1. It's england V Australia. At wembley. WEMBLEY. This is a great occasion, and one our players will rise to. I don't have stats on our record v australia at wembley but i can remember some tremendous tussles and it's almost always a fiery contest. This is the first time our national team has played at wembley in...what..... about 15 years?

2. This is one of the first times I can remember england having a proper warm up and having a settled team going into a game against australia for the first time in a tournament.

3. It's not a decider or a final. England often pull off an odd victory and wembley is the perfect setting.

4. Strike players. Widdop, tomkins, hall, chase. England have more strike and pace in these positions than they have done for a long time.

5. Winning. There is a strong focus on winning within the camp. Mcnamara just came right out and said it. In the past it's been about performance.

Australia think they're the nuts but they haven't won the recent tournaments, the kiwis have, and we don't have a bad record against the kiwis over here.

We can beat australia and we can win the tournament.

One thing that worries me is that the Kangapoos have playes the Kiwis twice in the lead up to the game, and we've played France and Wales. We could be undercooked. The forwards need to go up about 3 gears that's for sure.

They way I often assess a likely result is very simply to pass my judgement on who is the better individual on each side in each position (ie 1 to 13 or 17). Whoever scores the most "bests" usually wins and ease or closeness of victory often reflects the relative numbers of "bests".

I though we looked very good when we were attacking thier line with dummer-runners and Tomkins coming into the line superbly. I really hope we play Widdop from the start and have Carvell on the bench in place of Wilkin. Other than that we looked good against Wales, but i do think we need to alter things slightly. It wasn't a perfect performance, but we showed some encouraging signs.

Hopefully the occasion will lift the players.

Think Australia will beat us if I'm honest

By more or less than 40 points?

Less, I've gone for 36-14

We have a winning record at Wembley... 4 wins, 3 losses IIRC.

Wins in 1973, 1990, and 1994 as GB but we lost each series 2-1.

A win and a loss there as England in the 1995 World Cup... we lost the one that really counted, the World Cup Final.

A loss in 1992 as GB in the World Cup Final.

A loss in 1997 as GB against Super League Australia (The ARL doesn't recognise that series in it's records for obvious reasons). We lost the series 2-1.

The only time I've seen us beat Australia live in all the years I've been watching the game was Wembley 1990(where Paul Eastwood seemed to take about 10 minutes to line up a goal kick), so perhaps we'll do it next Saturday

Peacock needs to up his game for sure.

We have a chance though I reckon

Naively.

Take a look at the try Wales scored against us. It was nothing more than simply passing along the line, with perhaps one dummy runner. And it was too much for our defence to handle. That's why we'll lose to the Aussies, as they'll be running far more complex plays than that, and our defence is nowhere near good enough.

You clearly don't get to enough internationals!

I am patriotic but I am also a realist Im off down to wembley to hopefully watch an England win but I think its going to be a difficult task....France at times looked better than us and if wales had controlled the ball for longer periods it would have been interesting!

We haven't got a cat in hell's chance and if most posters where honest they would say the same.

I would be happy though if I was proved wrong.

After seeing the Aussies last Friday I don't think we'll win.
Their pack was awesome and massive!
Luke Lewis and Sam Thaiday were on the top of their game and far, far better than anything we've got.
How we are going to defend our left side with Yeaman, Briscoe and the 2nd row forward against their right wing attack with Thaiday, Tonga and Uate I don't know. Tonga and Uate are huge, pacey and powerful. Yeaman and Briscoe will have their work cut out against those two.
The Aussies will win as our forwards are not of the size of theirs, don't have the pace nor the mobility.
We've now won one in the last 17 or 18 v the Aussies and I don't expect this to be that 2nd win!

I do fear we are weak. Our big men in the pack are ageing and slowing, we have no threequarters or half-backs of note. If we play a serious / full on Australia (either Saturday or in the final if we manage to get there) I reckon we'll lose by 60.

Well most Aussies rate Ellis twice as good as those two players. Also Westwood looked very good against Wales. I'm more hopeful we'll win, but i think we've got a better chance than we've had in recent years.

Yes, I was impressed by Westwood.

Australia will win because simply there defence is a lot better. I look at the Aussie side and I can see them when needed defending there line and repeat sets. With England I just dont think they will be able to not concede when under sustained pressure.

If England fall behind early then it could be a hammering!

I expect Australia to win. What I want to see is England compete for the whole game, score some points through good play, not let in soft tries, and not lose heavily. A narrow defeat, whilst obviously not as good as a win, would do wonders for the team's confidence.

How many England players would get in the Aussie side? Therein lies your answer - there is no substitute for ability.

The Aussies win because they make less mistakes and the do the simple stuff really well. England's technique and grasp of the basics is far worse than either the Aussies or the Kiwis. It is a bit like our soccer players the lack of technique is embarrassing for professional athletes - It only becomes obvious when you see them at international level. England looked OK because Wales were so bad, anyone who is using this as a form line is deluded. England will never come up against as poor a centre as they did on Saturday.

With Kiwis you have a chance because they are not always mentally switched on, the Aussies are always mentally strong.

I expect a 30 point gap in favour of the Aussies.

Father Ted, as ever, is right: there's no way we can beat Australia with the magnificent Willie Tonga in the team.

Oh no, hang on... he's already been ruled out of the rest of the tournament. And Lawrence looked poor the other night.

With the right plays, we can expose Australia out wide, just as NZ did the other night.

Wales are a team of national league part timers with a sprinkling of super league and one or two nrl players. They lost one of their best forwards in the first minute, and until they tired they were quite competative. Encouraging...

How on earth do England think they will cope with Williams? Moreover, how will we score with zero creativity on offer?

I agree - things like passing accuracy usually let England / GB down. It's those split seconds that make the difference between scoring and not. However, whilst Australia are much better, the Kiwis are usually sloppy and we should be able to beat them if we are disciplined.