Brough can't see England getting near Australia

DEFEATED Scotland captain Danny Brough believes England are too mistake-ridden to stand any chance of beating Australia on Sunday and reaching the Ladbrokes Four Nations final.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Nov 2016, 05:00 BST
Updated 16th Nov 2016, 15:47 BST
Danny BroughDanny Brough
Danny Brough

The Huddersfield Giants stand-off caused the hosts countless problems in the first half of Saturday’s game as the outsiders forged a surprise 8-0 lead after 25 minutes.

Scotland eventually lost 38-12 to Wayne Bennett’s side but were beaten 54-12 by the Kangaroos the week before.

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Brough, 33, said: “England actually are a bit more physical.

“But Australia play very smart, very basic and don’t make many errors whereas I thought England made far too many errors to be a team to beat Australia next week.”

Scotland trailed 12-8 at the interval but lost their way especially after Brough was sin-binned in the 58th minute for holding down Jonny Lomax after the England full-back broke.

However, he said: “I thought it was harsh. I had the same scenario in the first half when I got held down by Lomax but I didn’t even get a penalty.

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“I did the same thing to him and got a sin-binning so it’s different rules for different people by the look of that. I thought we did lose a lot of 50-50s (decisions).

“It was a nice feeling to be 8-0 up and we were creating opportunities.

“I was fuming with myself I missed the two kicks, to be honest, but overall, I was pleased.”

Furthermore, Yorkshireman Brough – who was infamously spurned by England on two occasions – believes Australia will target the hosts’ right-edge just as he did with some success in the first period.

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“They play a bit of a sit-in defence and don’t jam your men out of the back so we tried to go to the line and whip it out the back,” he said.

“We got them a few times and I think other teams will have a look at that defending with the personnel playing.”

England coach Bennett, meanwhile, was seething about his side’s inept display.

He said: “There was no particular reason for the slow start. They might have been reading the papers, thinking they just had to turn up and win.”

“We weren’t good. When you compared to how we played last week (17-16 loss to New Zealand), there’s no comparison.

“It makes picking the team easier for this week.”

Related topics:EnglandScotlandAustraliaHuddersfield Giants