We are so desperate for a scrum half in the Cronk mould. Plenty of decent stand offs, Widdop for me is brilliant, and Williams has all the skills. But a true, proper scrum half we do miss, to allow them stand offs to run. Danny Brough with legs of a younger age would be great right now, someone of that type of ilk.

The forwards are good enough, but the egos of some need bringing down a peg or two.

Widdop is Brilliant ? not even sure he is good , but brilliant is certainly an overstatement

I said Widdop "for me" is brilliant. So yes, IMO, he is brilliant, and by far Englands best player of the series. Like I said above, England desperately lacks a proper scrum half.

Williams was a threat when he came on, why didn't he start, Percival had a nightmare day but will learn from the experience and come back stronger, biggest cheer of the day was for a punch replay

And some wonder why I questioned if Gotcha exaggerates his appraisals when he said Ward was "excellent" vs HKR the other year,

It's a shame daly cherry-Evans doesn't want to switch allegiance, with an English mother

That would be the same Widdop who changed the whole tenor of the game vs the Kiwis when he put a restart out on the full which arguably led to them getting back into the game against us
The same Widdop who in that same game failed to demand the ball for a drop goal attempt when we were bang in front of the posts.
And the same Widdop who when we were starting to gain some much needed momentum in the first half today failed to find touch with a penalty kick, again inviting the Aussies back into the game.
I'm not saying that we would have won either of the games but his unforced errors were not the play of someone having a brilliant series of games.
He took his try well, but then so did Hall & McGillvary.
Cameron Smith ran the game for the Aussies & it was hard to see what Bennett brought to our game that McNamara didn't do last year.

Agree, bang average, Williams has that certain something and made the Aussies think twice when he on

Clarke and Houghton in to pace up the ruck area, sneyd in to bring a kicking game in, must be worth a try

Oh look Printer wanting to start a bickering again, surprise surprise.Still going on about a match nearly two years ago that made him look a fool on here. As said many times, the same excellent repeated by the coaching staff at the time, but disputed by the armchair radio listener. You don't do yourself any credit highlighting your own error.

Agree about the hookers. Totally underwhelmed with our 9 today. Those who watch him in the NRL could perhaps help me out, because from what I've seen he has no pace, passes most of the time behind or in the face of the runner and when he does run tends to run up his own backside.

he was bang average today, couldn't find touch ffs, As its important to you to get the full perspective were you there?

And that is your opinion, and entitled to it. Mine is that you are wrong, and equally I am entitled to that.

You're very easily impressed if you think that Widdop is Brilliant

IMO Joey Johns & Wally Lewis were both Brilliant

Widdop is sadly a million miles away from players of that ilk and I don't know what you see in him that makes him so Brilliant in your opinion, so please enlighten me of why he is so Brilliant

I thought Widdop was very good also. He is not the best tactical kicker but he did everything else really well.

I think we lost out at dummy half today and our forwards were just a little too predictable. In the past offloads have troubled Australia. They don't like playing against teams that break up their pattern. It's risky but we just can't beat them at the percentage game, especially not with the poor passes we had coming out of dummy half and another baffling performance from the referee awarding totally random PTB penalties.

I also thought the most disappointing part of the performance was that it took till the game was totally fine before someone gave an Australian a slap. Watkins should have stuck one on Cronk first half, he'd already been penalised (wrongly). This was a test match.

Well IMO Johns and Lewis were far above that. I just think Widdop shows a lot of skills that would be great with an excellent scrum half.

I don't remember such a fuss of corrections to the average selection of players we ourselves have had over the years, that some now even call "legends". So don't get the fuss.

The same coaching staff said McGuire was excellent whilst you said he was dreadful, and the same coaching staff you call incompetent most weeks on here



Just highlighting what has to be the one poster on here who comes out with the worst evaluations of player performances I've ever heard....Widdop brilliant when he's come up with three schoolboy errors in 2 games that's cost us points every time. Really don't know what you watch or if you've ever actually played the game in your life, doesn't sound like it.

My feelings are that in general play we can certainly live with the kiwis and Australia. Over the two games I think the game management side of things is what we miss. Drop kicks turned down, interceptions against the kiwis, and penalties missing touch are only small parts of a game, but the cost us points on each occasion. The Aussies just dint give points away, you have to earn them.

I'm not sure what Bennett has added yet, it may be that he needs a period of time to get us where he wants.

Biggest disappointment has been Sam burgess. So much hype but he's been a pretty average player giving the ball away and numerous penalties. Another player ruined by Union

Like I said, you do yourself no favours Bickerer.

Agree about Burgess looks to have gone backwards since yawnion does not look half the player he was

We won't beat them by playing the game their way, that's for sure.

Reduce the level of over-protection the modern player enjoys - and reduce the number of subs

Play the f****rs at Millwall, Workington, wherever - just remove them from their comfort zone and make sure the pitch is narrow and the in-goal short

Play them in January

Put the refs and touchies in front of a hostile crowd

Wane as coach

I'd pay to see that and probably enjoy it even if we lost. The current fare is simply rubbish.

Yet I don't call a HB whose 99% of people will agree had a very average showing at best "excellent" and resort to repetitively using a childish name when addressing me. Honest question have you ever played the game, because your views on the game and performances seriously suggests you haven't.

I agree, part of the problem could be the bloke has basically played 3 seasons back to back, including a RU World Cup and the 4 nations.

I have a different view to you, that says more about you than me, considering you only started supporting as a badwagoner when successful. My comment about Widdop was about him, not his performance today, which I didn't discuss.

I have had several pm's requesting me to ignore you, due to this constantly happening. In view of consideration for them, I respectfully ask you to jog on mate.

Another thread being derailed