Rugby League World Cup 2013 Thread

[Kenny]

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The Coaches are starting to name their squads with Scotland and Wales naming theirs today


Scotland squad : Gareth Moore (Batley Bulldogs), Danny Addy (Bradford Bulls), Peter Wallace (Brisbane Broncos), Jonathan Walker (Castleford Tigers), Ian Henderson (Catalan Dragons), Ben Hellewell (Featherstone Rovers), David Scott (Featherstone Rovers), Luke Douglas (Gold Coast Titans), Matthew Russell (Gold Coast Titans), Sam Barlow (Halifax), Dale Ferguson (Huddersfield Giants), Danny Brough (Huddersfield Giants), Adam Walker (Hull Kingston Rovers), Ben Fisher (London Broncos), Alex Hurst (London Broncos), Kane Linnett (North Queensland Cowboys), Andrew Henderson (Sheffield Eagles), Mitch Stringer (Sheffield Eagles), Alex Szostak (Sheffield Eagles), Oliver Wilkes (Wakefield Wildcats), Ben Kavanagh (Widnes Vikings), Brett Carter (Workington Town), Brett Phillips (Workington Town).


Wales squad: Neil Budworth (Moranbah Miners, Australia), Ross Divorty (Halifax), Gil Dudson, Ben Flower, Rhodri Lloyd (Wigan Warriors), Jake Emmitt, Jordan James (Salford Red Devils), Ben Evans, Elliot Kear (Bradford Bulls), Rhys Evans, Rhys Williams (Warrington Wolves), Dan Fleming (Castleford Tigers), James Geurtjens (Norths Devils, Australia), Danny Jones (Keighley Cougars), Craig Kopczak, Larne Patrick (Huddersfield Giants) Peter Lupton (Workington Town), Rob Massam, Christiaan Roets (North Wales Crusaders), Matt Seamark (Wynnum Manly Seagulls, Australia), Anthony Walker (St Helens), Ian Webster (Central Queensland Capras, Australia), Lloyd White (Widnes Vikings).

[Luke]

I really don't think England handled this situation well at all , if there has been a fight then they should of come out and said so and thrown both players out of the squad .

Imo this should never of happened if we had selected the right players in the first place , i have been told by someone in the know that the squad was selected with players who would ' frighten ' the Aussies ......well i'm sorry but the Aussies would of been more bothered about playing players who were in form rather then who would hit them .

Agree Kenny, doesMcNamara really think that Chase or Sinfield in the halls really frighten the Aussies more than Brough? That Crabtree wouldn't upset the Aussies more. He's had over 2 years to prepare for this tournament and can only pick a squad that might frighten the Aussies? Who know all about some of them as they're in the NRL, it's laughable really.

[Kenny]

To say we are underprepared is a understatement at least , though I'm not sure how or who we could of played to warm up for the tournament as all the northern hemisphere teams are just walk overs if England actually play their best 17 .

Australia haven't named any of the NRL Grand final teams players in their team for saturday so i would imagine that they have had a game plan for weeks now that they have worked on just for this game . Were as we have had to wait for our NRL stars to join up with our squad for a few days in South Africa before coming over here and then not selecting most of them v Italy before throwing them into a game against the best team in the world !

[Guest]

I think the Italy v England result was great for Wales. I'm sure they wouldn't take them lightly, but hopefully Iestyn has them up for it now.

That's not too clever a selection policy, I agree Kenny.

I hope England do win, but I do fear Australia will still have a bit too much.

[Cari]

Am watching this live on the telly...anyone else?

  

[Steffan]

Yep I got it on. Hope Australia can beat England and then Wales can do the business against Italy

[Cari]

Good start for England. That was a very good try. Conversion missed though.

[mystiroakey]

Nice one England..

[Cari]

That'll be an excellent effort if this try is allowed. Player doesn't look confident after "scoring" though...

[mystiroakey]

Fine margins with that one..

