Yep agree with that. I think kick pressure is something we do more of over here. Whether we'll have the energy to do it is another matter, but I think it could be a way of giving ourselves a good chance of beating them.

I think we will struggle defending simple second man plays out wide and I think we will suffer from a lack of creativity/control in the halves. Whether he plays Tomkins or Smith alongside Widdop neither give you real creativity. Watkins needs to up his game otherwise we will have no way of breaking Australia/NZ down out wide.

I am looking forward to seeing if England can build on what was a pretty positive WC

Widdopp will offer control down the left and has an OK kicking game. The issue with our passing out wide is creating the space. There's no point in getting the ball to Watkins if every time he gets it he's face to face with Inglis.

Pressuring DCE/Cronk when they kick is one thing, but the chances of actually getting to them without giving away penalties are slim.

Yep. It's something Senior was expert at. Changing his line at the last minute.

I don't even think its last minute - the ability to change direction comes if you give yourself space to start with. Too many centres start too wide in the first place. If you come inside a bit you are able to get earlier ball by definition, and give your inside men more options into the bargain - its one of the things Jamie Lyon does so well.

OTOH if you then simply run diagonally towards your wing every time you'll do a Joel Moon, and just run the winger out of space. So its a combination of where you get the ball and what you do with it.

As you say, the worst thing anybody can do at the highest level is stand and wait for someone else to make you the space.

I'd just add that the last problem was glaringly obvious when GB got mullered by Australia in Brisbane a few years ago. Everybody was waiting for someone else to 'do something'. GB looked short of numbers every time they moved the ball wide, as the outside backs just stood and waited for something to happen. The halfbacks (McGuire & Horne) were reluctant to run with the ball for whatever reason, so the whole back division looked awful.

I remember people saying how 'well' the forwards did and thinking that was cr*p as well - Morley aside nobody matched the Aussies physically, and no forwards were acting as dummy runners. It was like watching a bunch of schoolkids trying to play RL.

Side to face Samoa announced apparently-

S. Tomkins
Charley
Shenton
Watkins
Hall
Widdop
Smith
G. Burgess
Hodgson
Graham
Farrell
J. Tomkins
Westerman


Clarke
Ferres
T. Burgess
Hill

No place for the best 13 on the planet??

Just heard on radio that he has pulled out with a quad injury.Same old story, great player but too many injuries.

Back row looks distinctly average at best. It may be enough against the Samoans but not against the big 2. Scratching my head as to how Joel Tomkins has walked straight back into the starting 13.Back line is as expected although i would have like to have seen Tomkins and Widdop as halves and Zak at FB.Also think Joe Burgess deserved a spot over Charnley.

He is always injured - he only plays the big games for Wigan and England - bet he plays against Australia

thats what I thought. Picks up a lot of injuries doesn't he. Though I would rather have him 100% for Aus

Not seen him play at all this year so hard to tell, but to do it after a handful of games back in league after a couple of years looking tremendously ordinary as a Union centre must mean he's played some trememndous football for Wigan.

In fairness, I watched him play 3 times at the back end of the year and he was probably the best back-row on the park in all 3. Defended well and with a bit of aggression, and carried the ball strongly.

I think a bigger problems was a lack of depth that meant the door was still open to somebody returning to the sport so late. If 3 or 4 players had really put a marker down over the rest of the season, he would be setting his alarm to watch on Sky. Many people have said he's lucky to be there, but really I can only think of Carl Ablett who is unlucky not to be.

Hardaker misses out as Smith and Widdop is probably best half back pairing and as Tomkins must play, that only leave Full Back for him. Not sure that you'd use Hardaker in the centres either.

You would certainly have him before Charnley though. Charnley is garbage.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if they see out all 3 games.

When was the last time we played a series with a recognised 6 and 7 playing together the whole time? If we can limit errors we should have a good chance. We've got the best props, Smith is good at kicking with ball in hand and organisation, Widdop and Tomkins should offer most of the creativity and we definitely have players who can finish.

So you obviously reckon that we will make the final then or perhaps even win the comp?
Sadly i don't share your optimism and think that we will probably only win one game against Samoa and that will be a close one at that IMO

I can also see a couple of hidings on the cards against the understrength Kiwis and Australia sides

Best make the most of it won't have the best props for the next tournament if rummors are true George is wanted by Gloucester RU 1m fee memtioned

Im not convinced Smith will be up to the job at international level. This is not a dig because he plays for Wigan blah blah.. and i hope to be proved wrong in the coming weeks, but my current personal opinion is that he is a good SL player but that status is not good enough to get by against the very best, particularly in such a key position.Far better Scrum Halfs than Smith have been found wanting at this level for GB/England. Edwards and Long for example, 2 of the best ever at domestic level, had very little joy.

Im of the view that we should go Hardaker Full Back and Widdop/Tomkins at Halves and that will surely be looked at if the Smith/ Widdop combo fails.Saying all that, Smith's probably been up there as the best S/H in our comp. this year so i can see why he has been given the opportunity to prove himself, lets hope he takes it.

Good at kicking & organising is an excuse for mediocrity. This is the same Smith who has been regularly slagged off on the Wigan board, who might have the time & field position in SL. I hope he proves me wrong.

Well, that would be a huge waste of £1M. George Burgess has no obvious position on an RU pitch.

I definitely understand and have similar reservations regarding Smith but he does bring something I don't think anyone else does with his kicking. For the other poster to say being good at kicking and organisation are bywords for mediocrity is overly simplistic and devalues the importance of a good kicking game.

Sinfield got blamed for our loss to NZ last year. For me his crime wasn't that he missed the tackle it's that for the last 5-10 minutes he failed to slow the game down and get the ball out of play. This game sense is the sort of thing Smith has shown as Wigan.

I'm not saying he's Andrew Johns, he is limited but he has virtues that could make the team better than it has been. We have Graham, Widdop, Tomkins and presumably O'Loughlin who are all play makers, I think Smith will be there to facilitate them.

I'm not sure we'll make or win the final, I've seen far too much international Rugby League to ever think that. I do think this is the best chance to do well in the southern hemisphere for a long time. We've got a selection pretty similar to last year, a lot of the team already play in Aus/NZ, players aren't out of position and both Aus and NZ look weaker than they have done for a while. I'd love to see a game where we look like we might actually beat Australia.

Yours positively,

Tom

I am struggling there as well. Andrew Sheridan was a similar build and was a great prop while his back/ankles etc were functional, but he would have been learning the techniques and developing the right muscles for that position since he was a kid. Gloucester's pack are a pile of $h!te at the moment, they could probabaly spend the money better within Union.

No disrespect to Smith, but he could be Cristiano Ronaldo when it came to kicking a ball and he's still going to end up looking like a Sean Long used to in internationals (or GF's against Leeds) - awful. Kickers are as good as they are allowed to be by the opposition, he'll get the ball off a slow PTB or going backwards with defenders in his face and in poor field position if the forwards don't win some collisions. Aussie and NZ refs are going to allow camping out at the tackle by defenders so forget that.
You need three options, two outfield and a hooker who can kick if the markers go shooting off upfield. If we get near the oppostion line we need the ball in the hands of Tomkins, Watkins and Hall.

However, I do feel relatively positive, so hope we both have something to cheer.