If the NRL didnt learn anything from last night...

[susan]

they are even bigger dills than I previously thought.What a fantastic game of league.One referee who didn't blow the pea out of the whistle,little wrestling on show,fantastic skilful forward play and some great backline raids.We rightly rave about the courage and intensity of origin but to be honest we rarely see the classic league skills that were on display last night.

Get rid of the second referee,ban the wrestle, stop the pedantic penalties and allow the game to be played like it should be i.e decided by the great players who play our game.This Four Nations has been a breath of fresh air to be honest.

 

[mozgrame]

Sh1t. I wish I would have watched now after that report.

 

[globaleagle]

Sh1t. I wish I would have watched now after that report.

Annnd....it had a streaker!

 

[mozgrame]

Sh1t. I wish I would have watched now after that report.

Annnd....it had a streaker!

Wow! I'm guessing from your excitement, it was a young lady?? Now I'm really dejected

 

[ALinda]

Well said @susan - as usual you make a lot of sense.

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Yeah, I was wondering if anybody else had watched the game.
Susan is spot on - it was an absolute cracker, great pace and skill from both teams with the Poms unlucky to lose. They could have had a shot at goal at the death to tie it up (which would have been a fair result) but went for the win instead. Not quite sure why because if they got a draw then if Samoa beat Australia (not as unlikely as it sounds - Samoa have been unlucky to lose to both England and NZ and BJ Leilua has been KILLING it) they would have gone through to the final.
England's shape in attack, in particular, was just a joy to watch, and the Kiwis matched them with some great off-the-cuff play. I enjoyed watching it more than I've enjoyed any NRL or Origin game for quite a while.

 

[globaleagle]

Sh1t. I wish I would have watched now after that report.

Annnd....it had a streaker!

Wow! I'm guessing from your excitement, it was a young lady?? Now I'm really dejected

Errr...no, but in my defence the sprightly bugger made it 100mtrs before being smashed!

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xKNGQzqiA8[/video]

 

[Shoe1]

Great game, like league should be played.

 

[susan]

12 penalties from Gerard Sutton in the first 40 minutes in this Samoa game,with 10 coming in the first 25.Good old NRL refereeing,Nothing will change....

 

[Ralphie]

12 penalties from Gerard Sutton in the first 40 minutes in this Samoa game,with 10 coming in the first 25.Good old NRL refereeing,Nothing will change....

To be fair to Sutton, Samoa seemed to have come with a tactic of serious wrestling and laying all over the tackled player. He could have penalised them much much more than he did.

 

[susan]

There were a couple that were a joke. The bloke getting up playing it on the Samoans knee and losing it was a disgrace. And then shock horror, the usual square up from 5 - 1 to 5 all in 10 minutes as Australia suddenly became eerily undisciplined. The usual NRL script performed perfectly by Mr Sutton.

The pommie last night just let it roll.Gave the obvious ones and let the players play Rugby League for the rest of the time.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

The NRL is def a " script" today, there are few games that a different in any way, it all runs to " the plan", which is getting as close to Golden Point as they can every game, and doing it through the awarding of penalties .

 

[Lord Eagleton]

they are even bigger dills than I previously thought.What a fantastic game of league.One referee who didn't blow the pea out of the whistle,little wrestling on show,fantastic skilful forward play and some great backline raids.We rightly rave about the courage and intensity of origin but to be honest we rarely see the classic league skills that were on display last night.

Get rid of the second referee,ban the wrestle, stop the pedantic penalties and allow the game to be played like it should be i.e decided by the great players who play our game.This Four Nations has been a breath of fresh air to be honest.

Nicely said Susan. And im guessing that yes, they are even bigger dills than you previously thought.

 

[Ralphie]

The NRL is def a " script" today, there are few games that a different in any way, it all runs to " the plan", which is getting as close to Golden Point as they can every game, and doing it through the awarding of penalties .

It's like I've been saying for a long time, the NRL is no longer a game or a contest, it is a television product and the NRL is manufacturing this product through rule changes and referees controlling the momentum.

What we saw between NZ & England was a true contest, a Rugby League game, not the sh1t we get dished week in week out as the NRL seeks to have a high scoring yet close games to the very end.

I'll be posting a Rant about this before the next season begins, but for the first time in 50 years I can actually see myself no longer watching any games if this continues, remaining a member of course, monitoring results of course, but I just won't be able to stomach what is being offered.

 

[Bandit]

Why wasn't Woods sin-binned yesterday?

Early in the 2nd half, Samoa were about 10 points behind and made a really long break, tackled 1 metre short.

Woods was penalised for lying allover the tackled player - his professional foul was almost worth a penalty try, 'cause there weren't many aussie defenders back.

It was just a clear sin bin offence, imo.

 

[The Who]

The matches have been great - open, exciting, played in daylight with one referee. The only two negatives are:
1. When the video ref gets involved
2. The no-punch rule has created push-a-thons which go on for way too long when an old-fashioned uppercut would have settled the issue on the spot.

 

[winnyason]

Test footy brings something different. I really think samoa is a key to our game, massive influx of expats here along with tonga and fiji.
The poms where very unlucky have been for 35 years now found every way to lose a test.
The format to me must just include samoa a geniune top tier 4th test team, the game has been searching for this ever since the game has declined in france.

 

[The Who]

Samoa plays a terrific brand of rugby league. The International RL must ensure that Samoa receives sufficient funding to foster the sport, and be able to pay players a competitive fee to represent their country. If they don't, Australia and NZ will cherry-pick Samoan players to represent them, leaving Samoa uncompetitive.

 

[Shoe1]

Don't know about the NRL, but I sure learned a few things last night

 

[manlyfan76]

Samoa plays a terrific brand of rugby league. The International RL must ensure that Samoa receives sufficient funding to foster the sport, and be able to pay players a competitive fee to represent their country. If they don't, Australia and NZ will cherry-pick Samoan players to represent them, leaving Samoa uncompetitive.

Did I hear that only Lafai was born in Samoa?