[Guest]

Yep watching this. Looking at the posters on here right now, we're all from the union board!

Come on England! (I don't shout that much!)

[Cari]

I was just thinking that Griff...I guess the hardcore League supporters are in the stadium! The English number 3 looks like one of the Tuilagi brothers! Is there another one in the League side?

[Cari]

Wowsers! That was a super take to score the try. I wonder if it'll be allowed...?

[mystiroakey]

This game doesn't quite install the same passion in me. But it's nice and uncomplicated..

And I love this Tmo stuff..


England dominating. Another try..

[Cari]

Agree Mysti...but I'm enjoying it being on the Beeb. I like the fact we the viewer can hear the TMO talk through his decisions. Imagine if they did that in Union! Not sure what the ref is always shouting about mind  

[Cari]

And we have an Oz try at last! Game on!

Hey the number 6 is taking the conversion... 

6-10 after half an hour.

[Cari]

Another Oz try from a man with a dodgy tache.  

12-10 at 37 minutes.

[Cari]

An English mistake and a good Oz run gives them a third try just before half time.

18-10 at HT

[Luke]

England were fantastic first 20 minutes, with Hill & Burgess dominant, feel apart afterwards, allowed Australia to many half breaks, and gave away some silly penalties. Great try bu Slater though.
Pitch terrible, it's cutting up quite badly feel sorry for Wales/Italy who play after this game.

[Cari]

Pitch terrible, it's cutting up quite badly feel sorry for Wales/Italy who play after this game.

Unfortunately that's probably the biggest drawback of the MS...having a pitch brought in on palletts doesn't always make it a good one to play on. The gardeners will be out in between matches I expect.

[Luke]

True Cari, having the roof on dosn't help. Bad decision by Hicks (proving.he's as bad a linesman as referee). But well worked Aussie try, game over can't see us coming back from this.
Oh well hopefully Wales will win.

[Cari]

Don't lose heart Tiger! Good try from Burgess there, and England don't seem to be giving up yet!

22-16 at 53 minutes.

We've had a lot of rain over the last 24 hours or so. Probably best to leave the roof shut then...as well as to accommodate the opening ceremony.

[Guest]

England could easily draw level and even go ahead. They're right back in this.

[Cari]

A lot of scuffling now.  Tempers are fraying...nasty injury to an Oz player.  Do they have a sin bin in league? Could be a red card coming for England...

[Luke]

Yeah we do have the sin bin, but they tend to back put of decisions and put them on report. Personally think Sam Burgess should have been sent off for that.
I haven't lost heart, forwards are playing well and matching the Aussies, just our halls are creating much, and our 3/4 aren't getting much of the ball.

[Cari]

Hmmm seems strange that he was allowed to stay on after that.  Looked very serious.  Anyway, Someone has just scored a super try so England still in it!  Shame he missed the conversion.

28-20 at 76 minutes.

[Cari]

Jonny Thurston is MOTM.

[Cari]

Ah well. Never mind England. You've got Ireland next week. Looking forward to seeing that. I didn't even know Ireland had a league side!

[Luke]

Expected defeat. But don't think England played badly. Forwards played well till we brought subs on (seriously Abblett and Mossop? Far better forwards in the league). The halfs of Sinfield & Chase that haven't worked at International level for the last 2 years, didn't work again. 3/4's looked weak in defence, and didn't get enough ball in attack. Tomkins was well wrapped up.

Oh well, over to BBC 2 know to see if Wales can smash Italy. Come on Wales.

[Cari]

What's Peter Andre doing on the BBC RL pundit team?

Dere 'mlaen Cymru!  

[Cari]

Awh that little Italian dude looks so chuffed to be there. I do like their anthem even if that posh English woman is spoiling it a bit.

[Luke]

Loving this. 2 sides totally committed, both packs not taking a backwards step, simple good RL. The Wales try was strange, but well done for following up. Personally think that was a try.

[Cari]

Whayhey! Superb try from the Welsh number 3 there.  

