...I can't see England making the final.

138 (74%) of their 186 points scored in the 1st half of their 4 games.....4 points conceded


48 (26%) of their points scored in the 2nd half....34 (89%) of their 38 against conceded.

If England are within 10 at half time I can see them getting to the Final......other than France, NZ have been tested in the 2nd half and beaten by Samoa, drew with the scots and they beat PNG by a conversion.

Why are you talking about England playing in a match they have not yet qualified for?

Are you suggesting that NZ are tiring and not easing off in games they have been cruising?

Every team in the NRL knows how to close down the Warriors when they play like that.
You just keep the defence tight and in their face and they get frustrated and start making mistakes.
You don't try to play the same game as them - you complete your sets and try to keep them in their half as much as you can, and you beat them with percentage football.

Good job the Warriors aren't playing in the World Cup then.

England will murder France.......if you think otherwise then get your shirt on France at 40/1....maybe double up with the USA at 150/1!





Easing off? Are you suggesting that the Kiwis are actually a lot better than their average 47-10 victories against the countries ranked 4, 6, 8 and 11



I have lived here 4 years now and it isn't in the psyche of Kiwis to "ease off".......they looked genuinely rattled against PNG and Samoa in the second halves.

It's the style they have liked to play for 10 years or more - and the style everyone knows how to beat.

Should have told the Aussies that in 05,08 and 2010.

5 years ago in the RLWC Final and 2 years later in the 4 nations would point to your point of view being slightly skewed....not to mention the 2011 NRL season either, when the Warriors were 1 game away from being #1 of 16 sides that apparently should have known how to beat them.

When the Kiwis throw the ball about/play like touch footy, they are pretty much unbeatable. They often as much make the mistake of trying the razzle dazzle too early v the Aussies in the ANZAC tests, but if they achieve parity or better up front, they have the game to beat anyone.

Best thing to happen to NZ this time was Benji making himself unavailable. They still have plenty of off the cuff style players but Foran now has a much bigger influence & his more direct & controlled game is the only thing they were missing.

Excellent point.

You can sense the desperation from Gutterfax after all this pessimism and doom mongering for several months. For him and a couple of others.....England need to fail.

I said the RLWC would struggle with crowds...I was wrong. I will repeat the consumption of humble pie as required. As for England needing to fail? Makes no odds to me.....this RLWC has exceeded my expectations in certain areas and regardless of who wins, the bar has been set very high for 2017.

...2013 has gone past the 2000 total as of today.......2008 should/will fall tomorrow....and the overall record will be gone by next Sunday.


BTW.......how does my identifying the trend for Kiwi 2nd half performances make me desperate......is it not a valid observation?

The Kiwis have never had to come from behind yet so the second half stats are meaningless - yes Somoa had a better second half but they lost by 20!!

England will do well to get within 20 points of NZ, assuming we beat France.