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"Macca takes one day of training until Smith back following day" shock.

Some on Substandard are of course already using this as the reason why we will lose.

But as Macca is now technically head coach surely it cannot be his fault as he is no longer assistant



Anyway I think England will put in a good showing

I think[i "For the first time today, all 24 players have trained"[/i is something of a telling statement. . . . . .

Of course my heart says "of course we can win" . . . . . it's just that my heads says "oh my Lord, oh my Lord . . . . . . another Pommie bashing in the press, boards (and pitch) is coming". . . . . though I hope not

As long as it doesn't mean he's about to pick Crabtree to play against the Aussies

England's / GB's problem in recent history has not really been in managing to win single games, it is in consistency and being able to win a series. The fact that it is a one off certainly makes it very winnable even if highly unlikely to most observers. It is no more unlikely than any other of the individual games we have nevertheless managed to win in recent years.

The problem for Aus in this game is that the pressure is very much on as if the managed to contrive to lose, then they don't make the final, whereas in England's case, there is literally nothing to lose and everything to gain since if we win this oine game then we knock out Aus and don't play them again, whereas if we lose it makes no difference since we can still qualify. In other words, we should play free of pressure. Whetehr we can play free of fear though is a different question.

The only chance we have got is to get stuck in and prevent Aus doing a job on us in the first 20 minutes. That is a tall order, and if we played at the level as we did v. France then we will be 28 nil down by then. But it is not impossible and the longer the game went on like that the better our chances would be.

England are 11/2 to beat Aus, and are now down to a (still pretty miserly) 8/1 to win the comp BUT odds of 9/1 are available for a NZ/England Final - which by my way of reckoning means you can bet on that and effectively get 9/1 on the England win not 11/2. I won't say England will win but in betting if every time you bet you can get nearly double the odds, then over any given year you will end up well in front.

There is also 11/5 available for Aus not to remain undefeated. Having seen NZ's form that seems a reasonable bet to me since if NZ do reach the Final, (and are 1/2 to do so) NZ will be shorter odds than that, so if you think [ieither[/i England may KO Aus, [ior[/i NZ may beat Aus in the Final, then that is the bet to have.

And they have indeed picked Crabtree.

Tomkins replaces Myler.

Roby starts at hooker with Crabtree taking his bench spot (Moore dropped out of the 17)

Peacock moves to second row, Graham to starting prop and Burgess to the bench.

Looks good to me

I'm happy with Tomkins in and Myler out. I'm also happy with two props on the bench instead of a hooker and a halfback like last week.

Not so sure about Roby playing 80 minutes at 9, or the alternative of playing someone out of position there (like Sinfield) for a bit.

Crabtree I just can't see doing too well, but I suppose he's worth a try.

As I sat in utter boredom at the Keepmoat it has become apparent that I am the only person who thought Tom Briscoe looked pretty crap.

Seriously - did he play well and I missed it?

He's played about 20 SL games in all and while he looks like a fairly decent prospect he's no test player. Just shows how scarce decent British wingers are.

yet fox, who has scored umpteen tries this year, sits and waits for a chance.

I would have thought both him and david hodgson would be above briscoe, I dont think he has done anything this season to warrant a place in the side. Glad to see that Tomkins is getting a go on Saturday

Fox who can't catch,pass,tackle

yeh that 1

why does a winger need to have a good pass on him? he can score tries as all good wingers do. judging by the 18 fox has got this year (and not all from dummy half) i would say his catching is decent enough. I also fail to see why a winger would be in the team due to his tackling skill? They make about 5/6 tackles a match?

Probably something to do with the fact that even Wales were targetting Fox for his aerial abilitiy (or lack thereof). If even Wales were doing it, what are Australia likely to manage?