It will take coaches to realise that 5 drives and a kick doesn't win you trophies. The fact you can't think of any English halfbacks who can open up a defence is evidence, IMO, that we've neglected developing that skill because it hasn't been as important as quick ptb and scooting. When the quick ptb is removed from the game, other methods will need to be used and maybe we will see upcoming English halves concentrating on this element of their game rather than seeing yet more broken field support players with no organisational skills.



IMO, a Tomkins at 6 and 7 wouldn't work; he is the best broken field runner in the country but couldn't led a team around the field, orchestrate the line to open gaps etc.

The 'scootathon' rugby mentality was the reason we were getting smashed by the Aussies/Kiwis. All we were doing is producing scooting hookers. The hope is that now we start producing hookers and 3/4s that can actual control a game without relying on getting 10 cheap metres by running from dummy half every play.

The reason we get smashed by them is because they have larger talent pools to select from. It's not rocket surgery.

What exactly would that be then?

[url=http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rocket%20surgeryDo keep up old boy[/url

Oh well then. Let's not even bother turning up next time.

Oh how embarrassing, 20 years old and I have lost my 'street'.

Why would you say that? All I'm saying is that you can tinker with those issues all you like but it's not helpful to state that it's the reason why we're losing when I distinctly remember us losing to the Australians before those tactics came to the fore.

Quite right. We need to get more people playing the game over here then we'll have more top quality players making it. That's what happened in Australia in the 70s to put them ahead of us and is the reason they've never been surpassed.



BTW that Bulls side managed to beat Saints a few weeks back

When your own teams fortunes aren't looking too good. It's quite often that one think's the standard of the comp is diminishing. Funnily enough I felt the competition waned somewhat between 2003 - 2009. Yet strangely enough from 2010 onward's I've never felt the need to question the quality of the league.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but during the period between the inception of SL and around 2008, when the quick PTB rules and wider defensive lines were changed, British RL managed to develop some great halfbacks like Long & Deacon, who had all the skills.



I think your recollection of that period is skewed for some reason. Yes, Saints exploited the gaps from DH (I'd say revolutionised DH play in the UK) and were always waiting for that player slow to get back into defence, but our gameplan was much more varied than that, and few other teams consistently utilised the DH to any great effect.



I reckon because Saints had the standout hooker of the SL era in Cunningham (backed up first by Higham, then by Roby), quite a bit resentment built up amongst other fans for the Saints style.

Not for the first time this season, a really ordinary Saints team put a lot of points past the opposition without getting out of second gear.



The standard of the league as a spectacle has never been lower. It's slow, ponderous and more or less every try is a flop over. I'm generally an optimist about the state of RL but we are in big trouble if we don't take steps to make the game entertaining again. I was counting down the minutes til I could get out of that game last night so God knows what the casual fans/newcomers would think.