ONE of the best rugby league players I have ever seen showed why he is one of the most feared attacking players in the world at the weekend.
Among many excellent performances in the Australia-New Zealand game in the Four Nations on Saturday night, Australian centre Greg Inglis was simply outstanding.
But it is a tragedy that he is not as well known as some of his much less gifted rugby union contemporaries.
Inglis has size, speed, balance, strength, acceleration, a swerve, a sidestep and one of the best-timed passing games ever witnessed at Twickenham Stoop.
He put two tries on a plate for his colleagues and his determination got Australia a draw when it looked like the Kiwis were going to win – he really is that good and he is still only 22.
The opening weekend of rugby league’s Four Nations was given a huge boost by the fantastic game between the two southern hemisphere giants.
The result was a 20-20 draw – very rare in these encounters – and a match of skill, speed, ingenuity, suspense, drama, passion and a level of physical power that left me quaking on the couch in the comfort of my living room.
The game, which demonstrated everything that makes fans of the sport fervent in their following, was the complete opposite of England’s predictable and lacklustre win against France 24 hours earlier.
The England team only came alive in the second half, by which time the French were displaying their all-too-familiar inability to maintain a consistent effort over 80 minutes. England were able to rattle up the points and the game ended on a damp squib.
The performance was made more mediocre by the sumptuous feast served up by Australia and New Zealand.
The stereotyped play so common to our Super League, often caricatured as five drives and a kick, was totally absent from this game.
Both teams seemed able to play rugby league at a pace our teams cannot sustain and to a level of skill and intelligence that we cannot compete with. It was only on rare occasions that one runner took a pass straight from the play-the-ball and ran into the opposition.
It was easy to see who was playing prop and who was in the back row. The half backs ran the show and the centres looked to beat their man and put their winger away – it really was inspiring stuff.
It means that England know the size of the challenge they face when they play Australia this Saturday.
England have some very talented players and they know better than any commentator the folly of trying to beat the Australians by simply bashing the ball up the middle of the field and pressing the Australian defence with a good kick-chase on the fifth tackle.
But if England win on Saturday they will deserve to enter the final stages of the Four Nations tournament as the hot favourites. It would be a tremendous achievement and I know that the players involved will all give every ounce of their ability to get that precious win.
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