[*













Tim Sheens complained at the slowness of the play the ball. I guess it was ok when Oz were lying on, but not when the Kiwi's did it.Having said that I feel that England have a long way to go to match these teams (Hope I'm wrong.















































































l

There's two arguments to what you say regards slow and quick ptb's.



A slow ptb means like you say, the HB's have to be more creative, you have to pass around a team rather than scoot through but the game sometimes looks a little laboured and too structured and it comes down to who executes their x and y plays the best.



A quick ptb means the defence have to be well drilled, concentrate and most of all, need the fitness of a husky. It's up to the defence to stop the scooting by actually not being lazy, when wire played saints we were not laying on in the tackle yet we were prepared for Roby and his scoots, that's why Lomax and Gaskell were prominent in those games. You can still have quick ptb and neutralize a scooting hooker.

id agree if ref's didn't penalise the markers if the tackled player moved away from hes mark then it would take away a huge advantage of doing it not just say to the tackled player well your shortening the ten meters(bentham said this clear as day light last night). id say you would need to be more fitter and more drilled with the wrestle as you need more players in the tackles and its more draining wrestling than just back pedeling ten meters. scouting just gets very repetative and boring put back moves together or offloading is more prittier to my eye.

I struggled with that one bud. The oxygen to my brain got cut off by my inability to breath reading it

I must say in regards to Cameron Smith. The accuracy and sweetness of his passes are unreal. Every pass delivered exactly at the right height and pace for the player to run onto. But for me it's his timing of when to hold or when to pass that makes him the player he is. Just a real smart cookie at dummy half. He's certainly the best passer of a ball I've seen for a long time. He never looks flustered or under pressure either. Comes across as a real nonchalant character to me.



As for NZ I thought the two starting props McKendry and Matulino were superb.

Matulino and Mckendery are two very good props. Add Blair and packer to thst pack with like Hargreaves, smith, luke, mannering, sika Manu and lulu and moi moi and it's a very tough pack.

It does help having options around the ruck for him which is something we don't do over here. There was a huge difference in the way the Aussies and Kiwis hung around the ruck area and supported the play. Often the Kiwis would be like Saints with just on guy running up whilst the others did nothing. The Aussies though would support the player by having four to five players who were mingling around the runner. I'm not talking about running at full speed with him in the same way that Allan Hunte used to try and do that "You should have passed it to me" showboating stuff. I mean, just jogging with the ball carrier and having a general greater awareness of what was going on. You can't buy that sort of intelligence, it has to be coached in because it's game culture.

It's just having the ability to follow the ball and gambling there is going to be a break then getting yourself set up for the next play once the man is tackled, unlike our men who are setting their positions for tackle 2 before tackle one has been completed.

Yes!

Didn't take long to bite did it?



If you listen to his interview Sheens was moaning about the slow PTB but in his arrogance failed to see that Aus were more guilty of slowing play down than NZ.

Personally I thought the ruck area was a complete mess and a big tern off for spectators. The ruck was congested and it was not helped by Bentham letting both teams (although IMO the australians were the worst offenders) get away with not clearing the ruck and not getting back onside on the apparent basis that "they were not interfering with the play" (reminds me of what a certain Brain Clough said about the subject in a different sport ).



Aren't players supposed to release and get out of the way?

Aren't player supposed to not blatantly move off the mark? (e.g. C Smith)



Its just so alien to the way the game is played in this country and I don't think its an improvement.



I think the NZ ref today played it a bit more like we are used to and would certainly not have let either team last night get away with their deliberate slow play tactics. Perhaps Bentham was a bit in thrall of them.