Yes

Not sure. I have seen loads of Widdop this year for the Storm (until his injury) and I never really notice that he is playing. The game seems to pass him by and he only gives the 'safe' pass.

Chase has grown into this world cup, and a little bit of magic could be the difference in big games.

FWIW, I'd drop Sinfield before dropping Chase.

Chase shouldn't be playing because he's a Kiwi. Regardless of how good he is. It's England, not New Zealand.

If we didn't have these stupid residency rules, we wouldn't have this debate. Widdop and Sinfield would be the halves (and rightly so).

I'd take it a step further and say it should be Brough and Widdop/Sinfield

It's probably also worth noting that without the stupid residency rules, the games would have been a complete walk over for the top 3 teams.

The fact that most teams can put out a strong starting 13 is due to them fielding players that qualify via the residency/great grandparent rules.

I would of gone for Brough and Widdop. But then again Brough was only voted the best player in Super League this season,which no doubt means he's the best half back as well.Not good enough for Steve Mac

Tbf it was Brough who announced that he wasn't available for England

Yes,but he must of known Steve Mac wasn't going to pick him

Widdop and Brough, or Widdop and Chase

Brough only turned his back on England when it was clear that he wouldn't be selected. He's always wanted to play for England, but needed to win the Scottish fans, and probably his teammates over, so made the statement.

Brough should have been playing for England,simple as that.Mac never selected him so after that he chose to play for Scotland otherwise he wouldn't have been playing in the World Cup at all.A mistake imo.

If England go on and win the tournament will not picking Brough still be a mistake ?

If Chase is the architect of an England win then no it would be a stroke of genius/a bold move but if he's carried by the likes of Sinfield, Burgess, Roby etc then yes it is a mistake.....Chase was 'carried' in the game against Australia. He's played 'lesser' teams since then, if he performs against New Zealand then I will apologise but he's had 3 cracks at Australia, 1 crack at New Zealand, 1 crack at Wales and has failed to impress in any of these games.

If say Sam Tomkins failed to impress in this amount of games against this calibre of opposition people would be rightly saying picking him over Hardaker was a mistake.

Did you enjoy Brough's performance last night?

Not selecting the man of steel is a big mistake imo whatever else happens.

Widdop should be in before Chase & Sinfield.

Sinfield should be 13 or not in team

Chase should not be in squad but its only what the Aussies & Kiwis have been doing for years

Halves should be Brough & Widdop


Imho

What do you suggest the rules on residency/eligibility should be then?

When you are growing up you know what your nationalality is.Thats who you play for.

Having said that my lad only just missed out playing for Italy in this World Cup.

Looks like Steve Mac as finally seen sense about Widdop and Chase

Just seen it, can't believe you would start tinkering with the half backs for a semi final against the world champs.

Surely Chase must be injured?

If you believe the rumour on the Salford board both chase & mike mc have been naughty boys!!!. Yet more discipline issues!!!

McIlorum has been a very, very, very average boy. That's his crime.

great.

I bet he wish had Brough available right now.

His mistake has come back to bite him in the rear.

I've no idea as to whether there is any truth is the 'Chase has been a naughty boy' notion....

But I can't think of another good reason why McNamara would stick with Chase for the past two years, despite everyone seeing that he doesn't work in the system that England play, and then drop him for the single most important game in McNamara's reign for a guy who has barely played for weeks

Unless, of course, McNamara really doesn't have a clue

Well I certainly won't miss him in the England team, it was a joke that he was even there in the first place to be honest. I could almost understand if he was some sort of world beater that we thought could win us the World Cup but IMO he over-rated.

If he played on Saturday there'd be a lot of winding going on from his erstwhile countrymen and, with his temperament, he's likely to become a liability pretty quickly. So maybe best to leave him out against NZ even if you think he deserves a place.

Personally I'd choose Burrow and Widdop for halves. Burrow will scare the pants of all those massive blokes, they're just not used to tackling garden gnomes on motor bikes where they come from

I'd put the 'drop Chase because the NZers will wind him up' in the same category as 'play McIlorum because he will get in their face'. That is total rubbish. The reason he has logically been dropped is he hasn't performed satisfactorily & kept to the game plan. I thought his defence & control against Aus was magnificent but, unfortunately, we need a HB to be creative in attack as well, especially with Sinfield at other HB. Whether Widdop can be that I don't know. I've hardly ever seen him play, however he is obviously very highly thought of down under.
Overall MacNamara (I have refrained from Banana out of respect) has done better than my low expectations. The Brough issue has happened, until we know the reasoning you have to believe McN did it on principle. Similarly he had little option with Hock & Hardaker. He has dropped the non-performing players, the likes of McIlorum, Mossop, Farrell (who Stevie Wonder could see are not world class), & made a brave (or stupid) decision to change the HBs before the SF. This game could make or break McN's coaching reputation.