12-14 - GAME ON!

[Luke]

Agree Cari lovely try by Lloyd, Wales subs making an impact Italy don't look as assured know. Good to see Ashley Klein's decisions still as baffling as when he was referring in SL.
Should be a fascinating second half.

[Duty281]

Because of the format, that was the best possible result for England.

They can take the positives from that game, and slowly build up the momentum before playing New Zealand. Win that, and they're in the perfect position to take on Australia in the final.

[Cari]

Woop! Great start to the second half for Wales. TRY!  

[Guest]

Elliott Kear is a good lad.

[Guest]

I didn't think cannonballs were illegal, which seems to be what Nobby etc are inferring. Wasn't it because the referoo called held?

[Cari]

That was a good effort from the Italians as well...missed the conversion though.

16-18. This is going to be very close. Good game though.

[Cari]

ooh unlucky...ref calls forward pass to Italian...he would've been in then too.

[Luke]

Wane's defence has been outstanding this half, but they really need some field position for a couple of sets.
Good hard RL, you've got a love it, Ray French is, probably the game he wanted as his last ever.

[Cari]

Well that's got to be the end. Two Italian tries in about three minutes. Very good ones they were too. I wonder if any of these boys can play union...?

26-16 with about five minutes to go...

[Cari]

Josh Mantellato is MOTM.

[Cari]

...and they end with ANOTHER try.

Well done Italy  

FT 16-32

[Luke]

Beautiful pass for the last but one Italy try. Score bit lobsided, as thought Wales played well, just didn't have enough ball to do anything.
Italy also look good, play basic RL with some good players, and a very strong looking defence.

Now up to Ireland on Monday to provide the British Isles with a 1st win,

[Guest]

How are wales ranked so highly in the world (5th) while Italy are so low (13th). On that showing Italy are pretty good, and showed so in beating England the other night. Is it just that they don't get many of their stars outside of big tournaments, and so lose a lot more games? They seem to have a lot of players playing in the NRL.

[Luke]

How are wales ranked so highly in the world (5th) while Italy are so low (13th). On that showing Italy are pretty good, and showed so in beating England the other night. Is it just that they don't get many of their stars outside of big tournaments, and so lose a lot more games? They seem to have a lot of players playing in the NRL.

They haven't played that many games as they're fairly new to RL. The other thing is that Wales have played more meaningful international's so that would help there ranking, and they''ve previously played in more WC.'s.
But your part right, in that a lot of the NRL players don't come over to Italy for a game v Russia for example. Quite a few Italian players are upset to have been left out because of this, USA also have the same problem.

[Guest]

Thanks Tiger. I've been a league fan on the side for a long time, but never really followed internationals much. Mainly watched Super league. Always watched the GB games in the past though, and Wales and England if/when they're playing.

Next question (!): I expect this has been discussed to death somewhere else, but how come we're not competing as GB in this? I'm sure I remember a GB side in previous world cups???

[Luke]

The RFL changed it in the early/mid 90's if I remember right so that RL would hopefully grow in other countries, and so that GB would become the equivalent of  the Lions in RU I.e. a national representative side. But Know there is no GB side (although there are talks of bringing it back, they last played 2004 v the Kiwis I think).
Personally I agree with the split nations then a GB touring side if we went back to actual tours, when they used to play club sides as well, the last 2 times it was just tests.

Trouble is RL internationally is only really England,Kiwis Australia France &PNG (were its the national sport), so it was also bought in to make events like the world cup bigger. Alot of RL fans actually prefer the split, but would like GB back as well.

[Dave.]

Loved the Wales Italy game.

[LeinsterFan4life]

Beautiful pass for the last but one Italy try. Score bit lobsided, as thought Wales played well, just didn't have enough ball to do anything.
Italy also look good, play basic RL with some good players, and a very strong looking defence.

Now up to Ireland on Monday to provide the British Isles with a 1st win,

British Isles? Really? Its 2013 man.

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