Four Nations 2016 Week 3

[Big Pete]

Four Nations - Week 3
Saturday, 12th of November, 2016

SCOTLAND	NEW ZEALAND
1. Lachlan Coote 2. Lewis Tierney 3. Euan Aitken 4. Kane Linnett 5. Matthew Russell 18. Danny Brough 7. Danny Addy 8. Adam Walker 9. Liam Hood 10. Luke Douglas 11. Ben Hellewell 12. Dale Ferguson 13. Ben Kavanagh 14. Ryan Brierley 15. Frankie Mariano 16. Brett Phillips 17. Billy McConnachie	1. Dallin Watene Zelezniak 2. Jason Nightingale 3. Solomone Kata 4. Gerard Beale 5. David Fusitu'a 6. Thomas Leuluai 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Issac Luke 10. Adam Blair 11. Manu Ma'u 12. Tohu Harris 13. Greg Eastwood 14. Te Maire Martin 15. Martin Taupau 16. James Fisher-Harris 17. Joseph Tapine
Coach: Steve McCormack	Coach: David Kidwell
Referee: Ben Cummins Touch-Judges: J Child & C Kendall Video Referee: Ben Thaler	Venue: Zebra Claims Stadium Kick-Off: 6:00am (Queensland Time) Broadcaster: GEM

 

[Big Pete]

Four Nations - Week 3
Monday, 14th of November, 2016

ENGLAND	AUSTRALIA
1. Johnny Lomax 2. Jermaine McGillvary 3. Kallum Watkins 4. Mark Percival 5. Ryan Hall 6. Kevin Brown 7. Gareth Widdop 8. Chris Hill 9. Josh Hodgson 10. James Graham 11. John Bateman 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Sam Burgess 14. Thomas Burgess 15. George Burgess 16. Mike Cooper 17. George Williams	1. Darius Boyd 2. Valentine Holmes 3. Greg Inglis 4. Josh Dugan 5. Blake Ferguson 6. Johnathan Thurston 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Mat Scott 9. Cameron Smith 10. Aaron Woods 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Matt Gillett 13. Trent Merrin 14. David Klemmer 15. Michael Morgan 16. Tyson Frizell 17. Sam Thaiday
	18. Shannon Boyd 19. Justin O'Neil
Coach: Wayne Bennett	Coach: Mal Meninga
Referee: Robert Hicks Touch-Judges: Mark Craven & Anthony Elliott Video Referee:	Venue: London Stadium Kick-Off: 12:00am (Queensland Time) Broadcaster: GEM

​

 

[tommy]

Wayne Bennett has given the press conference of his career – with the centrepiece a detailed explanation of why he despises doing press conferences.
Reporters could almost be heard gasping as the 65-year-old England coach told a gathering at the Canary Wharf Marriott "talk is cheap" and that his only duty to promote rugby league in Britain involved winning.
conferences are a waste of time.
"It's a funny thing … I started coaching in 1977 and they were bagging me then and nothing has changed in 2016," said the seven-time premiership winning mentor.
"There's a lot of water under the bridge for me. I am what I am and I'm not going to compromise myself, what I feel, what state I'm in at that particular time."

Asked if he felt it was his duty to promote rugby league in England, he said: "Look, I'll tell you about promoting rugby league.
"You go talk to any marketing department and they don't want you to be goofing off and talking it up and your team's getting beaten every week. That won't sell it.

"The end result of what we all do is about how our teams perform on the football field. I'm a football coach, that's what I am. My job's to get the best out of those players and my job's to give you the best entertainment I can.
"When that's in place, what you say away from the game is really immaterial. That's been my philosophy all my coaching life and my players and my team are my priority and they always will be.

