LOL.

as puig said at the curry night smith is a very,very clever coach. it's just sometimes he tries to be to clever.

i would agree with that. some very odd selections there. if it comes off he is a genius, if it doesn't then he will have to quit i would think

IMO I'd love to see

Shaun Briscoe (Hull Kingston Rovers)
Ryan Hall (Leeds)
Michael Shenton (Castleford)
Kyle Eastmond (St Helens)
Lee Smith (Leeds)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan)
Richard Myler (Salford)
Jamie Peacock (Leeds, captain)
Scott Moore (Huddersfield)
Adrian Morley (Warrington)
Sam Burgess (Bradford)
Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds)

Garreth Carvell (Warrington)
James Graham (St Helens)
Sean O'Loughlin (Wigan)
James Roby (St Helens)

Young, fresh and pacey back-line with a experienced and brutal pack and forward line!

you think tomkins and eastmond are ready for the aussies?
i think they will be spat out in lumps. far to early for them and i find it a joke they are in at this moment in time

Lets face it there is hardly any International experience in the backs bar Danny McGuire

Amen to that!

The England pack looks solid but slater, Morris, inglis, hodgson, hayne, Lockyer and thurston will rip us to bits

The team that England will send out against the Froggies will not neccesarily be the one that plays against the Kiwi's or the Aussies for that matter

I don't think that the team that TS puts out in the opener against France will be the one that starts against the Kiwis of for that matter the side that he picks against the Aussies, he may want to save certain players who have endured such a long season against the French whilst playing some squad members who havn't played for several weeks due to their club being 5hite and were subsequently dumped out of the play-offs long ago

Team against France in the opener:
1- Briscoe
2: Fox
3: Shenton
4: Smith
5: Hall
6: Tomkins/McGuire
7: Myler
8: Carvell
9: Moore
10: Morley
11: Burgess
12: Westwood
13: O'loughlin

I agree mate,having them around the squad and maybe a run out against wales yes but to face the aussies and kiwis could turn into lambs to the slaughter.

I see no benefit of having 3 very young unproven halves in the squad at this level. 1, definitely. 2, possibly. 3, suicide. Burrow, Pryce, Brough, even Briers (if he is eligible) should have been in ahead of one of Eastmond, Tomkins, or Myler.

And the three-quarter line is laughable, particularly in the centres. They'll be carved apart by the Aussies and Kiwis, and probably have a tough battle with the Catalans backs.

Burrow is unlucky to miss out but i applaud TS for giving the youngsters a chance. To often in the past the same names have been picked regardless of current form. The majority of senior players in the world cup failed to perform so why not give some others a chance? Most posters are predicting a flogging by the Aussies and Kiwis but we got that last year with the senior players included.

If they are good enough then they are old enough, what is the point of going back to the same old same old who have never delivered?

These kids have to start somewhere.

they do i agree. if it's to early it could ruin them though.tomkins has had about, what, 15 SL games? in those he has, as kids do, been very inconsistent.
i saw eastmond play for england U16s against the aussies and was impressed. he still impresses me.

however i don't think he is ready for test level yet.

I think its time to draw a line under the old guard and go with youth, I also think TS has to tell them they have a run in the side and let them relax instead of worrying what will happen if they make the odd mistake.

I agree on Tomkins but he offers something different so lets go for it, I would rather watch England knowing that there is a future plan rather than reverting back to the bad old days of players being picked on reputation.

there is a fine line. noble was a tw*t and he was the same at wigan. he would only pick youngsters if he had to.
burrow was outstanding on saturday and has never let england(or GB) down.
i honestly am amazed he wasn't in the squad.
i also think bridge and sykes are a bloody joke selection

Train on squad yes team no

Some people only ever moan.
After the showing at last years WC Tony Smith said he is going to do something different and give others a chance and he is doing it but dont let facts get in the way of a good moan.

So sykes deserve's to stay in the squad but burrow doesn't?????????


That's not trying something different that's rewarding a whinging tw#t after being sh#8e!!
It's good to see players like tompkins,myler and eastmond within the squad but at the expense of burrow is wrong imo.

Sykes kicks goal and can play about 4 positions. Burrow can only play scrum half and Smith obviously knows who his scrum half is.

Richie Myler is the England number 7 until someone removes him from the position.

Personally I'd go with McGuire and Myler at 6 and 7 with Eastmond on the bench with 3 props.

I probably haven't seen enough of Tomkins to judge, although he is a talented player in his position, but so far as Eastmond is concerned just look to the Grand Final. He's 20 years old, he has never played in a first grade final before, he was playing at centre against a team with a good defence, yet he managed to score one try, almost score another and kick all his goals. He has pace, agility, a good rugby brain, his passes can be sublime (although sometimes he gets a bit too adventurous) and he is superb at spotting a gap and going for it. He has played scrum half, centre and fullback. The only thing he has not yet shown is an ability to organise and lead the pack around the park. That may come in time or it may simply not be part of his skill set. However, if ever there is a young player ready to face the Aussies, it's Eastmond. We need to start somewhere with our young players and it is possible that Smith is looking to the Four Nations as a training ground for the world cup. I'm not expecting us to win or even to score many points. But I would love to see how our young players hold up in that situation. There is no better test of talent and experience for a young player than facing the best in the world, IMO.

But maybe that's just me getting all carried away.

I agree. Eastmond has to be in there. He's the one player capable of scaring the Aussies. He's a rough diamond at the moment, but he's a special talent in the Jason Robinson mould, and we'd be crazy to hold him back IMO.

is this the same myler who has been injured, dropped or anonymous since July! What happend to picking form players?

I would like to see mcguire and tomkins in the halves.

the Aussies will send traffic in attack and defence down his channel all game! inglis and hodges will be p!ssing themselves at the thought of running at him! I look forward to seeing if eastmond is up to it, if inglis uses that big fend on eastmond he will end up in row 20!

The Aussies will do this, the Aussies will do that. It's all I ever bloody hear. That's half the problem, we're so worried about what they'll do to us that we don't offer them any problems whatsoever.

They'll put points on us whatever team we put out, so it's about time we gave them something to worry about. Jarryd Hayne played for NSW and Australia at 19. Granted, he's better than Eastmond, but they didn't worry, they just threw him in.

He can't tackle in any of them and he's not very good in any of them.

If his is the standard then the rest of the squad can all play in 13 positions.

TBH the 8itching about the squad pi55es me off. I support all of the players who have been picked and hope they do well and silence the critics. But FFS Paul Sykes is simply not good enough.

The likes of Inglis and those before him never had any trouble running at Newlove, Connolly, Senior, Gleeson or any of the other top SL players. Eastmond hasn't yet been beaten at centre that I can remember, there are certainly no moments where he was beaten one on one that spring to mind. Look what an ageing Gidley did to Senior in the GF, it's about space. If we gift them the room they'd beat anyone. If we deny them the space and force them through the middle we can make it more difficult for them.