2022 Rugby League World Cup

[Tommy Smith]

What happened to Samoa against England?

Rads man of the match. Complete thrashing though despite Samoa largely being high quality NRL players (including a heap of dudes from the Riff).

Papali'i, Paulo, Su'a, May, Taupau, Tulagi, Milford, Luai, Crichton, To'o, Hammer and Suali'i. How does that team lose to a bunch of poms?

Maybe the Samoans had the same attitude as you towards the English... "they're just a bunch of Poms... and we're much bigger than them which is all that matters, Bondi Boy told us so."

The English have always had a forward pack to match anyone. It's just the outside backs haven't been great where as this time the halves look very creative and the likes of Young and Farnworth add speed and power in the backs.

Btw, Luai was shown up again to be an absolute plodder without Cleary to hold his hand.

[Mickie Lane]

How goods that for Victor.
I hope England make the final & like Tommy said they have a good forward pack & some class in the backs.
Samoa, what can you say. Stacked with top players but dont have a general. Samoa are gone for me so that leaves Australia, NZ, England & Tonga.
I think Lebanon will be the surprise package.

[ism22]

Maybe the Samoans had the same attitude as you towards the English... "they're just a bunch of Poms... and we're much bigger than them which is all that matters, Bondi Boy told us so."

The English have always had a forward pack to match anyone. It's just the outside backs haven't been great where as this time the halves look very creative and the likes of Young and Farnworth add speed and power in the backs.

Btw, Luai was shown up again to be an absolute plodder without Cleary to hold his hand.

Samoa has talent across the park though... two Origin-grade halves, 4/5 backs are Origin-grade and a heap of their forwards have played for Australia/NZ.

England had Whitehead, Burgess x2, Radley and that's about it in terms of NRL experience. Oh sorry and 'the Billy Slater of English Super League' + a winger who's better than Tedesco. Presumably Makinson and Tomkins gave everybody a masterclass and they'll do it again against Australia / NZ (this is without Jackson 'Man of Steel' Hastings BTW!) :P

My suspicion is that Samoa simply didn't gel as it shoulda kicked butt on paper (with talent across the park).

[Johnny Brass]

Klein let the poms lay all over the Samoans in the ruck and they couldn't get off their own line which was highlighted by To'o and Suaalii who are 2 of the best metre eaters not making much yardage.
Suaalii has a lot to work on if he wants to be a fullback in positional defence and organising the line and he will always have trouble with low grubbers with his height.
I still see him as a very right sided player with not much of a threat when he attacks to his left which is why I don't see him as a left centre.

[Billy Gunn]

I couldn't believe England were underdogs against Samoa in England. We struggled last time in the WCC when we traveled to England but at home, we had no trouble.

Then any team being directed around the park by the milf was always going to be tough, and the rest of the spine isn't quality.

[King Salvo]

Be interesting if the weather plays a part - Will be starting to get colder in the North of England and there is always the chance of rain

[elo]

We really are fortunate that Joey Manu is such a humble and grateful person, he should be making a million a season as a fullback.

[Ghost of Maubs]

All 4 of NZ's try assists came from Manu and Cheese (two a piece).

[HunchoRooster]

Manu is a freak of nature. Love the way he plays footy and we are so lucky to have him. A gentleman and a champion. Was excellent last night. Can see him scoring 5 tries against Jamaica if they play him.

Good to see Keary go well for Ireland. As an Irish-Aussie myself, makes me happy. Just no head knocks or injury please Luke.

Samoa with all due respect to the poly culture, have no leaders and no direction. They don't play structured footy well and I never saw them beating England. I didn't expect them to lose by nearly 60 though. They'll bounce back to make the knockouts but won't go any further than that. Can't have Milf as your general and expect to get anywhere. Suualii looked miles away from being an NRL fullback in the limited sample space he showed. Might help us keep him on the wing for the next couple of years at least.

[Kiwi Rooster]

Radley: Man of the Match.
Keary: Man of the Match.
Manu: Man of the Match.

Go Easts!

[ccfc bondi]

This will be the best World Cup ever because 5 teams can win it instead of only 3.
So far the Chooks have 10 players who have been picked, I know Naiqama & SST have left the club.

England Radley
FIJI Naiqama, Karawalevu and Siua Wong
NZ JWH, Manu
Somoa Suaalii
Tonga Toups SST

Now this one is interesting
Ireland Luke Keary. I hope he doest get injured, I hope none of them get injured but especially him. These guys just love playing Rugby League no matter what.

You can add Teddy, Collins & maybe Lodge.
I think NZ will win it. Australia & NZ are in the same pool so they cant play each other in the final.

Back to 3, I think.

[Mickie Lane]

Back to 3, I think.

Your probably right but I'll give Tonga a game or 2 to see what they've got.

[NorfolkStreetKid]

Looking forward to watching Siua Wong. I've never seen him play and there's a bit of hype around him.

How did he go?

[Rooster1908]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1581781433219444736

Wow we really did keep the best Centre/fb

[Insider]

How did he go?

I thoughy he did pretty well taking into account the standard of opposition and being part of a team that lost 42-8. He handled the physicality okay and was no less impressive than his experienced star backrow partner Kikau.