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...........on your face today.

You've either been watching a lot of porn and wanking yourself silly or you watched Australia beat England twice in the last 24 hours?

I didn't watch the ra ra's as it bores the shit out of me.

I did however watch the proper rugby.

Totally predictable

Union boys finally win a close one at Twickenham-5th time lucky...no suprise they won given Wilkinson was missing and no one else seems to have a clue how to kick penalties & conversions

League Boys finally decided to play when it mattered...
44-4 shows just how much of a joke international league really is

cheers
B....OZ

I didn't watch the Union because as I said before it bores the shit out of me.

I agree that the rugby league was predictable. There's always a lot of big talk over here that this going to be our year and it never is.

I disagree on your comment that your boys finally showed up and played. Personally I think it was the opposite that the British boys didn't show up at all.

Talent wise I don't think there's much of a gap but mentally there is a huge one.

Australia played like a side that only knows how to win the big games and GB played like a team that only knows how to lose them and choke big time which is exactly what they did.

I didn't watch any of em as they all belong to Pay TV

You can argue about talent but I'd say it comes down to the Australian Competition being better than its English Counterpart.

Almost Every game is a contest which means you've got to be switched on nearly all the time like your playing that BIG GAME of the season

Look at Cricket....your County Cricket is the main reason you haven't been able to beat Australia for eons

cheers
B....OZ

The NRL is definitely a better competition than Super League although the gap has closed somewhat in recent years.

Honestly I don't think it's down to that. I think it's down to the mental side of the game and also the fact that your government throws lots of money at your Institute of Sport.

County cricket aint the best but many overseas international cricketers have learnt massive amounts from stints in England including some of your own like Hayden, Langer, Mark Waugh etc etc.

Again I don't think it's down to that. It provided the national team with lots of great players for a number of years.

I think it's down to coaching and again the mentality of the players to improve themselves.

Plus another reason why we haven't won the Ashes in cricket for ages is that Australia have had a golden age and the current Aussie side is one of (though not the best) to ever play the game.

Trust me when i say Rugby league isn't at the Institute of sport and receives bugger funding from the government to my knowledge

Your right that its probably a mental thing as much as any talent issue




You only need compare Graham Hicks county record against his stint in Queensland to see the difference in quality of the 2 competitions

The main reason for the Australian success is there are no quality bowling attacks in world cricket like there were in the 70s & 80s

Too think that Australias top order of langer,Hayden & Ponting have now 20 centuries each beggars belief

Coaching set-ups like the Cricket Academy are a definite reason for the gap

I expect with Rodney leading the English Academy it shouldn't be too long before we get a contested series

cheers
B....OZ

Yes they are definitely making strides in County Cricket to improve standards and the first thing that they needed to do and have done is improve the quality of the pitches.

Rodney Marsh will help the academy but the foundations were already there for him and at long last the counties are trying to produce more of their own players and importantly improve the ones that they have already got.

Graham Hick may well have been hindered by county cricket which was probably at it's lowest point when he came through that particular system. The fact that he had to wait to qualify for England for years also meant that he festered in it and got into bad habits that he could get away with at a lower level but not at the next step up.

Basically he could see of the opening bowlers and then blast the 1st and 2nd change bowlers all over the park, which he did. He couldn't do that at Test level because of the higher standard.

That said that I think there's probably as many good players in county cricket as there is in the Sheffield Shield (lets call it that and not that awful Pura Cup). The difference in England is that quality is diluted over 18 teams and not the 6 that you have.

Big difference between good & great players

England is still yet to produce a decent fast bowler let alone a quality spinner
who has any longevity in him where as the aussies have had McGrath,Gillespie,Lee,Warne,MacGill and a host of other average bowlers who have put in some standout performances due to the competition

Bowling Attacks win matches not batsmen

Once McGrath,Gillespie & Warne have retired the Ashes should be a 50/50 contest

cheers
B....OZ