I don’t know why the decision was made to split the home nations for the purposes of international rugby league – but I’ll wager that a committee or ‘working party’ was involved.
Like jam roly-poly without custard, England just isn’t the same without Scotland and Wales attached. In this case, I’ll ignore Northern Ireland as they’ve always been more interested in the 15-man game in the Province than its northern derivative. Great Britain, as a team, could match rugby league giants Australia and New Zealand but the Scots and Welsh, let’s face it, are no match for their Antopidean counterparts. England have more options and are more capable but have still fallen short since the Brit-split and there is scant reason for believing that their luck will change in the upcoming Four Nations. Maybe there is a lesson there for the politicians with talk of a new Scottish Independence Referendum.
England made a winning start under new head coach Wayne Bennett at the weekend with a fairly bloodless 40-6 victory over France so will head into the Four Nations tournament in confident mood.
The arrival of the highly-regarded Australian head coach and the return of prodigal son Sam Burgess from rugby union have raised hopes that the national team’s 44-year wait for major silverware could soon be over. Burgess was suspended for the friendly against France but will be free to captain England in their opening match with New Zealand.
To be fair, England only lost narrowly to both Australia and New Zealand in their own backyards back in 2014 and improved again they to claim an unexpected 2-1 series win over the Kiwis last year. On the evidence of Saturday’s impressive triumph, in which Ryan Hall was outstanding, they could well push the Kangaroos and the Kiwis all the way this time. Plenty of Super League fans will be interested in the 9/2 with Betway to win the Four Nations – the same firm have Burnett’s team at 8/11 to reach the final but they would probably need to beat New Zealand in the tournament opener to stand any chance.
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Australia coach Mal Meninga has lit a fire under proceeding by claiming that Burnett wants his job more than the England one. Meninga has won both games in charge since succeeding Tim Sheens and insists there is more to come from the Kangaroos. All players have had a break since the end of the NRL or Super League so fatigue shouldn’t be an issue but there is limited value in the overall betting market at present. Perhaps handicap odds on individual games will offer better.
Four Nations Current Best Odds
Australia (7/10), New Zealand (3/1), England (9/2), Scotland (500/1)
