Australia were outstanding in their first game against anyone since their mid season thrashing of New Zealand. Their combination looked good, the forwards played well, the backs were oustanding and Lockyer and Thurston were clicking already.
England meanwhile have had a number of games over the same period of time including a thrashing of Wales just a few weeks ago. Despite this they were lucky to beat Papua New Guinea and looked terrible in the process.
Australia will be looking to beat England by at least 40 points.
It will happen how it always happens.
Australia’s kicking game will be far better than Englands. On top of this the positional play of the Australian fullback, and the way he gains meters after receiving the kick will leave Paul Wellens, his English counterpart, for dead.
This means England will be on the back foot all night as far as field position goes.
In attack, England will be forced to just try and work the ball out of their own half of the field, but the problem is when they find good field position, who is their go to man?
Rob Burrow is useless when matched against half decent opposition, and anyone that things running 30 meters across field and having no passing or kicking game is going to worry Australia needs to be tested for substance abuse.
Their other half, Leon Pryce, his best position at international level has always been on the wing. However, because of the lack of England halfbacks in the game, he can get away with playing five-eight at Super League level.
Get to test level though and his defense is a problem, he has ZERO kicking game and as for his passing game, well, lets just say he is no Laurie Daley.
In the centers England have father time and the black hole. Keith Senior is living on five good minutes he had years ago and Gleeson gets the ball, never passes it and doesn’t do anything in attack. Both are as dangerous as a wet paper bag wrapped in bubble wrap with a big flashing warning sign next to it.
The England wingers are about as dangerous as the tough judges. Ade Gardner is well know for being heart attack material and even the World Cup official guide said his try scoring record in Super League belongs to his center partner, Matthew Gidley.
Mark Calderwood looks to be the other winger. He has been tried and failed at many of the top clubs in the UK and he still keeps getting a run. With wingers this bad, no wonder Dwayne Chambers gave himself a chance.
Outside of Adrian Morley the England forwards lack mobility, they have no ball skills and most of them actually started their careers out playing in the centers.
England matches up terribly against Australia. I don’t need to go through the Australian lineup, we all know how outstanding it is.
I can not wait to see the nightmare Israel Folau reigns down on England.
Earlier in the year an English Rugby League journalist played downs Folau’s amazing achievements at Origin level and countered with the fact that Ade Gardner played well against some tiny little town in Northern England!
Greg Inglis gave New Zealand nightmares on the weekend, expect to see him dominate and effectively end the test career of his opposite number.
The problem I see for England is that, these two don;t give you a break all game, and if they start getting early ball, its going to be a very long day for England and it could end in a record scoreline.
England love boasting that their forwards can play 80 minutes, forgetting the fact that any minutes you do play need to be effective. When you couple that mind set with the diabolical use of the interchange Tony Smith always trots out when its a big game, we could see 80 put on England very easily if Australia gets scoring early.
Part of me hopes its an even contest, but its a very small part (Insert penis joke here!). However the rest of me wants to see Australia destroy England and give them a much needed reality check.
I think that’s what we’ll see. My Tip: Australia by 44
