England Beat The Exiles In A Terrible Game Of Rugby League

Jun 15, 2013 League Freak International Origin News 3

---

England has beaten the Exiles in the 2013 International Origin match 30 in front of just 7,926 supporters in Warrington.

England dominated the first half while the Exiles looked terrible. While the Exiles looked the better side in the second half, they never really looked like they were going to make a game of it.

You can’t get anything out of this game for the England team. All of their best players are back in Australia.

For England, Sam Tomkins and James Roby played well. Ryan Hall go through a lot of work throughout the match. For the Exiles, Steve Menzies looked dangerous while Travis Burns worked hard all night.

I would hope that the halves combinations and even the bench used by England is very different to the one they will use in the World Cup at seasons end.

The Exiles played one out in attack all night. They offered very little to trouble the England defense at all. When they did start to throw the ball around, England were a shambles. Their defense was all over the place and they make the old Exiles side look like world beaters.

I will say this…England need to take specialist centers into the World Cup. They can not manufacturer centers out of wingers, fullbacks and second rowers. If they do the likes of Inglis, Hodges and Jennings will destroy them.

England is so fixated on Australia right now that they are forgetting all about New Zealand, the current World Champions. A lot of English fans keep suggesting to me that England will beat New Zealand. let me tell you right now, I still think New Zealand will win the World Cup. England should be thinking about the likes of Tonga and Samoa before they consider competing against Australia and New Zealand.

England suffered two injuries in the match with Kevin Sinfield apparently hurt his hand in the match and didn’t play in the second half while Gareth Ellis left the field in the second half with a back injury. Ellis’ injury in particular looked like a bad one, you’d expect him to miss a few games for Hull FC in the coming weeks.

This game is a pathetic joke and should be scrapped as soon as possible. It offers nothing to England in terms of preparation for actual international matches.

To have a bunch of old imports come out and do their impression of the Washington Generals every year makes a mockery of the game.

---

• England, Exiles, Gareth Ellis, International Origin, Kevin Sinfield

---

---