Percival should have been in the squad IMO. He's filling out and improving rapidly.

He'll be a regular in the squads come the next World Cup for my money.

Reed has had genuine bad injuries at the end of the last two seasons. A real loss for England as this year has probably been his best in the NRL.

Please just stop now

No I'm not.

:

If you could take your blue and amber tinted glasses off for one minute, can you tell me when Sinfield and Oloughlin excelled at international level?

To go back to the topic of Tomkins, do I think we'll miss him? No. Do I think we'll miss Walmsley (who hasn't played an international game)? I'm inclined to say no because we don't know how he would fair. Burgess I'll admit would've strengthened our pack options significantly. As for Reed, I'm 50/50 on that one.

In the end, I believe NZ have a lot more significant absentees than we do.

The last World Cup, semi versus New Zealand. Kevin Sinfield was outstanding.

I'm sure Golden Boot says your talking pish

Sarcasm?

I see Leeds fans are quick to disagree with me on Sinfield, but no so quick on O'Loughlin, I wonder why that could be?

His blunder in the World Cup semi final says not.

Because Sinfield has won something at International level

HTH

I'm sure someone else missed a tackle too and someone conceded a penalty to give NZ yardage

Don't let these get in the way of your agenda though....

Blunders, plural. It was his ineffective kick down field with 2minutes left that gifted the Kiwis possession before he then missed the vital tackle.

Thanks for correcting me.

I'll backtrack a bit with the golden boot if only to stop the bombardment of Lioners upset that someone dare criticise their golden God.

It's Loiners

BTW

As I recall, the fault lay chiefly with George Burgess, who conceded the unnecessary penalty which handed the Kiwis possession.

Will Sir Sean go down as a legend if we win this series?

Shush, how dare you condemn a Burgii for giving away a penalty on a play that would otherwise have reduced the Kiwis to sticking up a hopeful bomb from midfield, then making not much of an effort to get across and support his skipper's inside shoulder in defence?

Don't you know everything is Sinfield's fault, and that England would have swept the world before them with Danny Brough at six?

This Wigan/Leeds, Tomkins/Hardaker, O'Loughlin/Sinfield thing you all have going on is really fkn boring.

r

Just about every thread on here manages to decend into a Leeds/Wigan argument. In the main They are both as bad as each other.

Sorry for failing to live up to your stereotype.

At the minute that's the way it is. It's been Hull/Hull KR, Wigan/Saints, Saints/Leeds, Leeds/Bradford and it's all bloody boring.

I'm a rugby league fan and would take an England World Cup win over a Wigan Grand Final win but not everyone's the same. I'd take as much pride out of a big England Tournament win with zero Wigan players as I would if 10 were playing.

The petty arguments are the same every single year and will never change. Somebody mentioned the other day that our own parochial feelings as supporters can be both our biggest strength and our biggest weakness. I totally agree! People give the whole 'one team' thing a go for ten minutes but the wheels come off as soon as something goes slightly wrong.

Couldn't agree more.

And yet, and yet, and yet...

on the other hand, I've always thought that there was a 'love of the game' aspect to our sport that did its fans' especial credit. And this was crystallised in the Challenge Cup Final, where fans of all teams, pro and amateur, came together to celebrate the sport. How many Northampton fans would go to a Cup Final between Bath and Saracens? Or, indeed, the football equivalent?

I would take an England World Cup win in a heartbeat too. Of course, if it did happen, the hyenas would soon be circling, brandishing their cheque-books at the next Sam Burgess...

As for the 'fans' that boo England players who don't play for 'their' team, words fail me. I'd like to see them banned from every league ground in the country.