Australia has won their second Four Nations tournament game easily as they beat England in a rain-soaked game, scoring 34 points to England’s 14.
The English Lions had a terrible first half, scoring only 1 try compared with Australia’s 6. The Kangaroos Darren Lockyer had a hand in 3 of the 6 tries scored, as the Broncos legend’s kicking game gave Australia a substantial advantage.
England had a slightly better second half, scoring within the opening minutes from kickoff, but Australia responded with scoring another try a few minutes later. Neither team scored any tries after the opening 6 minutes of that second half.
The wet weather conditions favoured the Australian side, as England fumbled and generally struggled with ball handling.
There was criticism of the referee as the Kangaroos were given play on in several controversial moves, especially one in the 68th minute, when the referee denied England a try after the video referee couldn’t decide if the ball was put over the line for a try or not.
The BBC website reported some unhappy tweets and texts coming out of England, including: “Derby County midfielder and 5 live pundit Robbie Savage feels England are getting a raw deal from the ref. He tweets : “Referee in game England v Aus is so biased it’s untrue!”
And from Michael in London, via text: “That was so forward. Why can’t we have neutral refs? Wish my Aussie girlfriend would stop going on how good they are.”’
It’s been a disappointing tournament for the Lions so far, as they lost to both New Zealand last week, and now Australia–the two big teams of the Four Nations tournament. This has led to criticism of the tournament itself by Ben Elias, claiming that two of the four teams, namely the Kumuls and England, should be scrapped from the tournament.
The English Lions had a terrible first half, scoring only 1 try compared with Australia’s 6. The Kangaroos Darren Lockyer had a hand in 3 of the 6 tries scored, as the Broncos legend’s kicking game gave Australia a substantial advantage.
England had a slightly better second half, scoring within the opening minutes from kickoff, but Australia responded with scoring another try a few minutes later. Neither team scored any tries after the opening 6 minutes of that second half.
The wet weather conditions favoured the Australian side, as England fumbled and generally struggled with ball handling.
There was criticism of the referee as the Kangaroos were given play on in several controversial moves, especially one in the 68th minute, when the referee denied England a try after the video referee couldn’t decide if the ball was put over the line for a try or not.
The BBC website reported some unhappy tweets and texts coming out of England, including: “Derby County midfielder and 5 live pundit Robbie Savage feels England are getting a raw deal from the ref. He tweets : “Referee in game England v Aus is so biased it’s untrue!”
And from Michael in London, via text: “That was so forward. Why can’t we have neutral refs? Wish my Aussie girlfriend would stop going on how good they are.”’
It’s been a disappointing tournament for the Lions so far, as they lost to both New Zealand last week, and now Australia–the two big teams of the Four Nations tournament. This has led to criticism of the tournament itself by Ben Elias, claiming that two of the four teams, namely the Kumuls and England, should be scrapped from the tournament.
“Why don’t we just call it the Bledisloe Cup or some other concept instead of Four Nations?” Elias said.
“Call it the Two Nations, then we could try to incorporate and benefit from the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand because they’re the only two teams who are competitive. Twelve years ago they (England) came up with the Super League concept and a promise to compete with the world, and here we are in 2010 and Australia are $1.10 to beat them.”
“Watching Australia beat PNG last week was like watching the big bully beat the little kid in the schoolyard,” Elias continued. “How is that a good thing?”
Cooper Cronk and Brett Morris defended the claims, but they do ring true. Unless the English and Papua New Guineans improve their game enormously, the only real competition in the Four Nations is between Australia and New Zealand, the two bastions of Rugby League in the Oceanic region.
England play the Kumuls while the Kangaroos play the Kiwis next week on Saturday, which will determine the final outcome of the tournament.
“Call it the Two Nations, then we could try to incorporate and benefit from the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand because they’re the only two teams who are competitive. Twelve years ago they (England) came up with the Super League concept and a promise to compete with the world, and here we are in 2010 and Australia are $1.10 to beat them.”
“Watching Australia beat PNG last week was like watching the big bully beat the little kid in the schoolyard,” Elias continued. “How is that a good thing?”
Cooper Cronk and Brett Morris defended the claims, but they do ring true. Unless the English and Papua New Guineans improve their game enormously, the only real competition in the Four Nations is between Australia and New Zealand, the two bastions of Rugby League in the Oceanic region.
England play the Kumuls while the Kangaroos play the Kiwis next week on Saturday, which will determine the final outcome of the tournament.
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