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New Zealand drew the Test series with England level, recording a 9-2 victory at London’s Olympic Stadium. So what did we learn from the match?
1. Luke Gale must replace George Williams at halfback
The English halves lacked creativity on Saturday, and since Gareth Widdop will not get dropped, Williams must go.
He had a good debut in the first Test at Hull, but struggled on Saturday, so England coach Steve McNamara should take a leaf out of his counterpart Stephen Kearney’s book and change his 7. I don’t understand why McNamara has picked two halfbacks in his squad and ignored both of them in the first two Tests.
England need to bring their outside backs into the game more and create something different in attack – on Saturday they were too easy for Kiwi defence to read. Gale could be the difference.
2. England also need to give more game time to Josh Hodgson
England have looked better in both matches with Hodgson at dummy half – he is better with the ball in his hands, and creates more opportunities than James Roby.
The St Helens hooker is an outstanding player and a tackling machine, but Hodgson is the more creative player – he carved out England’s only try-scoring opportunity on Saturday with a little kick through near the line that should have seen James Graham score. He also scored England’s first try of the series in Hull and constantly put players in holes with clever, sharp passes out of dummy half.
3. The Olympic Stadium should be used for the 2016 Four Nations opener
A double header should be staged between Australia and New Zealand with England playing Scotland. Wembley is too big, with a 90,000 capacity, and if we want to pay regular visits to London the Olympic Stadium – with its 54,000-person capacity – is the perfect size.
My concern about taking big games to Wembley Stadium, apart from the Challenge Cup Final of course, is borne out by the fact that we could not sell out the Olympic Stadium for the second Test. A crowd in excess of 44,000 is respectable, but when a run-of-the-mill Rugby World Cup Group game between Ireland and minnows Romania was played in front of a crowd more than twice that size at Wembley Stadium a few weeks ago, you have to ask some serious questions about why we could not sell out the Olympic Stadium for a match involving England and the no. 1 rugby league team in the world.
Are the RFL marketing the games well enough? Tickets were available from £20, which is a reasonable price. Or do northern rugby league fans not want their international games played in the south?
4. England need to stop the Kiwis offloading the ball
The only time the Kiwis looked dangerous on Saturday was when they offloaded the ball out of the tackle. Issac Luke, Jesse Bromwich, Kevin Proctor and one or two others were constantly looking for the offload and managed to succeed, despite the best attention of the English defence.
One such offload out of the tackle by debutante halfback Kodi Nikarima led to Shaun Kenny-Dowall’s try – the only one of the game.
5. Something needs to be done to fire up the crowds
The atmosphere for the first half of the first Test at the KC Stadium in Hull was poor before the second half improved due to England’s improved performance. Likewise, the atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium was subdued and tense – just like the England performance.
England need to come out with all guns blazing on Saturday at the DW Stadium in Wigan to ensure the crowd have something to cheer about early on. The atmosphere must be intimidating and loud enough to affect the Kiwis’ performance.
6. New Zealand at full strength would have already won this series
With the number of first-choice players the Kiwis are missing, it is worrying we have not tied this series up 2-0. First-choice halves Shaun Johnson – the current Golden Boot holder – and Kieran Foran, world class-winger Manu Vatuvei, captain Simon Mannering, prop forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, experienced utility Thomas Leuluai, North Queensland premiership winner Jason Taumalolo and the up-and-coming Dallin Watene-Zelezniak all would have been expected to be part of the Kiwis’ best 17.
Losing both world-class halves is bad enough, but they also left Benji Marshall at home as coach Kearney did not want to select him.
How do you think this series would be balanced now if all of the above players had been included?
7. Thomas Burgess has been a revelation in this series
Always in the shadow of older brother Sam and twin George, Thomas has really stood up in this series. He has been England’s biggest attacking threat, while also defending strongly.
A triple Burgess-brother threat in the 2016 Four Nations tournament is something to look forward to.
8. Ben Thaler must referee the third and deciding Test
Aussie referee Gerard Sutton didn’t help the game flow at the weekend, there were too many unwarranted penalties for minor infringements at the play the ball, where all that was needed was a quick word from the referee to say, “Get on with it.” Thaler let the first Test flow and it was a better spectacle as a result.
A panel will this week decide if it is Thaler or Sutton who referees the final Test. With it being the decider, I can only assume that they will go with the neutral Sutton, but that decision will detract from the spectacle.
9. The series will be decided at the DW Stadium in Wigan on Saturday
A sell-out crowd of over 25,000 will be in attendance to witness the series decider. It should be an exciting game but both teams need a more attacking style of play, rather than concentrating on slowing the play the ball down and stifling the game.
This match needs to entertain and be thrilling, to showcase to the millions watching on BBC TV what a great game this is and how good international rugby league can be.
Follow Andy on Twitter @sharpster69
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