"I'm not interested in cheap talk and I'm not interested in getting out there thinking I can promote the game by something that I say. I know the teams that I coach, if they play well and everyone enjoys the way they play, you won't have a shortage of fans and people interested in what they're doing."
Asked specifically about criticism of his terse BBC interviews during the Four Nations, Bennett said: "To be candid with you again, I just don't read anything you write anymore.
"I haven't read it for over a decade now and I don't watch television shows. As soon as I see something on rugby league come on, I turn it off. So I'm immune to anything you say out there. It doesn't interest me."
When a reporter attempted to repeat criticism, he chided: "It seems like you weren't listening to me.
"Well if I had a choice, I wouldn't do it (media). It's not what I want to do. I want to coach. That's what my priority is.
"I see lots of guys doing interviews and they're just wasting your time and your space, not making any sense. They're just playing the game. I can't play the game unfortunately."
He said he had not been given any directions regarding media or marketing from the Rugby Football League.
Asked about accusations from Australia coach Mal Meninga that he had been working to undermine him, Bennett said: "He hasn't said anything to me about that.
"I spent some time with him yesterday.
"It's a matter of perception. I didn't do that (undermine Meninga) but if he believes that…
"I'm not here to talk about Mal and myself, OK? If you want to talk to me about the game at the weekend, I'm happy to do that."
There were plenty of good lines regarding Sunday's game against Australia at London Olympic Stadium, too.
He said if the men in red and white played the same as they did against Scotland in Coventry "we'll get beaten by 40 or 50 points".
He said that James Graham, who has a knee injury, would play and that he would issue no instructions about chasing points, with Friday's Scotland-New Zealand game to determine the necessary margin to qualify for the final at Anfield.
"We've got to win the game so you're not thinking (about points)," he said. "it's pretty screwed up thinking, to be honest with you. It's not going to help the players.
"They've got their hands full just trying to beat Australia."
He said he had not settled on a halves combination between George Williams, Gareth Widdop and Luke Gale, strongly suggesting he would simply name all three in a 19-man squad.

England rugby league coach Wayne Bennett raises eyebrows with astonishing media conference

 

[Porthoz]

That's who WB is, we all know that.

I don't agree with it, because as a fan of the team he coaches, as well as a fan of the game, I would actually love to hear from one of the coaching legends of the game, what he actually thinks and why he does certain things.

 

[Big Pete]

Fusitu'a, Martin, Fisher-Harris & Tapine will make their debut against Scotland.

For Kidwell's sake, hopefully they have a blinder and force their way into the side. I'm not convinced the 17 we saw against Australia was the Kiwis best 17.

 

[Fozz]

Scotland vs NZ will kick off shortly.

 

[Fozz]

Very windy out there.

 

[Fozz]

Scotland with a Milford/Smith to draw a penalty.

 

[Fozz]

Johnson has only been kicking grubbers so far.

 

[Fozz]

Danny Addy has had some good runs but he's gone off for a concussion test. Scotland has lost their halfback in prime field position.

 

[Fozz]

Kiwis go all the way and force a line drop out after a knock on. Johnson still grubbering.

 

[Fozz]

19 down, still nil all.

 

[Fozz]

Fusita breaks the deadlock after the kiwi forwards finally get their act together and string some good runs together.

 

[Fozz]

Ball gets blown off the kicking tee for the second time in the game. You can see it rocking on the tees as the wind is really blowing hard.

 

[Fozz]

And Scotland strikes back after a Blair offload goes awry.

Not sure why the video ref was taking so long, obvious try on the first viewing.

6- 4. There was no way a sideline conversion was going in.

 

[Fozz]

Half time. Not exactly high quality but it's been entertaining.

 

[Cult]

Imagine the reaction from the media and fans if Ben Hunt played as bad as Shaun Johnson has this year.

 

[Rally Towel]

NZ have been pretty disappointing under Kidwell thus far. Granted he hasn't had Foran or RTS at his disposal, but they're looking like St George out there.

Credit to the Scots for hanging in there. I'd love to see them come away with a win here. Much like Samoa in 2014, it's good to see the lower tier nations give it a good shake. Unfortunately for Samoa they came up 0 and 3 despite coming close. I hope Scotland can go one better.

Slightly vested interest, but I'd prefer to see England in the finals. We see plenty of Australia and NZ year in, year out. Something different would be good for the game, not to mention better viewing.

Great 40-20 straight up from Brough. Handy player, don't catch much Super League, but I imagine he'd shine in a solid team.