Last updated 09:17, Thursday, 06 November 2008

OUT in Australia, West Cumbrian ex-patriots Paul Charlton and Dick Huddart must be feeling a little embarrassed by England’s abject World Cup failure so far.

So must another international golden oldie, Eddie Bowman,who has travelled 10,000 miles from Whitehaven hoping to see better things Down Under.

Charlton is a Great Britain World Cup winner (1972); Tiger Huddart starred in two GB Ashes winning series while Bowman played brilliantly in the 1977 World Cup side which Britain lost by a single point to the Aussies in a decider.

A far cry from last Saturday when England were thrashed 52-4 by the Australians in a group clash at Melbourne.

The game may have changed but there’s no question that on ability, Charlton, Huddart and Bowman would have walked into today’s international setup, not to mention the likes of Ike Southward and Brian Edgar who, along with Huddart and Charlton, would certainly be good enough to play for Australia’s 2008 vintage – and also help beat ‘em!

But are today’s England really that bad? Or is it just that the Kangaroos have got better and better? Opinions are divided.

I was in Marseille a few years ago when the touring Kangaroos put about 70 points on France in what was Mal Meninga’s last match. One French paper headlined it “Green Men from Another Planet”.

Nothing’s changed then, despite all the influx of “star” or sometime second rate Australians into Super League, a plethora of Australian coaches and all this attention to technical detail and strategy.

Also going back a few years, I produced a Cumbrian Rugby League Annual with my late colleagues, Bruce Foster and Graham Mumberson, starting around the time the 1982 Australian tour side totally humbled Great Britain in all three Tests.

This was the time of Meninga Kenny, Stirling, Lewis, Pearce etc.

Yes, it was like playing rugby from another planet. The former Haven centre Phil Larder, the RL national director of coaching, wrote in our annual: “What a shock we received.

“The tourists were miles ahead of us in every aspect, and the more their performances are studied, the greater the difference is seen to be.

“The Australians have all the basic skills and perform them at incredible speed but it is the speed in which they move up that is so difficult to combat.

“They have lessons to teach us. In 1960, they were not proud to learn from us. Let’s hope that in the 80s we are not too proud to learn. The Australians restored our faith in rugby league.”

Larder’s plea to the British game was: “Improve the quality of your coaches at every level and remember my message a year ago – attract youngsters into the game.”

Larder went on to become GB coach before taking his defensive mindset into rugby union, helping Clive Woodward mastermind England’s 2003 World Cup triumph.

Can you imagine the reaction if the England RU side had a half century of points put on them by the Wallabies?

I remember the late great Ashes winning coach, Jim Brough, telling me that the all-conquering 1982 Kangaroos, to be followed by the ‘86 Invincibles, simply taught us a lesson by playing good old-fashioned rugby league with everybody doing the basics almost to perfection.

One of Jim’s former Whitehaven players, the Great Britain stand-off Phil Kitchin, subscribes to the view today.

Kitchin says: “I also agree with what Garry Schofield says about Great Britain going back to playing with flair but defence is a big part of it.

“In my day, we used to mark man for man, which put the responsibility on individuals to stop their opposite numbers; now it’s all this stuff about sliding defence which to me seems to create more problems. Another thing: we were always taught that the ball will beat the man.”

But for bottom-line honesty I have to give the last word to another local legend, Arnold Walker who, like Kitchin, earned his Test cap with Haven against the Kiwis.

“I don’t know what the answer is,” he admits. “The Aussies are far too good. The fact is they put 50 points on us and didn’t seem to be flat out. What happens if they step up a gear or two? They are just greedy for points and want to rub salt in our wounds.”

Personally, I think The Sun newspaper went too far in headlining England “clowns” but it’s certainly no laughing matter – can England really reach the final and then produce a display to show us that something has changed?