Four Nations - Week One.

The first round of the Four Nations has come and gone, and what a weekend it was. There were near misses, heart warming performances and great escapes that would make Steve McQueen blush. There was also relatively impressive attendances to both games in Doncaster and in London, which shows twelve months after the World Cup the hunger for international rugby league was not a one off.

England 34-12 France
The highest crowd for a Anglo-French test match signified the beginning of a new era for international rugby league in the UK. The attendance of 11,529 exceeded anyone's expectations for what are usually one-sided contests. Bobbie Gouling and his team had other ideas and gave the hosts an early Halloween scare when France went  12-4 ahead at half time. Tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley were both converted by Thomas Bosc.

It was a poor first half performance from England by anyone's standards. The half back combination of Danny McGuire and Richie Myler looked one dimensional on the French goal line, and the defence at the opposite end of the field stood solid like a wet paper tissue towards the final moments of the half. It was a stark reminder of twelve months ago in Townsville, when Papua New Guinea went into the half time break leading 16-12 in the World Cup opener.

But thankfully the scriptwriters had included the same ending. England changed a few tactics around and started to play with a bit more flair and creativity. Myler pushed forward in attack and did well to support the line breakers, which he was rewarded with his second try when Kevin Sinfield found he gap on the French line. The game was wrapped up by the English when Ryan Hall intercepted Thomas Bosc's pass out intended for Duport, and the Leeds' winger showed his pace to beat Clint Greenshield to the corner post.

 Despite the strong efforts from France, David Ferriol and Jean-Philippe Baile both faced disciplinary yesterday after Ferriol quite badly elbowed Kevin Sinfield in the tackle eight minutes from time and Jean-Philippe Baile caught Richie Myler with a stiff arm to the jaw. Baile was shown the red card by the New Zealand referee, Leon Williamson while Ferriol's incident was put on report. As a result of the disciplinary hearing, Ferriol will receive a one game ban, excluding him from playing against New Zealand this weekend. Meanwhile Baile is free to face New Zealand despite the serious nature of the offence. I can only assume the panel have given Baile the benefit of the doubt after the centre showed remorse to Myler and apologised as he left the field. The news will make life a bit sweeter for Goulding after the French hooker, Remi Castey, was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a broken hand.


Australia 20-20 New Zealand
12,360 people saw a thrilling contest next to the home of rugby union at the Twickenham Stoop. In fact, it was one of the best games I've seen all year and it was between the two nations that are most likely to get to the final.

The crowd, made up primeraly of Australian and New Zealand ex-pats based in London, witnessed a young New Zealand side fight toe-to-toe with an experienced Australian side that included almost every big name in the NRL. New Zealand caught Australia napping early when Frank-Paul Nuuausala ran on an angle to Adam Blair's offload five minutes into the game. For me personally, the story of the first half was made by New Zealand's SAS-style of defence. For aproximatly fifteen minutes inside the first half, New Zealand were forced to defend consecutive sets of six on their own try line due to disiplinary errors. When they finally recieved posession, they were guilty of handling errors within their own half. It was a minor miracle Australia didn't put ship past twenty points in that time frame. In the end, Brett Morris finally broke through, but the landslide didn't come and the half time scores remained 6-6.

When Jonathan Thurston stripped the ball one-on-one from Lance Hohaia early in the second half, you sensed that all the luck would go Australia's way. This was not the case, as New Zealand stood up and fought back to lead by six points with five minutes left thanks to Frank Pritchard's try in the left corner. But Australia's never say die attitude over powered the New Zealanders and from Thurston's short kick off, Australia forced their way down field. On the back of a penalty, the resulting set of six saw Australia throw the ball around until Greg Inglis spotted the gap in the New Zealand defense and an offload to Cameron Smith gave Australia the try and the conversion oppertunity they needed to tie the game. Thurston, with nerves calmer than a mountain lake, slotted over the vital goal to earn Australia a point.

If England fail to make the final now, I don't think I could care less so long as both these nations play with similar enthusiasm, passion and skill at Elland Road in a few weeks time.