Was stood at the Tonga v Samoa game with a lad who was an analyst for the RFL’s high performance team under Wayne Bennett.

I mentioned the lower intensity than I expected and he put it down to the Islanders being more prevalent in the NRL systems and more measured in their approach to play not just relying on their physicality because inevitably they could not play to the high levels of intensity for the full 80.

What I find somewhat odd about your post is it seems like you are almost hoping the England team struggle on Saturday and are certainly not giving them credit for how good they have been so far in the tournament.

The NRL/Australian comps were always going to supply the majority of the knock out team players as quite simply there are 20 times the players playing the game professionally over there and even more than that playing the game as juniors.

Penrith Panthers alone have a junior linked system with more junior players in it than the whole of England has juniors playing the game.

I don’t think England will win by 60 again far from it, but I do think there will be 2 or 3 scores in it.

He’s not hoping, what he’s doing is using the typical English defence mechanism. Talk England down so you if we get beaten you can say I told you so and avoid humiliation.

TBF I don’t blame people, how many times have we been here before, only to get wiped out when it gets serious?

I don’t predict these days, all I can do is say that so far England have looked good. What I don’t understand is why Alegend feels the need to dismiss that element, that I do find a bit odd.

I think the Samoa Tonga game was by far the most competitive of the tournament so far, maybe because both teams were as fast as each other, regarding 'line speed' etc.
Whether the big hits appeared or not, to me doesn't detract from the fact that no player on the park had anything else to give at the end of the game and that to me is all you can ask for.
I thought personally it was a great game.
England have looked very good so far, and I suppose the yardstick will ultimately be against Australia - after we overcome a very different Samoa to the one we played in the first game.
I think England have their best chance for years of success - but those Aussies just won't lie down easily!

Agreed. I think we genuinely have a chance of winning it. We are second favourites behind the Aussies but for the first time in decades I think they have weaknesses that can be exposed.

The key for them in my opinion is Harry Grant. The pack is not one that terrifies me any more in fact I would say it is the most average pack the my have sent over in my lifetime. Grant though when he is playing well and allowed even a half yard of space gets them on the front foot superbly well.

This is where I think the Pacific nations lack a little quality and depth. They have wonderful athletes who seem purpose built physically for the game, but they do lack a bit of consistency and depth at 9, 6 & 7 and their 13s tend to be a little one dimensional.

I am of the opinion this England team can match most teams physically and also skill wise if we can keep out best 17 fit. It’s the belief and the Aussies knowing how to win that worries me.

We cannot overlook Samoa who will be a very different animal to the one we played in the first game but I think we will have the quality to go in confident we can and should beat them.

I’ve never seen an England forward pack dominated, though we have been consistently dominated 1-7 since I can remember. If we can contain Latrell and co we stand a chance.

At the risk of howls of derision, I fancy the Kiwis to get it together on Friday night and beat Australia.

the left edge of the aussies is the one - keep latrell and the Addo-carr. Keeping them quiet for me is the way to win the game.

That would be the best result for us. It's not that I don't rate the Kiwis less than the Aussies as a team, I just don't think they have quite the psychological advantage over us that the Aussies do.

I don't think they'll be even close.

Fox Sports NRL page is saying that the Kiwis are really upset that the World Cup organisers have booked their flights home for Sunday, expecting them to lose, which will cost the organisers thousands of pounds if they have to reorganise the flights. If that doesn't get them up for the game, nothing will.

No way, that’s scandalous

If true I suspect it’s logistical incompetence rather than the over dramatic Fox interpretation. Have they booked Samoa’s flights?

Been a while since I’ve said this but imho fake news.

Fake news astonishing. It's on the internet it must be true.

Cheers Donald

Would the organisers even book their flights? I'm sure they would book their own.

Two of the worlds most high profile players , Fifita and Taumalola were big disappointments for me in this game , Jason ran it in a few times but Fifita didn’t look interest and was skulking wide out well away from the play the ball . Expected a lot more from these two big earners .

[urlhttps://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/rugby-league-world-cup-2021-new-zealand-vs-australia-semi-final-flight-more-kiwis-michael-maguire-schedule-finals-draw-mal-meninga-daly-cherryevans/news-story/6d23f0cb54a73cce50a8765e937bba3c[/url

“Reportedly” says it all for me , the mind games are up and running

Yes, you might be right, but it is Fox Sports, who broadcast the NRL, so it is akin to the Sky Sports page, much different to some of the websites. It has some credibility.

I think that is the Fifita style. He doesn't go looking for the work. The consensus seems to be that he needs to be in a team where those inside do the work so he can the more devastating stuff against a stretched defence. Unfortunately, he's always played for a team that isn't that good, and they hope he'll work some magic.

Too chilled? Too lazy? Not played in a good enough team? A mystery, but he's young enough to find his place. The day isn't far away, however, where he'll get paid an awful lot less.

Worst career move Fifita made was taking the huge money to go to the Titans.

Gone from a future legend to a lazy player because he took the easy option to join a club with a poor culture rather than take less money to go to a club that would develop him further as a player. Only young though so still time for him to turn it around.

I think Taumalola may have been playing injured spent a lot of time with the physio in the warm up and he certainly wasn’t at his block busting best.

I have no doubt some cock up has been made by someone. However what is now being done is to sensationalise it to create click bait.

It’s much more newsworthy for Fox Australia to make out that it may have been pommie arrogance or incompetence than to state it was a clerical error by someone in the NZ camp.

I think when it comes to running big sporting events we do ok in this country. A few gremlins in this WC but nothing massive, so I reckon we could book flights if that’s our job.

May be wrong, but stinks of Pom bashing to me.

It might depend on who is paying.

I'm more impressed that it only costs $350 to fly to New Zealand! As cheap as Malaga.