Thanks everyone for their opinions it's good to get a reasonably balanced unbiased view..
Think the view is he didn't do to much wrong although some do question his initial selection.
Most of the 'experts' at the BBC seemed to agree that he had done nothing wrong. Hopefully it hasn't dented his confidence to much and Im sure he will feature again in the England set up in the not to distant future if not this tournament.

With Australia playing 1st half Oz 26 England 0
With Australia not playing 2nd half Oz 0 England 16

What's the argument

Poor decision by Tony Smith. Confidence must be shattered. What lessons can he take from this? "If my centre plays awful, I'll get dropped and he'll get my position". Absolute joke. Smith played poor, Smith should have been taken off.

Briscoe didn't stand a chance with McGuire and Smith inside him. What could he do, really? How could he have made a difference in the game?

Tony Smith in major man-management shocker.

How do you think Briscoe would have coped if after 10 minutes he'd have been shifted to centre with Smith taking the wing spot?

Serious question. I've not seen that much of him but surely he couldn't have done a worse job then Smith.

I've not seen much of him at centre so couldn't say. He does prefer it apparently, but that doesn't necessarily make him a centre. He's got the number 3 shirt at Hull next year though, so we'll see next year. For now though, he was brought into the squad as a winger, and with his experience I don't think it would be too good an idea to ship him around different positions at the highest level he'll play at.

Lee Smith was defo the one at fault in my opinion, Tom stayed on his winger, Both Briscoes were given no chance by the inept Smith and McGuire.

McGuire was poor in defence. So was Briscoe and so was Lee Smith. However, blaming Smith, McGuire and Briscoe is missing the point entirely.

The real question is, where was the ruddy back row every single time the ball went to England's right in the first half? Watch the video and you'll see - absolutely nowhere to be seen. So few posters seem to have picked this up, and I've no idea why.

All Australia had to do to create an overlap in the first half was run a couple of plays down the right. Result? England's entire pack on one half of the field. So, Australia, having some excellent passers of the ball and in Slater and Inglis two of the very best broken field runners you will ever see, ship the ball left fast and have an overlap virtually from the centre of the field with Slater and Inglis able to toy with the defence. Not helped with McGuire not being very strong defensively and Lee Smith quite simply not being a centre.

You simply cannot defend like that at this level. And it stuns me to see England play that way yet again. Watch NZ against Oz or Origin, or basically any NRL game and you will rarely - if ever - see a defensive line so hopelessly out of position for such a long period.

I for one am fed up with England playing below their ability. But it doesn't help if we all follow the 'pack is good, backs are bad' mantra - the pack was awful in the first half. Yet again they'll be able to say 'it wasn't me who missed those tackles out wide'. No, because you were half a pitch away from being able to be in a position to miss a tackle, wondering why there was no forward to tackle.

I don't see how Tom Briscoe could be poor in defence when he had no-one to tackle. They seemed to have a nice lovely channel between McGuire and Smith to go down each time before he got anywhere near!

I'm not disagreeing with that either. But McGuire and Smith - as bad as they looked - would not be the only combination to be turned inside out by Slater/Inglis in that much space.

Because for some reason Danny Mcguire and Lee Smith have become the anti christ all of a sudden, and some posters on here just like spouting off. Putting a prop at second row to defend on Inglis' side was a disaster waiting to happen, Mcguire, Smith and Briscoe had no chance without some defensive help from the inside.

I've just watched the first half again for about the fourth time, and they're copping so much flack because they were quite simply totally completely utterly woeful in defence on that side (Along with Jamie Peacock)

There's absolutely no other way to describe it, Australia had to do very little work to create those trys. They just waited for England to compress in the middle and leave the gap, then quick ball out towards that side and bang easy try. Then they did it again, and did it again, and did it again...

I agree with what you're saying about Peacock being played at 2nd row - he was absolutely nowhere near where he should have been towards the right - which is why Australia quickly whipped the ball left as soon as they saw it. However both Danny and Lee Smith were not helping themselves either as they to seemed to be magnetically drawn towards the middle where Peacock was making the holes even bigger - there was only Tom Briscoe who actually maintained his position in the defensive line.

