OFFICIAL Rugby League World Cup Discussion

[holdzy]

If it rains, could make it pretty tight, though I hope it doesn't as I bought tickets last night. Bit of a rip but doesn't come around too often.

Like SF (I think) pointed out - we haven't won it in Aus for a long time, so it's worth it just for that. I take every chance I can to see Smith, Cronk etc play, because we will be telling our kids/grandkids about how great they were.

 

[Super Freak]

England have just lost their captain.

They are going to be under strength against Australia. It won't end well.

 

[Super Freak]

Like SF (I think) pointed out - we haven't won it in Aus for a long time, so it's worth it just for that. I take every chance I can to see Smith, Cronk etc play, because we will be telling our kids/grandkids about how great they were.

Yep, 11 years since they have won on home soil.

2006 Tri-Nations was their last tournament win.

 

[Browny]

We lost a final after a massive forward pass by the kiwis if I remember correctly

 

[Super Freak]

We lost a final after a massive forward pass by the kiwis if I remember correctly

2010 Four Nations.

60+ metres out on the last tackle, Marshall takes advantage of the numbers on the right and gets SKD on the outside of Tonga, he draws in Tuqiri and passes it to Nightingale who eventually throws an over the top pass back in-field which went a mile forward. Lockyer fails to regather the ball, Marshall gets the ball and eventually pops a pass to Fien after Cronk chased him down and that's all she wrote.

The second time in a row NZ had beaten Australia in a final in Australia.

 

[Super Freak]

That moment just showed how much of a grub Slater is.

He came flying in on Nightingale and jumped up and shoulder charged him, part of the shoulder connecting with the head, instead of just making a simple fucking tackle.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Renouf reflects on play that turned '92 Cup final

http://www.nrl.com/renouf-reflects-...-final/tabid/10874/newsid/116717/default.aspx

In a stunning revelation, the man who scored the winning try for the Kangaroos in their 10-6 win over Great Britain in the 1992 World Cup final admits he didn’t want the ball in the leadup.
But Steve Renouf, who scored late in the game off a Kevin Walters pass, insists the pet Broncos play that turned the game 25 years ago has lessons for the World Cup final showdown between Australia and England in Brisbane on Saturday night.
The Kangaroos were trailing 6-4 at Wembley against a Great Britain side that contained the likes of Garry Schofield, Ellery Hanley and Kevin Ward.
No try had been scored in the game and the Great Britain defence was on song when Walters flicked the switch.
“Kevvie had come off the bench and kept saying ‘Pearl, I’ll do the out ball, I’ll do the out ball’ and I said ‘not yet, not yet’,” Renouf recalled.
“I don’t know what I was waiting for but when you look at the play he runs across the back of the ruck out to my side and gives me no option.

“I thought ‘here we go’. I knew I had to get my arse there and then the next minute I was scoring a try. Then I thought ‘yes, what a great move by us’, but moments earlier I didn’t want anything to do with it. I wasn’t interested.”
Renouf said that if the 2017 World Cup Final was close it may well be a pet move by Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater that turned it.
“It was a Broncos play back in 1992 that won the World Cup, and we have seen the Big Three do it before in big games with that little move around the middle,” Renouf said.
“They know each other’s games so well and it could come down to the same sort of thing as with Kevin and I.
“It only takes a little signal, probably from Cam Smith, and they know it’s on. The opposition knows it will happen, but they don’t know when.”
Looking back, Walters explained how club combinations and the individual brilliance of a Renouf-style player can break a big game wide open.
“If you look at tight games it is often that little partnership that makes something happen,” Walters said.
“If we were going to score I thought Steve would be the one to do it, but you had to keep him in the game otherwise he’d just drift out of it.
“We had the ‘out ball’ play that we used to do all the time. It was our go-to play at Broncos and Queensland level so because it worked at those levels I thought ‘we’ll give it a crack here’.
“As usual, I’d told him the play before to get ready and he’d always say ‘no…no’. So I said ‘you’re getting it, so get ready or you’ll look like an idiot or get smashed’. I trusted him to be coming and the rest is history.
“It was a great try from Pearl. When the big moments were on and when the time came to get something done, he’d do it.”
Renouf said another lesson from 1992 was the impact a player off the bench could make in a short space of time.
“Kevvie was jumping around like a rabbit and he changed that whole game, not just with that try but with his energy when he came on,” he said.
“We were in a bit of a slump and he was the livewire that sparked us.”

 

[winslow_wong]

Anyone else hope England wins just because Mal Meninga is such a tosser?

 

[holdzy]

Anyone else hope England wins just because Mal Meninga is such a tosser?

No?

Of course want Aus to win, but an unexpected Eng win would be something.

Womens Aus/Nz game has been pretty good.

 

[Unbreakable]

Cronk / Slater retirement from rep footy?

 

[Horseheadsup]

Looking forward to seeing how James Roby goes.

 

[broncsgoat]

Crowd looks horrendous. Embarrassing.

I was more excited about the World Cup draw this morning than I am about this game.

 

[winslow_wong]

You know what they say about finger pointing...

View attachment 2256

Pull my finger mal meninga?

 

[ZTop]

Luke Gale is a great kicker

 

[winslow_wong]

Why aren't torpedo kicks used more for territory gain? That kick was massive, considering they couldn't get out of their own end.

 

[ZTop]

I love Mcguire's intensity and Aggression

 

[ZTop]

England are monstering Cronk

 

[CaptainHook]

Can Bennett pull off an upset?