a good read...

Why did he expect a full segment in the SPOTY ceremony, in Britain's best Olympic year, and with other sports having succesful years. You have to earn plaudits and recognition at awards ceremonies - not just given them following mediocre performances.



Also, did he really want to have England's shambolic World Cup performances repeated for the whole nation to see?

Interesting he touches on the different styles of play offered within the NRL and SL, very true and no coincidence we failed with a team of leeds/Saints players who play with speed of the play the ball.



The main reason for our poor showing in the WC for me was the grapple, it slowed us down and we never had momentum. Now with the two ref system in the NRL I can see the grapple being eliminated from the game and speeding up the play the ball in the NRL...so for once, I can see the Aussies copying our game and not vice versa. Riddiculous how we don't play to the same rules!!

i watched france v england from last year again yesterday, when england tackled the french,2 men in,get the french guy on the deck and then off him quick as a flash,no laying on or grappling/wrestling,no messing about...the same with the french on the english.....the game was reffed by an aussie,jason robinson..



why did he ref the game 'normally'? i'll tell you why...because ricky stuart & the ARL did'nt order him to ref it like a NRL game....like archer & hayne were





i hope to god tony smith and the rest of the england camp don't change the way they play to mimick the 'NRL style' cos the next big comp is up here this time,in our favour,under our rules...



STICK TO OUR GUNS LADS,WE'LL RIP EM' A NEW ONE..

Stuart got at the refs before the tournament started. I think they'll be forced to play 'our' game in the 4 Nations, mainly as it's held here but think there will also be a shift in the NRL style of play. This tournament could be the making of International RL.

Got to love the history re writers.

England narrowly beat a team of developing players and lost the next three games FACT

Not because of some grapple tackle that stopped the momentum and "Scooting"

They lost because they were inept in defense and could not read attacking plays

They had hardly any structure in attack to mount pressure.

The players could not catch and pass at first grade standard.



Many of the players, especially in the halves and backs are either not good enough or well past it.

Lack of depth has kept the same faces trotted out year after year with no pressure for their Test Spots.

England would be lucky to have two players named in a World 17 team.



There has been a couple of Tri nations held in England recently and some of the same players were in the England team but a bit younger and in their prime.



Did they win? they did not even make the final one year in a 3 Horse race, the year they did make the final and they were home favorites similar to the big talking here before the World Cup what was the result? 44-4 or something as Lockyer destroyed them in 30 minutes on his own and they eased off the gas in the second half.



France might beat England this year after the rubbish England served up.



"It was the grapple tackle Sir Honest"

England also pushed the World Champions very close, twice, and would have beaten them had it not been for elementary mistakes players dont usually make. along with confessed cheating by Isaac Luke.



We played poorly, we didnt play to our potential, nad we can and will play better, i fully expect the 4 nations to be much much closer

Poor team selection, poor team management and poor team tactics are the reasons the World Cup was lost.



Not the grapple tackle.

not imo, poor performance was the one and only reason we performed so poorly,



We picked the best team available, had the best coach available, but simply played poorly and made mistakes professional players simply shouldnt have made

Tony Smith had a great track record, but our disorganisation and general inability to defend has to be his fault

'' think there's a happy medium to be found. They've gone too far with the wrestling style in the tackle and we've got to look to have more discipline and grind it out on occasions. Our problem was the refereeing to their style. Because we had to adapt on the run, every tackle you went in to you had to concentrate that much harder and apply new techniques. The focus was so much on that that it drained you. We had to change the way we defended and because it wasn't an instinctive thing, it was energy sapping. That's why people came up with the mistakes they did. ''



I think this paragraph is very interesting from waht jamie said. its nice too see someone providing an explanation and some analysis as to why players that we see perform so well all year suddenly become so error ridden. I also full agree with him about having a 12 week pre season to really get fit and practice skills. the sooner the clubs agree to get rid of four fixtures and the season is aligned with the nrl starting in march the better.

The Australian influence is here people. More moaning off the pitch has seemed to occurred more by our players!