Does Danny do the same thing when playing for Leeds? (that's a genuine question not a pop), and what about Lee Smith? I'm just curious how you line up defensively on the right at Leeds, because this can't be right or you'd be leaking tries like a sieve down that side.

The same was NOT happening on our left hand side, regardless of Ellis's positioning, Tomkins Shenton and Hall were always in the correct defensive line up - evidenced by the couple of times Australia put it towards Hodges and Hayne, we dealt with it - even while defending close to the line.

Do you think maybe Danny was just trying too hard? Trying to be too involved and doing to much?

I think it's a possibility, like when he rushed out of the line (and further towards the middle) trying to intercept, Lee Smith was drawn right in towards the aus 16 (lewis?) thus giving the overlap allowing Brett Morris to stroll in - Jamie P was off the field at this point i think, and Ben Westwood was stood under the sticks (i'm guessing he should have been covering towards the right to).

So the whole right hand side defence just seems to be ropey, whether it's Jamie P or Westwood who should be covering, the gaps have already been made by McGuire and Smith possibly trying too hard.

Most of the time we had 3 on 3 situations and poor decision making led to massive overlaps. Watch the forward pass play from Slater, it is classic of where our defence was stuffing up. If they had all held their position we would have covered most of the breaks (or at least it would have been one on one tackling and if we dropped off so be it)

That's true, but again, watching the tries there's no sign of any forwards helping out even in cover defence. I just get fed up of the outside backs copping all the flak. Yes they were poor. No they had very little idea how to maintain a line. But you can guarantee that were the positions reversed, at least one Australian forward would have got themselves into a position to help out before the opposition broke the advantage line. And had the attack of Slater and Inglis been given so much room down the right I expect the result would have been much the same.

Bottom line is, England need to look at how they defended in the second half, and improve a LOT from even that.

Tony Smith explains why he subbed Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html When put like that the decision seems more sensible and Smith at least isn't putting the blame on Briscoe.

Tony Smith explains why he subbed Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html When put like that the decision seems more sensible and Smith at least isn't putting the blame on Briscoe.

Quote ="Kosh"Tony Smith explains why he subbed Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html When put like that the decision seems more sensible and Smith at least isn't putting the blame on Briscoe.'" No manager or coach is going to criticise a player in public but i think the headlines ( written by the Hull reporter) gives the game away. !!!

Quote ="Kosh"Tony Smith explains why he subbed Briscoe... www.sporthull.co.uk/headlines/HU ... ticle.html When put like that the decision seems more sensible and Smith at least isn't putting the blame on Briscoe.'" No manager or coach is going to criticise a player in public but i think the headlines ( written by the Hull reporter) gives the game away. !!!

I'm surprised you could read even the headline with that single eye of yours.

The headline in no way contradicts what Smith says in the article. He lays the blame on other players leaving Briscoe exposed rather than anything Briscoe himself did wrong.

That article says ryan hall was innefective which i think is pretty harsh did some good work in defence and was never given much opportunity in attack.

Wanna borrow some specs Kosh or at least learn how to read between lines. No coach is going to slam a player in public but quotes like " It was a tough one for Tom" and " I thought young Tom was in tough situation " under a headline of Subbed for his own good will hardly be a confidence booster to the player.

Fortunately Briscoe is made of sterner stuff.

Thats fair enough.

Whilst none of those trys can be blamed on Briscoe (imo). I think the Aussies deliberately targeted that side because of his inexperience. If he plays against New Zealand he needs to have Eastmond and Ellis defending inside of him because they will probably target that side aswell and if Smith and McGuire are there again it will be de ja vu.

Yeah he's had plenty of practise stood behind the posts whilst wearing black and white, he should be used to it.

I think he'll probably pay more attention to what Smith actually said to him TBH. And there's certainly no lack of confidence displayed in his interview with the HDM today.

I realise that you desperately want him to fail, but there really is no evidence at all that Smith blames him in any way for the tries scored while he was on the field. All that article indicates is that Smith wanted to protect an inexperienced player from a tough situation not of his making.

I think they targeted that side of the field for a number of reasons:

1. Inglis
2. An inexperienced winger
3. A player at centre who is actually an FB or winger
4. A prop playing at second row
5. McGuire
6. The left channel is typically favourite for most sides

7. Seeing after 2 minutes there was a gap that side you could drive an articulated lorry through sideways.