Friday, November 14, 2008

Live text - England v NZ

Brisbane:

England v New Zealand (0855 GMT)

LATEST ACTION (all times GMT)
606: DEBATE
Text 81111 (with "RUGBYL" as the first word) or use 606 (Not all contributions can be used)
By Pranav Soneji

"There's a lot of pressure on both teams. It's not about England's reputation, it's about New Zealand's as well. We can expect a nervy, edgy game."
BBC Radio 5 Live's Dave Woods

"Good decision dropping Pryce. We need a partnership who look like they've seen each other before. McGuire and Burrow will give us this."
Al, Preston via TEXT 81111

0845 GMT: Much to Tony Smith's chagrin, Australian referee Shayne Hayne will take charge of this encounter in Brisbane. It's fair to say Tony hasn't endeared himself down under, some have even suggested Tony earned his "whinging Pom" spurs when he received his British passport last summer. But it's all about what happens in the 80 minutes at the Suncorp Stadium, home of the Brisbane Broncos.

0843 GMT: TEAMS
New Zealand: Lance Hohaia; Sam Perrett, Simon Mannering, Jerome Ropati, Manu Vatuvei; Benji Marshall, Nathan Fien; Nathan Cayless (capt), Thomas Leuluai, Adam Blair, Bronson Harrison, David Fa'alogo, Jeremy Smith.

England: Paul Wellens; , Martin Gleeson, Ade Gardner, Keith Senior, Mark Calderwood; Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow; Adrian Morley, Mickey Higham, Jamie Peacock (captain); Gareth Ellis, Ben Westwood, Rob Purdham.

0838 GMT: It has been a bit of a rum week for our Tony. Reports in Australia have suggested the Aussie-born Brit is in the frame to take over at Parramatta, a job which former Saints coach Daniel Anderson is also gunning for. However, an insider claims the report "smacks of disruption", so the conspiracy theories continue. My colleague Paul Fletcher has written a fine blog on this particular subject:

0833 GMT: Let's have your thoughts about this England side via 606 (which opens at 900 GMT) or TEXT 81111 with the word "RUGBYL" before your message. My initial thoughts are: "Tony, why didn't you just name this team a few days ago and not kop a load of pointless flak?" Controversial? You decide.

0830 GMT: Right, some interesting team news to tell you about. England coach Tony Smith has made three changes to the starting XIII he named earlier in the week, with Ade Gardner returning to the wing while Danny McGuire resumes at stand-off, with Leon Pryce on the bench. And Ben Westwood comes in for Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

The pair had originally been left out of the 19-man squad on Wednesday, but Smith has been accused of indulging in a bit of cloak and dagger tactics by his opposite number Stephen Kearney and the media.

0828 GMT: Here we go again. Only this time there's a whole lot more riding on this match-up than last week's sort-of 34-26 victory to New Zealand.

No comments: