Holy hernia!

Whoops. Thought Smith's kicking game was excellent today and deserved MOM. Old biscuit legs (as some would call him here) was great all tournament too. Widdop faultless with the boot and McGilvary was excellent too. Thought whole squad had a good game today, except Watkins who fluffed a lot.

Watkins wax really poor. But thought biscuit legs, as you say, was poor too. Great try, but overall poor. How to dumb down an award by having Noble pick for one of his blue eyed boys. Not even top 15 player of series. Hiku for me was man of series.

Smith had a really good first half, set the platform. And showed how good Widdop is when the workload is shared unlike last week.

Really pleased for McGilvary, who deserved that game, best English winger this year by a long way.

Pretty much agree with all this except I thought O'Loughlin was a lot better than poor in tests 1 & 3.

Yeah no way should O'Loughlin have been near the Man of the Series award. Was poor for the first 50 mins at Hull before a good last 15 mins, one of many not to really do anything in London and today he played ok but not Man of Series quality.

If going for an England player then perhaps Tom Burgess who really stood up this year. The likes of Ferres, Roby and Hill did well also.

Matty Smith played good today (Wigan fans must be wondering where that kind of performance was in the GF and many other times this year). Watkins had a shocker pure and simple but we know he's better than that it was just one of those days for him. McGillivary was very strong, but did think his positioning defensively at times needs work (whilst I understand he was doing a sweeping job for the Kiwis last try, he came too far across towards Hardaker). Hardaker was decent but he hasn't really done enough to nail his name to the 1 shirt for next year, it's still as up for grabs as it was this year.

Disagree on Hiku being any good, he's nowhere near being an international, or even club, half back. That was exactly the position NZ were lacking in - nobody controlling the 5th and 6th tackle - Hiku was good for barging the ball up and half breaking the line but that was that, and he never but teammates through the gaps he'd half made either. With Johnson or Foran instead of him, then I think NZ would have won comfortably. HIku's a decent centre/wing but not in a million years a stand-off.

Can't really think of a "man-of-the-series" (other than the generous Thaler) which suggests both teams were pretty underwhelming over the three games. James Graham was decent but not great in all 3, and I think Tohu Harris was NZ's best.

Smith plays better when conditions are heavy under foot like today, he can get caught by a rushing defense when conditions suit a fast game, smith has always been a good player when he has time + space.

Smith's performance wasn't anything special, it just shows how poor Widdop, and Williams were in providing basic structure, and control, and a solid (if unspectacular) kicking game. Widdop was rubbish again, and offers nothing. I hope an SL half back can have a excellent 2016 season, because we need one.

McGilvery was great with the ball, and poor without it. Watkins was poor with the ball, and good without it.
On the whole, we have a solid platform to work on. Add Tomkins to the halves, and Reed to that back line and it looks strong, Roby, and Hodgson work well rotating, and the props are as good as any in the game. I didn't think Graham looked the same player in this series, he didn't seem to pass the ball as much as previous England games.
The back row is a concern though, Ferres was the best of the lot, and Whitehead was good today, but poor in the first 2 games, Farrell tackles well, but that should be the bare minimum a 2nd rower should be providing at international level. I'd replace him with Bateman, or Flanders, and play Sammy B or Graham at LF.

Good win in a proper test match at last. Halves were better, Widdop was very good in defence and Smith's timing with his passes was much more like it.

Not sure why people are using the word "shocker" to describe Watkins, he dropped his first pass, then showed why he's so dangerous, slipped many tackles and looked for offloads. Support play around him was pretty ordinary.

Performance of the day goes to John Kear who made me smile with his relentless enthusiasm through the whole match. Enjoyed the game and a great result for, what is in the main, a very talented bunch of players.

I find the BBC's RL coverage so much better than Sky's. Dave Woods is annoying, but they concentrate on the rugby, and hardly mention the referee which is the antithesis of what sky do.

Good job you're not the England coach then.

If they could just get over their addiction to showing the coaches and players sat in the stands during live play. I saw a footie match on BT sport a couple of weeks ago, and when they want to show similar, they do it as picture in picture, so you don't miss any action. The Beeb should follow suit.

Best match of the 3 (which aint saying much). Both McGillvary and Smith deserved their selection, but the general lack of creatvity in attack was again demonstrated.. I still cannot see what justifies Widdop's status as being first choice halfback.
To think many on here (myself included at times) used to ironically criticise the Leeds haf back pairing of Sinfield and McGuire of being too pedestrian !!!

