Hodgson's easy - we put in Roby for 80 minutes, and we lose nothing tbh.

SOL is a much bigger loss. I guess that Currie starts in the second row, with S Burgess going to loose.

Who gets brought into the 17 is then a bigger issue. I can imagine he might bring in Lomax as cover for fullback and the halves, as I think Lomax is the only one of the squad who featured in his original thinking, and I don't detect huge flexibility from Bennett once he's made his mind up.

In terms of the forward replacement, I imagine it'll be Heighington. Bennett will default to NRL where possible.

SOL is a big loss, because we have nobody similar. But next week's game will be lost in the halves, not the forwards. Brown's done the job he was brought in to do, but isn't going to trouble the Aussies, and Gale continues to disappoint at this level. As others have pointed out, he's had plenty of opportunity in this tournament, playing behind a pack which has given him all the time and space in the world. But he's created little, and his kicking game has been very disappointing, considering what we've watched him do for Cas all season.

The real killer for me is that however underwhelming I find our halves, the fact is that I struggle to think of a better combination available to us. You could make a case for Sneyd, but I wouldn't feel much more confident if he was on the pitch than I do with Gale. Widdop is our best stand-off, but he's also our best fullback, and where he plays seems to me to be dictated by whether we think Lomax at fullback instead of Widdop loses us more than Brown at stand-off instead of Widdop, and I think Bennett probably made the right call on that.

We have a real dearth of English halfback talent in the SL. No up and coming equivalent of Sean Long, Bobby Goulding, Andy Gregory or even Danny Maguire in their pomp. We also have a big problem at centre, although I think Bennett has made a real misjudgement in favouring Bateman over Percival. Nevertheless, after Percival, it's hard to think of another international-class English centre.

These are real problem positions for us, and have been problem positions for some time. There's a good argument that we should make English halves and centres not count towards the salary cap until we have rectified this worrying shortage.

Would just play Roby for the 80. Just needs to have similar breaks to smith when the the team have possession.

Wouldn't mind seeing Williams get the utility roll as I think he is the most dangerous of the options.

Expect Burgess to 13 and currie to start. With mcmeekan on the bench.

What a shame that Hardaker seemingly can't be disciplined - our best FB of could have played centre. Would have been much stronger with him.

What a shame that Hardaker seemingly can't be disciplined - our best FB of could have played centre. Would have been much stronger with him.

First final in 22 years and it is story number 26 on the sky sports home page on the app.

Looking forward to next weekend. Scott Taylor on the bench for Hodgson next week for me if Hodgson isn't fit.

Could we put Graham at LF? We often see a third prop at 13 and we know he can play a bit!

We all know Heighington will be on the bench ahead of Taylor or McMeeken if O'Loughlin isn't fit.

Aye, his indiscretion probably cost Cas the title, and it could well have ruined England's chances of the World cup.

I'd like to think any young centre playing in SL next year will be busting a gut to force their way into the squad. If Percival can add some physicality to his game he's definitely the front runner, but hopefully the likes of Sutcliffe, Gildart and Connor can have a great season as well. Sutcliffe and Connor have the psychical attributes, they just need an extended run in that position.

Given what Gale has offered, Sneyd would have given us far more, Brown has being better than Gale though still not good enough to really dent the okkers. If Taylor doesn't get on the bench in front of Heighington if SOL is out it'd be a travesty, I just think fresher legs in Taylor over one of the other forwards would benefit us. Heighington is pants.
We simply do not have enough across the board to win IMHO, Bateman isn't good enough for what we need, I get that he has plenty of endeavour but in attack he's massively lacking and the Aussies know we'll be shifting it to JM.

Whitehead went well today but his first decent match, Hill better but again has being average throughout, S.Burgess yet again disappointing, Graham does what he does and is pick of the forwards but his 'step' is oh so predictable and doesn't achieve anything, Walmsley was good and Currie not involved enough/not on long enough.

Watts must be thinking what he has to do to get into the England squad because he offers more than at least 2 of the 17 picked today by a mile.

I would love us to do them in their backyard but I just can't see past a 10+ point win to them and I think that's being optimistic.

I think Graham's step has meant he's not BEEN dominated in the collision.

Will be interesting to see what the England team looks like in 12 months time. Regardless of next weeks result I don't think Bennett will be interested in carrying on past this WC so I expect a new coach. I'd guess O'Loughlin may end his international days after this as well given his age.

