Quote ="G1"England's chances (such as they are) would IMO have been improved had Cooper Cronk's heritage been thoroughly investigated and the player persuaded to be English. Just as irrayional as discussing the "decided to be Scottish" Man of Steel in the context of England's team but there you go.
England's chances (such as they are) would not IMO have been improved one iota by including a player who has never shown the mettle to perform in the biggest of games and has shown such little character that he goes from Scottish to English to Scottish again when he thinks his selection is unlikely to be handed on a plate to him several months before the tournament began.
Englands chances (such as they are) are better improved by selecting natural leaders who display some of the finest attributes a player can possess, a player that inspires team mates, rather than riles them.
Englands chances (such as they are) are better served with the qualities a certain captain brings to the table, qualities his predecessor as captain praised in such a fullsome manner during the BBC coverage that he almost said anyone doubting him was a fool. His predecessor knows a thing or two about playing the Aussies and Kiwis, unlike the current Man of Steel.
The current Man of Steel is about to find out what it's like to face the kiwis. He's about to play in a big game. Unlike when his team is putting 60 on the likes of Salford he won't be behind the bigger of the two packs. I've always said I would judge the current man of steel on his playoff performances as his seasons form would regularly nosedive. Another playoff series of underwhelming mediocrity denied us again seeing Brough peroform on the big occassion, despite playing for the season's most dominant team (in itself enlightening).
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Difficult to argue with any of this , most will probably agree , I should think .
This made me smile though ,
Englands chances (such as they are) are better served with the qualities a certain captain brings to the table, qualities his predecessor as captain praised in such a fullsome manner during the BBC coverage that he almost said anyone doubting him was a fool. His predecessor knows a thing or two about playing the Aussies and Kiwis, unlike the current Man of Steel
A line of argument that predecessors know far more about the qualities a certain player may bring to a team .
Yet an argument that excludes a certain player at Leeds , even though the present back to back Grand final winning coach and his predecessors saw fit to include him regularly in their successful teams , Hmm....
and its also easy to root for a long standing player who always give his all, unconditionally IMHO. 
