Four Nations
Dates: 23 October - 13 November
Coverage: Live coverage and highlights on BBC One and BBC Two, BBC Sport website and BBC 5 live sports extra

Highlights - New Zealand 24-10 England

By Dave Woods BBC TV and Radio 5 live rugby league commentator in New Zealand

Disappointing, but certainly not devastating, should be the overriding emotion in reaction to England's defeat in the opening match of the 2010 Four Nations tournament.

There can be no arguments that they were second best against a New Zealand side that didn't hit their straps either.

But there was enough evidence in a rousing second half to offer some optimism ahead of next Sunday's meeting with Australia in Melbourne.

We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the appointed ambition of this England squad in this series is to compete.

A victory over either New Zealand or Australia for this group of mainly young and internationally green players would be a huge bonus.

And we can still live in hope of a victory in Victoria next Sunday, though another Melbourne mauling also remains a possibility.

England's kicking game needs to improve. As good as New Zealand's Lance Hohaia is on the kick return, we all know that Australia's Billy Slater is potentially a much more lacerating runner from deep.

Some players will have to improve. We certainly didn't see the best of Sam Burgess, for example, against the Kiwis, but that's likely to change next week when he faces the green and gold.

Maybe - and whisper this - we need to be looking at stronger ties with rugby union in the development of our junior game

Some did impress. Luke Robinson did not look out of place in an international setting when he came on and Michael Shenton looked a real strike force in the second half. Fingers crossed he will be fit to play.

And it may be a lot of 'ifs' and 'buts', but if Kevin Brown's 'try' had been given, how different might the outcome of the game have been?

But in covering five England or Great Britain tours down under, the conversation after just about every match on every trip always comes back to the same point.

We are not producing enough good players across all positions to ever be a consistent threat to the domination of Australia and now New Zealand.

Every solution has been discussed in just about every bar and restaurant from Sydney to Melbourne to Auckland to Wellington.

Should we be exporting more young players to the play in the Australian league? Esteemed Aussie colleague Steve Mascord has even suggested entering an England side into the NRL competition.

Can we find a series of fixtures that mimics the intensity of the State of Origin series to give our players a step up from club matches? Previous attempts have failed.

But the bottom line is surely in the production of players. And we aren't producing enough.

In the states of New South Wales and Queensland, rugby league is the first choice code of the majority of young and talented athletes, so the pool they can chose from is enormous.

Once upon a time New Zealand was in a similar position to us; depending on a golden group of players coming through every generation or so to briefly challenge the Aussies, before disappearing back to being average.

But there is a revolution that has been going on in New Zealand for a little while now that will ensure that they can remain consistently good for a lot of years to come. Their player pool has expanded dramatically.

Could the next Martin Offiah be waiting in the rugby union ranks?

Former Castleford stand-off and Wakefield coach Tony Kemp is at the heart of ensuring that the Kiwis will keep producing more and more world-class players for generations to come, and he will reveal all to the BBC Sport website in the next few days.

From our point of view maybe - and whisper this - we need to be looking at stronger ties with rugby union in the development of our junior game in England.

As a joint rugby initiative we can surely attract more talented young athletes to take up the handling codes, rather than other sports. Then as players develop, slot them into the game that suits them best.

Sure, rugby league will miss out on some talents who may have played 13-a-side given only that option, but there will also be plenty who would have gone exclusively into rugby union who find they are simply not suited to that sport but who can be very good at league.

That would greatly enhance the gene pool available to the sport.

In the meantime, with the ever-consistent optimism of a British rugby league fan on tour, it's off to Melbourne, scene of our most devastating defeat in the World Cup two years ago, hanging on to the hope that we can produce one of those against-the-odds victories against the perennial favourites next week.

Follow me on Twitteras I cover the Four Nations for the BBC.

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