You're right. I'd line up with a Hull team. They'd win this tournament.

what a petty comment, yet we have 3 under performing warrington players and one who only played about 60 minutes from this season who managed to get picked!

gale hasn't been any good since he picked up his mom award either, heighington...


same players being picked year on year, square pegs round holes, nothing has changed over the years, more than likely we will get beat next week, yet i'll bet 90% off this squad will be the one that is named v the kiwis this time next year

3 players are not a whole team, you need to learn to count sonshine! Not seeing the point of Percival and Lomax in the squad but you know, you've a whole team of stains players in there


Those 3 players were an integral part in the CC winners/3rd placed side, Sneyd is a miles better kicker than Gale, Gale has offered next to nothing, a massive let down, Watts is a better forward than Hill and currently S.Burgess and showed it all season, he's a decent ball handler too in a similar mould to Graham. Taylor hasn't had a fair go but did just fine with his go forward and especially his defence.
Putting forward names of players you think should have a go is all part of discussing matters on a forum, if you don't agree instead of whining like a little bitch put forward reasons why you disagree!

Gale hasn't produced his SL form but you couldn't argue with his selection at the time, Snead over Brown BEFORE the WC you definitely could.

Seems Bennett had his mind made up of his squad since last year and wasn't really going to include new guys from this years showings.

Like I mentioned previously the lineup of the England squad in 12 months time could be interesting with probably a new coach.

Just watched the bbc news channels sport report and they had time to show a clip of Ireland v Argentina playing yawnion but no mention of England having played today live on bbc which shows how much they give a toss about it, mind you I don’t think the RFL give a toss either unless it’s about freebies for the top guys

well we certainly played like a hull team does in the CC final, in control for 70 mins then an almighty scare in the last 2 minutes

just to add a little something else to the debate - i hope we are not tempted to patch up these injured players to get them on the park, this seldom works in big games. i'm sure bennett is too experienced to go down this road

Apart from you being outplayed for most of the opening hour in 2016 and not scoring a point.

Or maybe you meant 2013

That will probably always be the case. Auntie is being shamed into [iseeming[/i to be more evenly representative, but it's all cockeyed. On the Beeb news this morning, they showed footage of Women's footie before the WC RL SF!

As it happens, Grimmo, the writer enjoys watching "yawnion" as well as the evolved (devolved?) code but he hates the protection that is given to RU by the, predominantly, (blindingly) white collar, media.

Back on thread, can't see an English win next week but where there's life there's hope. Will be screaming at the tele (as next weekend will not see the missus woken at an ungodly hour). Come on you Poms.

Chris H (sadly) has defo got to be seeing his last WC, Bateman shouldn't have seen this one (unless he paid for his own tickets).

Gayle's kicks, bar a couple, came under quick, heavy pressure and were therefore rushed, misdirected and ultimately fruitless (as were a couple of early hoists from Brown). Whilst it may signal intent, is it that revolutionary for the halves to drop three or four yards further behind the ruck later in sets? It can always be a bluff.

Sam has shone like a Toc H lamp so far this tournament - though at least he'd applied a bit of Prittstick to his paws this weekend. England need a big shift from him in the final.

Disagreeing with an earlier poster on this thread, thought Widdop was not just the MOM today but da DADDY too.

England need to improve, but they've done so week on week thus far.

Just bloomin' well go out there and 'ave a bloomin' go in what may well be the biggest game of your lives.

Hi mate! In this post you have basically rubbished every selection choice Bennett has made. We aren’t talking about some rubbish player turned rubbish coach like Radford, we are talking about a world class coach. As you obviously know more about coaching than Bennett, if like to know which professional teams you have coached?

Kind regards

King James

England reaching the RLWC Final was the main sport headline on the 10pm news on BBC1.

And a decent report, ahead of the RU internationals.

Wonder if it'll warrant a mention at any point before kick-off next week.

Yeah saw that afterwards as well, just don’t understand the inconsistency with their sports reporting

The DG obviously read Bongser's earlier diatribe. But, then again, it could've been merely a ploy to distract from other England sportsmen (more favoured by The Corporation) that may very well face a damn good aris-kicking at the hands of another team from Upside-Down. At least Scotland RU (that's the code where the Scottish players are Scots - confusing it has to be said) tonked some Aussies.