It's clear for all to see that O'Loughlin is a passenger. A liability even. 30 minutes in, he's throwing his typical high tackle, at fault for NZ 2nd try, and reefing the ball on the 5th tackle under the sticks. Unbelievable that Cuthbertson is not at 13 for England.

No surprise really .

Most over rated player I have seen in rugby league, said for years. Never deserved the praise he gets, a very average player.

But he isn't alone looking a passenger here. Whitehead is another over rated player.

Would rather have seen Percival at centre for the injured Reed and then Bateman and S Ward given a chance in the back row

2/3 years ago I think he deserve his place as loose forward but it's clear now that he shouldn't be there. Said on the Wigan board that he should have retired from internationals like Peacock did to prolong his club career.

Not just a Wigan bash before any of their fans complain because I think Williams is having a very promising game. Whilst Hodgson did ok, Roby's introduction has made the world of difference.

Stevie ward would struggle with his crutches

Forgot he was injured lol.

Thought O'Loughlin had a very decent game overall.

Thought he got better as the game went on, he's not the attacking threat he was, but he's still a great leader, and defender. I think he'd be better in the 2nd row, and Graham at LF as a 3rd prop.

O'Loughlin was poor in first half but stepped it up a gear in the second (even without the try) Taken on his second half performance alone he deserves his place IMO

Tbf he was good in his late stint after coming back on from the bench. Even before that try he was being more sensible in defence not risking the penalties he always looked like doing previously in the game.

Thought Hall and Watkins had strong games but could've done with better service. Hall outside Bateman, I think Bateman's a good player but like others before him, a 2nd row doing a good job at centre in SL doesn't mean they should play there at International level. Hardaker, steady away. Solid but more to come.

Lockers earned his spurs in the 2nd half after a poor first half

He's definitely a leader and at that level it certainly pays to have one

I would have had Percivil in Centre for this series.Don't see the point in playing a back rower there as a stop gap at international level.He did fine mind, not having a go at Bateman, just would have been great experience for the Saints lad who has an international future at centre and is already capable enough.

England were below average in the first half, so for NZ not to be well clear by HT must be of concern to them.I don't see England being that poor again for the rest of the series so if NZ don't pick up their game drastically, i can't see anything other than a comfortable England win from here.

Nervy start to the series. I also don't think it helped playing the game in the evening, very dewy surface and a wet ball. Ball control became a priority.
I'd have had Bateman in the pack, although to be honest he would not have been in my 17, surely we could have had an actual centre playing centre.

As for KOL I guess he did a job and he's a leader.

Thought he had a good game tbh. Tan the ball well, distributed well, tackled well. Gave away a daft pen but overall decent

Just looking at the squad and with Cooper going off injured then lack of props looks worrying. If Cooper misses out next week then out of the options not selected today can only see bringing Westwood in.

He has always done well in an England shirt imo. This Wigan/Leeds thing needs putting to bed now till next year. I like to think i can form an opinion on what's best for the England team when the internationals are on, what club a player plays for is irrelevant to me, i just want to see the right players play in the right positions and England to win.Could not give a tosh what clubs they play for.

I always wonder about oloughlin. Personally I think he is over rated but many club and international coaches continue to pick him.

I see it like this, I pay to watch, the coaches get paid to know. I'm entitled to my opinion but as a fan I'm so far removed from the finer details of the game.

I think he's a great player. Can do everything well. I think many people see past his Wigan shirt

Think tonight, the first 50 mins was the O'Loughlin of 2015. The last 15 mins when he came back off the bench was the O'Loughlin of a few years back, which was a very good player.

It is not possible for all 13/17 players to shine each game.
Some have to do the steady stuff, hard work etc whilst 2 or 3 have their day.

Ryan Hall did very well even though he didn't get a lot of service from the whole team (not just Bateman).
Burgess on the other hand did everything he had to do, looked solid and made good yards although didn't inject himself as much as Hall (something he got picked out on by Wane for against Saints earlier in the year) but I'm not.going to criticise a far.more.creative player in Watkins for not giving him any service as again it's the whole teams responsibility not just 1 player.
It just wasn't that "Type" of game.

The idiot slugging Hardaker off (ill omit his club allegiances as all clubs have idiots who look to blame other clubs players) is just that, an idiot.
Hardaker dropped 1 ball, nothing drastic and did everything else perfectly well. He didn't shine but so what, he did his job well.
But then again same has to go for Farell, probably around 45 tackles and a good break that he nearly scored from and we get critics because of 1 penalty (if it was against him anyway???).

To think this team has players such as G Burgess, S Tomkins, T Briscoe, Shenton, Cudjoe, magilvary, J Reed, Currie plus many,many others like Ward, Sutcliffe, Manfredi, Percival, Makinson, Ratchford, etc who could come into contention if needed over the next 12/18/24 months is a good position to be in.
As you say let's try Nd be objective and give these lads a fair crack.of the whip.
I'm as confident as I have been since early 90s that we could win things.
That's got to be something to be proud of and to be positive about.

SOL has always done pretty well internationally. He's one of those players who can and does play to his best for England, which we need more of.

I thought Todd Flanders had a good game for us yesterday

Imo his performance reflected the whole teams a poor/average first half hour then improved and played well in a team that deservedly won.

Gotcha wrote about Hardaker :
"Not great in any way, but still one of England's top performers."

Gotcha wrote:
"I did say one of, not the top. And personally thought Watkins and Farrell were quite poor to be honest."

Gotcha wrote about SOL
"Most over rated player I have seen in rugby league, said for years. Never deserved the praise he gets, a very average player.

But he isn't alone looking a passenger here. Whitehead is another over rated player."


Did the fog come early to your part of the stand? or did you go to the Boulevard by mistake?

Hardaker was not a flop but neither was he one of our top performers. SOL looked out of sorts to begin with along with the rest of the side but put in some very good work in the second half in a strong finish.