Hardaker highlighted his defensive qualities (also highlighting the brilliance of Nightingale's try), but was again pretty poor in attack. Watkins did at least continue to try imposing his talents; even if they didn't really quite manifest themselves (quite ironic that his defensive qualities are more recently beginining to overshadow his attacking prowess).
Hall was pretty anonymous, but playing inside an out of position make shift centre doesn't help. Bateman should be in the pack for his commedable grit and terrier like performances, but he doesn't even fill in at LEFT centre for Wigan. Ridiculous selection. Even Graham didn't seem his usual self. Best of the forwards was Burgess.

England just about deserved this series, but only because NZ have been generally even more ponderous of the two.

I too like the BBC coverage and commentary team (even with Jonathan Davies). It's a pity Sky can't offer similar.

A 15 minute build up is shocking though. 6 nations games get about an hour and a half

Smith did what was needed and proved you don't need players to perform miracle plays at halfback. You just need players who will allow the rest of the team to perform.

I thought McGilvary was excellent and provided us with much needed go forward.

For next season, assuming all in relatively decent form Id go with a team of:

1. Hardaker
2. McGilvary
3. Watkins
4. Reed/Cudjoe
5. Hall
6. Tomkins
7. Smith
8. Graham
9. Roby
10. Hill
11. Ferres
12. Bateman
13. Burgess, S

14. Hodgson
15. Burgess, T
16. Burgess, G
17. Farrell/Ward etc

Despite scoring 2 tries I don't think O'Loughlin did much and it shows how poor the other 2 games were that he got Man of the Series.
I'd make Graham captain.
I think with Smith's organising and Tomkins running threat we'd have a nice balance in the halves.
Bateman isn't an international centre unless we play exactly the same way as Wigan. But get him in the second row.

Is there a case for moving Flanders into the 2nd row, and playing Sam Burgess at LF?
I still think we need a better pair of halves, but we're in a good position to go for the trophy in the 4 nations next season.

I think O'Loughlin pulled out one last performance but he's been on the physical decline for a while now and would be surprised to see him pull on an England shirt again. Burgess, Whitehead and a choice of Bateman, Ward and Currie will be the England back row for the next few years, although we'll discover whether the latter three, unlike Farrell, can step up to internationals despite being a bit under-sized.

I'd give some credit to Cooper. Never rated him at Wire yet he looks to have added size and runs straighter since he moved to Oz. Good player, like to see him in blue and amber at some point.

Is anyone else tired of being told Watkins is World class by the commentators for him to continue to produce garbage displays in the international arena?

It's wonderful seeing him make the defences of Wakefield etc look poor and then having the heart the size of a pea and be outplayed by a second row filling in at centre and last series s kid playing in his first series.

The bloke has all the potential in the World but he lacks the heart, concentration of skill at this level.

For me comfortably the worst player of the series, Hill and Faz offer bugger all at this level also hopefully with a fully fit squad neither will be in the 17 and Widdop has really not delivered.

Kear pointing out that Zak "didn't panic, didn't blow his load" was certainly top notch

I can't actually disagree with any of this. Watkins quite clearly has more skill and xfactor than most of that England side put together. But someone needs to get in his head, he has no aggression or desire. All we hear is about making space for him, but he doesn't look for it himself. This lad could be one of the best of a generation, but he really needs to believe in himself more.

So you think Watkins has a heart the size a pea?
What utter garbage.
Yesterday he was poor in attack - which I think is rare - but he was generally excellent in defence. A part of his game that has been criticised in the past.

The wigan fan's obviously still salty about their season of winning nowt.
Didnt Bateman drop the ball a bunch of times in the 2d test? Didnt offer anything in attack either - every pass he gave to Hall was after he'd taken any space he had and Hall had to come back inside. Weird that he doesnt say anything about that.
Williams completely anonymous game 2nd game was embarrasing, looked like he didnt want to touch the ball but its Chris Hill who did bugger all

.

Pathetic point scoring from the pie eater, nothing more.

except for the three times he left his man for dead of course. Its no coincidence that having left his man for dead 3 times, there was acres of space for Whitehead on the inside.

im guessing the revisionism about Watkins is about to start, apparently not a big game player, seemed a pretty game player when he offloaded to Briscoe after brilliant work to get us back in the game against Huddersfield, Seemed a pretty big game player running St Helens ragged all last year, including 4 offloads and a try in the SL semi, or in the final against wigan when he put McGuire through. And when he went over against Samoa, and Australia last year, Or in the world cup semi final.

And Bateman ran hard but played as a 2nd row regardless of being named at centre. Ryan Hall has 26 tries in 27 international appearances and hasnt had a single opportunity this series.

McGilvray and Burgess were two of the best strike wingers in Superleague last season, and between them received only one pass in the three tests. Last year in the four nations Charnley suffered exactly the same. Watkins is a very good strike centre but he is not a wingers centre.