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For years Sonny Bill Williams and Sam Burgess were great fodder for pub arguments as to who is the best big forward to ever play the modern game of rugby league.
Then in 2016 Jason Taumalolo won the Dally M – something neither of the other two have done – and joined the conversation. Fast forward 12 months and the blockbusting Tongan has established a clear lead as the world’s best.
Sam Burgess and Taumalolo were again outstanding against each other in last week’s memorable semifinal, and it will take nothing short of a Sam Burgess-inspired win for the conversation to start again. No one will know that more than the great Englishman himself.
The real value of generational players like SBW, Taumalolo and Burgess is that every young aspiring forward wants to copy them, they certainly inspire debate. If Jason Taumalolo was a politician then he would be the next King of Tonga, he is that popular.
Every young forward in the South Sydney district – let alone the North of England – cites Sam Burgess as the player who inspires them the most.
The World Cup has shown us how valuable Sam is the England team.
Australia played England in Round 1 and there was only a six-point difference at half time, but when Sam did not come back out in the second half, the Lions were unable to score and went down 18–4.
Last week against Tonga, England led 20 points to nil with only eight minutes left, and then Sam went off and the flood gates opened, with Tonga scoring three quick-fire tries to almost steal the match.
To say he is irreplaceable is an understatement. With Taumalolo now out, Sam is the best big man left in the WC.
58 players have started at lock in the NRL this season and only Paul Gallen (2.1), Jack de Belin and Trent Merrin (1.8) have made more offloads per match than Sam Burgess, who averaged 1.7 each game.
The astute Bennett noticed that many of the offloads from Burgess resulted in forced errors and it was noticeable against Tonga that the champion Englishman did not make a single pass or offload. In fact England only made a total of three offloads to Tonga’s 19.
This clever edict was not only refined to big Sam, but also to his clumsy brother Tom Burgess, Chris Hill, Sean O’Loughlin, Alex Walmsley, Ben Currie and James Graham, who is noted for his second phase play.
It will be fascinating to see what tactics Bennett implements against the Kangaroos as he knows they will not implode with continuing offensive pressure like the Tongans did. He must find the balance of a high completion rate, but enough ball movement to create a winning score.
(NRLPhotos/Gregg Porteous)
He will think he can defend 22 points so he needs to produce four tries and be able to defend them.
The England 17 is a surprise as Bennett has gone ‘defensive’ in selecting Chris Heighington over the dangerous backs Jonny Lomax or George Williams, who can both play nine.
St Helens fullback Jonny Lomax must have been a consideration for Bennett is his quest to put a list of 17 together that would be capable of scoring 22 points against the parsimonious Kangaroos. The Roos have only conceded four tries in the WC.
Lomax was selected as England’s first choice fullback on the back of some brilliant form, but injury forced Bennett to play Gareth Widdop at the back, and he has nearly been the player of the tournament with six try assists in his last three matches.
Lomax was originally a half prior to his former Aussie coach Nathan Brown moving him to fullback, so he had the skills to fill in as a hooker.
George Williams is primarily a pivot, but he also had a history at hooker and would have been the likely contender had Bennett chosen to not play James Roby for 80 minutes.
Roby has been brilliant in the tournament, and there is no doubt if Bennett asks him to go the distance he could and would register a high tackle count for few missed tackles. He is a class act, but the problem is that the heavy work load will take away his brilliant dummy half running which is something England need to create points against the Kangaroos.
“I’m used to playing 80 minutes but these World Cup games are that intense,” Roby said. “If I have to do 80, I’ll put my hand up and do my best.”
England appeared rushed by the highly passionate Tongans in the opening exchanges of the game in the semi-final. Both halfback Luke Gale and five-eighth Kevin Brown were disappointing with the quality of their kicks. That will be a focus this week.
The maligned Josh Dugan lost his job at the Dragons because he was perceived as having a poor passing game which was underlined during his three Origin matches, but during his four WC matches he has produced five try assists. Only his former teammates at the Dragons, Gareth Widdop and Taane Milne, are in front of him with seven each.
The difference it seems is moving from right centre to left and having Valentine Holmes outside him.
His new Sharks coach Shane Flanagan would have had his prized recruit penciled in to play right centre with Holmes at right wing, but given what he has seen during the WC he may consider a re-think. Holmes has scored 12 tries from five matches playing on the left.
Tactics – What I expect Australia to do
The majority of the Kangaroos points have come from the left, but I expect Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater to target small centre John Bateman and half Luke Gale who was embarrassed by Taumalolo.
Matt Gillett could have a field day, especially when Sam Burgess moves. They have won their last 12 matches against England and again will rely on their defence to shut the enemy out.
(Brendan Esposito / NRL Photos)
Tactics – What I expect England to do
Wayne Bennett has close to a 100 per cent record at winning finals, and that is because he knows how to get his players to peak on the day and target his threats. You can expect some very heavy hits on some high-profile Aussies.
Champion winger Ryan Hall has won six grand finals with Leeds and has scored 221 tries, plus another 34 for England. He will fancy his chances running at Dane Gagai.
For England to win Gareth Widdop will have to be man of the match and since shifting to fullback he has been stunning, creating six tries in only three games. He holds the key to England posting a winning score as he must get good quality ball to Jermaine McGillvary and Kallum Watkins when he darts down the right and somehow find Hall in space on his left.
Gale is the current Super League Man of Steel, and will benefit from the experience of losing the SL grand final last month. He cannot just be a link man here with kick and passing, he needs to create breaks with his speed off the mark. This is his biggest ever assignment and he needs to do what most cannot – outplay Cooper Cronk.
Luke Gale is the leading half in the World Cup for line engaged runs (23), kicks (48) and kick metres (1308), but if England is to cause an upset he needs to step up and share the creativeness with Widdop. He needs to outplay Cronk, who so far has been relatively quiet with only a single tackle break (Gale 7) in the tournament.
Tonga put Gale and Kevin Brown under huge pressure on their last tackle options and they both struggled with quality kicks. That will be suicide against the Kangaroos.
Australia: 1. Billy Slater 2. Dane Gagai 3. Will Chambers 4. Josh Dugan 5. Valentine Holmes 6. Michael Morgan 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Aaron Woods 9. Cameron Smith 10. David Klemmer 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Matt Gillett 13. Josh McGuire 14. Wade Graham 15. Jordan McLean 16. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 17. Tyson Frizell 18. Felise Kaufusi 19. Tom Trbojevic 20. Josh Mansour 21. James Maloney
Injury concerns – Chambers, Woods, Dugan, McQuire, Cordner
England: 1. Gareth Widdop 2. Jermaine McGillvary 3. Kallum Watkins 4. John Bateman 5. Ryan Hall 6. Kevin Brown 7. Luke Gale 8. Chris Hill 9. James Roby 10. James Graham 11. Sam Burgess 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Sean O’Loughlin 14. Alex Walmsley 15. Thomas Burgess 16. Ben Currie 17. Chris Heighington 18. Jonny Lomax 19. Scott Taylor 20. George Williams 21. Mark Percival
Injury concerns – Josh Hodgson (OUT) , Sean O’Loughlin
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