Rugby League Coaching Manuals

RLCMtv Tony Smith
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Part 1 

 Part 2 - By Gary Roberts RLCM - A Test Match - If Saturday night’s game was supposed to represent a Test Match then the International game many of us witnessed in a past era is quickly vanishing. England was shocking and New Zealand could not get away from them.

 Which team was the worst is debatable.  In my mind, New Zealand should have accepted the gift ball turned over to them in the first half and soundly put England away and out of their misery.

Maybe they thought they had done enough at the 23rd minute when then they lead 16 nil!  It was a hot night in Brisbane and the indications at that time showed England were going to struggle.

So, where does England or, more so, the game in Great Britain, go from here?

The contest on Saturday night clearly showed that the type of game played in Super League does not and never will stack up against the NRL competition.

Super League is entertaining to watch, but is a vastly different game than what is played at NRL level in Australia.

The NSWCRL and QRL Country Divisions all play a similar brand of rugby league as Super League.  It is entertaining and good fun to watch and participate in but the NRL competition is not about that style of rugby league. The NRL is about bringing the best players and teams together and playing in a competition that is based on skill, structure, speed, toughness and football intelligence.

Watching England play on Saturday night, I doubt if any members of that team would make a NRL 25 man squad.

The everyday little things in the NRL game were major problems to England on Saturday night and you would have to say the players did not know how to react to the problems they faced.

Instant decisions when attacking runners, either with the ball or decoy, are coming at you have to be made.  England, due to hesitation, rarely made correct decisions when the attacking Kiwis were in try scoring situations.

With decoy runners in attack, the aim is to create doubt in the defenders’ minds.  England’s decoys did nothing to create chaos.

In attack, ball runners should be square at point of collision not on the outside or having lateral body direction allowing them to be easy targets and thus allowing the defence to control the ensuing ruck.

More creative skill is needed in the halfback situation than what Rob Burrow gave to the team.

Every halfback can catch and pass the ball before the line, but more was needed from him.  Playing the half ‘one in’ on the defence line only gave the Kiwis a target at which to run.

Unfortunately, the leg tackler is not needed at this level of the game.  Burrow, due to his size, cannot tackle high.

England would be disappointed as they came to the RLWC08 full of hope.  In their first game against PNG, excuses were made for them, but in reality what was witnessed in Townsville was their true form.

The International game needs Great Britain to be strong.  It may be that the time has come for the coaching structure in the UK to bite the bullet and create change at the grassroots level.

The style they play now may suit the Super League competition, but at the International level PNG and Fiji are moving closer and will soon overtake them on the world rankings.

New Zealand 32 England 22
Suncorp Stadium
Brisbane
Crowd 26,659

Click here for RLCM Photography by Matt Roberts from New Zealand v England on Saturday night.