been pilloried on here, and rightly so. Chase, while a fine big fish in a small pond, simply doesn't have it in him to step up at this level.

As many or more tries have been from a chase pass or penultimate pass as from sinfield, when sinfield has thrown the final pass its often been from after chase has given him the ball, ie on halls first try, tompkins last week, the briscoe 'no try' (technically not a try but should have been )
I think the reason why people are dissapointed with sinfield is that while he hasnt been poor he doesnt seem to have played as well as we know he can at club level. For me the 2 players should be swapped round, sinfield controlling at 7 and chase playing his natural game at 6.

Rubbish. We've beaten Australia in the past 10 years. We were soundly beaten at the weekend and haven't won any meaningful matches. If that's the best we've done in the past 10 years it's a sorry state.

That's the nub of it I'm afraid - he doesn't appear to be able to live with the intensity of a proper international.

Chase has both more assists and Sinfield's assists have come from a Chase pass bar one which came from a Tomkins pass.



In your opinion, where as current internationals have come out and said he's been playing well, and in the first 20 against the Aussies he was pretty much untouchable.

Just listen to what Fien had to say about his game against the Aussies, some nomark fans who know nothing about the game spouting crap means nothing compared to fellow professionals praising him.

Oh and if you're basing that he isn't good enough for international rugby after 3 games (1 MOTM, 6 assists) then surely every player in the team apart from Tomkins (the only player I can't recall making a mistake) isn't good enough either?

I thought Chase got caught in possesion too much and that kick was poorly judged. You need to build pressure in internationals. Chase should come off the bench at this level to provide impact imo. Start Widdop at 6 and Sinny at 7. Chase can provide spark and big play capability better off the bench at this level.

But that leaves the problem of Sinfield not being good enough, the best half back combination England have used so far was against Wales when they had Widdop & Chase as the half backs and Sinfield was at hooker.

But Sinfield wont be impact factor playing 9 off the bench. The squad selection was wrong. Should have picked Brough at 7 with either Widdop or Chase at 6. Last year i thought McNamara had picked the wrong halfbacks. This year he has done the same.

Yes Chase made some mistakes that cost us.... But to write him off as 'not international class' is absurd.

he is only a few games into his international career... and at times he looked decent... if he is guilty of anything, its trying too hard to impress.

That's the problem with alot of RL fans...... far too quick to jump to a conclusion on a player.

wasn't that long ago people on here were saying Tomkins couldn't do it on the big stage after a few lacklustre games in an england shirt.

I certainly wont be shouting for him to be cast aside after a few mistakes.

The problem for me is the England coaching set up and the restricted game plan.
Most of our skilful players never enhance there Superleague form and take it into the international game, which suggests they are shackled a bit into a no risk game.

I used to think that was the problem too, but we looked to genuinely threaten the Aussies more than we have done in a long time, probably since we last beat them down under as GB. I've been as big a detractor of McNamara as you can find but the problem on Saturday boiled down to execution and basic errors. We made more than the Aussies in vital situations. That's the long and short of it as far as I could see, along with the Australian goal-line defence being a lot more disciplined

I don't think there's much to fear from this current Australian squad, especially now they're without Billy Slater. They're very efficient and disciplined but I definitely think we're capable of turning them over. We just need to be more composed when it counts

Bang on fella



I'm not about to start trying to say Chase had a great game on Saturday, far from it. He made a couple of big mistakes that cost England dearly.

Most Cas fans, if they're being honest, will admit that's what you get with Chase - he can be a matchwinner but sometimes the high risk play costs you dearly.

If England are gonna persevere with Chase they have to accept the risk of mistakes cos if you ask him to stop taking risks you stifle his game and may as well not have him in the side. One of the commentators/pundits on Saturday noted England won't beat Australia by playing percentages and knocking out the sets which is probably why Chase has been included.

I agree completely with that. I would like to see a genuine scrum half alongside Chase or Widdop. Brough, Burrow or Lomax may have been better options, with Sinfield on the bench or at loose instead of Heighington. Chase is not a natural scum half. He and, in particular, Ben Westward were liabilities at times. You just can't give the Aussies good field position like that.

In all honesty, we aren't good enough yet to beat the Ausies. But, at least, we didn't embarrass ourselves this time. If we can get a fully fit pack out there against them, and work out our best halfback partnership, we stand a chance of beating them in a one off game. That could win us a tournament.

England have to take all their chances and make fewer mistakes than the Aussies.

The Aussies took their chances on the back of England errors. England created as many chances if not more than the Aussies but didn't take them all.

Simple really, but penalties, silly plays, dropped balls etc. mean you lose against the Aussies.

Quote ="morleys_deckchair"Are the stats for the game available anywhere yet?'" Don't think anyone has replied to you but here you go. The stats were available live. live.nrlstats.com/rep/

Quote ="morleys_deckchair"Are the stats for the game available anywhere yet?'" Don't think anyone has replied to you but here you go. The stats were available live. live.nrlstats.com/rep/

thanks

Quote ="Harrigan"Don't think anyone has replied to you but here you go. The stats were available live. live.nrlstats.com/rep/'" Interesting stuff in there. Heighington needs to up his game if he's going to justify his starting berth. Plus, only six scoots by Roby? I was convinced he'd done much more than that! Maybe he only took what the Aussies gave him from dummy half?

Quote ="Harrigan"Don't think anyone has replied to you but here you go. The stats were available live. live.nrlstats.com/rep/'" Interesting stuff in there. Heighington needs to up his game if he's going to justify his starting berth. Plus, only six scoots by Roby? I was convinced he'd done much more than that! Maybe he only took what the Aussies gave him from dummy half?

Correct, for instance hall let the ball 2 and both times it worked out ok, the aussies could have scored and hall would have been made a villain, and some would be calling for him to be dropped, instead of us all talking about the two great tries he scored.

Quote ="Harrigan"Don't think anyone has replied to you but here you go. The stats were available live. live.nrlstats.com/rep/'" Those stats dont match the ones in the league express.

Quote ="Harrigan"Don't think anyone has replied to you but here you go. The stats were available live. live.nrlstats.com/rep/'" Those stats dont match the ones in the league express.

Yeah, the ones on NRL.com never match the ones in LE either. Its not an accurate science. Its a few guys deciding whats just happened