Kentish - yeah, and football is our national game.

Was just about to post similar, AS. We moan about this that and the other but the Aussies are simply too good. But most admit this and don't pretend otherwise. There are many cultural reasons for NZ dominance, not least because it's their national game.

doh! beat

Not an egg chasing fan in any form but don't think league fans should be too smug considering the woeful inability of England or great Britain to bet either the aussies or even new Zealand in recent times

Saw an interesting interview with an All Black legend a couple of years ago (might have been Sean Fitzpatrick, but I'm not sure). He said that the over-riding emotion for most of their players is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of not being able to live up to the enormous responsibility of what that black jersey represents. The fact that they are able to produce so many people who are able to channel that fear and turn it into something so productive, so devastating and something that can at times be so beautiful to watch really does say something. Not sure what, though ;-)

GG-no one denies they are good but they aren't unbeatable

CW - everyone can come up with their own reasons for that result/performance. Fact remains that the All Blacks have lost, what, one game in three years - and they were all against teams who play together all the time? Add to that the fact that they have replaced the likes of Dan Carter and Ritchie McCaw without skipping a beat.

We RL fans will give a wry grin knowing the Emperor is wearing no clothes

We RL fans will give a wry grin knowing the Emperior is wearing no clothes

GG-but that's because they are used to each other as a team!! They know what to expect whereas the Lions being a team that plays together once every 4 years dont

CW - or maybe it is the speed (of both movement & thinking) and the skill-levels. Wot KD sed at 09.57, and every other AB knew exactly what was going to happen so much faster than any of the Lions did.

KD - at least you can enjoy having a good bitch about the state of Northern hemisphere rugby union with your fellow rugby league keyboard warriors!

That'll be the excuse, CW, but I'm not fooled...

Tin tin - 😂

The UN are still a thing?

Perhaps the difference was that NZ are used to playing as a team and the Lions arent

New Zealand 30-15 Lions FT. Lions made to look the comparatively ordinary side they are.

Why did O'Brien seek contact there? Butchered

Ryan Clarke signs....

Apart from the Kieran Read offload (!)

And again, our defence folds like a cheap pack of cards. I repeat, England would not defend like that. Little skill required from NZ there.

That's why football is so good because it's difficult to score goals, you can be battered for 90 mins but still nick a late goal like we did as West Brom a few years back, the better side doesn't always win

It's not the same as RL but rugby union is just like any sport in that the team with better players usually wins. British players' skillsets continue to be of a secondary standard compared to the All Blacks. Effort can compensate but in the end you need to score tries to beat them. The attritional Six Nations style only goes so far. Skill is everything.

It's Super Maro time. Hereeeee we go!

Any idea why we joined that United Nations outfit Tudor? Fancy having to co-operate with other countries and even having a say in how they should behave and vice versa. Thin end of the wedge.