Watching the international yesterday and I just wondered what Bateman's instructions were. It was plain that he was the agitator, presumably our national coach thinks we need one.
I would probably be accused of being unpatriotic but I just wished that somebody would smack him and let us get on with the game!
Been a bit boring the two games. Tonga don't look arsed at times.
But a sad commentary on our GB game is that the referees want slow ptb's!!!!! I prefer the NRL read of the laws that speed the game up!!
Might be just me but I thought Tonga were garbage in this series. Totally uninterested. They were a breath of fresh air to the International game a few years back, they look a shadow of that now.
I thought England were ok, nothing more. Flashes of good rugby, most notably the try featuring Smith's kick to Newman last Saturday which, despite Newman's best efforts to muck it up (as per usual), was by far the best passage of play in the series.
Bit of a damp squib really.
I thought that from Woolf's comments what he wanted was what he got, some experience for his lads of different climate and rule interpretation, plus being away from home for a time.
We'll have to wait and see what happens down under when they meet.
Woolf did, at least, get the word from the referees about how they see the ptb rulings!
Samoa turn down the offer of touring England in 2024. They want to compete in the Pacific Shield tourno instead.