I think Ben H is having a operation this close season.

And he's Irish-ish

All over
Aus 44 v NZ 18

Well done lads, back on the dreamliner.

Taxi for a McBanana?

I think we have to "roll with" the next few years.

We've just finished 3rd in a group of 4 against

a) the weakest Aussie side I've ever seen
b) a NZ side that blows hot and cold. A side which, on it's day, can beat the Aussies (a fortnight ago), or get totally humiliated by them (last year's WCF and several ANZAC Tests).

Truth is, we've a Test side that's made up of

a) Genuine World class - Graham/Hall
b) Good Test class -SO'L, Widdop, Hill, Tomkins (S) and maybe Clark (early days for him)
c) v. good SL standard - Watkins, Charnley, Farrell
and
d) the bang average (or how the hell did he get picked) Tomkins (J), Ferris and Sarginson

and a coach that couldn't win a raffle, and he's bought the only ticket.

bang on although probably a little harsh on Sarg

And to "celebrate" getting knocked out of yet another tournament before reaching the final, England players go on a bender to a frat house in Dunedin and Josh Hodgson gets tanked up and shoulder charges a door.

Shame he couldn't have shown that much aggression on the pitch......

So Josh Hodgson gets drunk and does something stupid...and we all wondered what the Aussies saw in him and now the penny drops.

I don't think he noticed there was a handle.

Quote ="Wire Yed"So Josh Hodgson gets drunk and does something stupid...and we all wondered what the Aussies saw in him and now the penny drops.'" i.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10723 ... door-smash

Quote ="Wire Yed"So Josh Hodgson gets drunk and does something stupid...and we all wondered what the Aussies saw in him and now the penny drops.'" i.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/10723 ... door-smash

The tragedy is that with a decent coach we really could have won the comp, we may never have as good an opportuntiy again.

The problem is I look at genuine World class players in an England shirt and they look average, and the blame for that has to lie with the coaching staff. We have an average coach with no pedigree, who isn't even a head coach and isn't UK based.

This is a man who persisted with Sinfield at stand-off to the detriment of the cause for years, and has now decided to stubbornly pick J.Tomkins, Charnleym Hodgson & Ferres when the evidence is clear they they are not up to snuff.

I'll wait for the "if Ryan Halls try and been awarded as it should have been we'd be in the final" post-mortems to begin, but the bottom line is we were undone by woeful tactics, inability to find a plan B, appaling use of substituions and flawed team selections. AGAIN.

bob-on.

Could you imagine TS pulling Clark on to the bench and interchanging him with James Laithwaite?
If he did either he has just lost his marbles or its time for Agar to have a go!

It is a bit unfair to lay the blame solely on McNamara, we have had the same outcome in competitions against antipodean clubs for longer than i can remember.

I disagree he is solely responsible. He ought to be accountable.
His record stinks.

But he is just the latest in a long line who have failed to deliver .

At his disposal, he has the best generation of England players I can ever recall. Not only talented, but battle hardened through experience in the NRL and in our domestic game.

And he failed to get the best out of them, and to utilise the whole [isquad and bench[/i not just the starting 13.

He's failed, by every single definition of the word, and not for the first time.

I should imagine the loss of Sam Burgess has been a massive spanner in the works of McNamara's plans & maybe this best crop of players for a generation have made the difference to England not being trounced in every game as used to happen even when they carried the GB tag. I definitely think he missed a trick in not playing Cooper & Ratchford at least once though instead of persisting with his favourites. I think the next few years though could be very difficult for RL once the RU plans are up & running to introduce Union to every school in Britain & it makes you wonder where our game will end up ,both domestic & international, if it loses any more prospects to the dark side.

I've not heard any excuse of SBW from NZ messing up their plans.
I've not read Tim Shields saying we lost against NZ because 23 players cried off!

How much notice does McNamara need? If Sam B had have cried off just before selection then you may have some small valid point.

McNamarra's record is appalling and how the likes of Ratchford and the comps form back rower Elliot Whitehead haven't had a single minute on the pitch is a joke imo ..

Whitehead played yesterday.
I would have had Ratchford on the bench to allow Clark a rest, and move Smith to #9 for that period.

I'm not a Steve McNamara fan but think he's done reasonably well with such a young / inexperienced squad. If you want to look at abject failure go back to the 2008 World Cup. I was over there for the whole tour and it was the most embarrassing England / GB performance I have witnessed.

Anyone who was in the same hotel in Townsville as the players will tell you how bad the chemistry was between them.

The game was the most important of the 3.
It was shat or bust.
Clark is young enough and fit enough to have played out the 80 at hooker.

The jury's out for me as far as joining in the McNamara bashing is concerned, do I think he's the best coach? No. Do I think he's the best available? I'm not sure, after all who is available and up for the job? Despite most of our fans hailing TS as a top drawer coach what, was is international record like in comparison? My disappointment with McNamara is probably based on his earlier work.

A, bit of club bias might have tempted me into given Ratchford a run somewhere, but, the major problem surely is that it's a 3 game series? The failure of England RU in the autumn series this weekend is not an issue as the teams are building towards a major tournament next year.

I think England's 4N has been ok perhaps the closeness of games may persuade Aus and NZ to fully engage with an international game. More exposure to top class sport as a team can only help and not only the coach whomever that is

Nice post UR.
Im not the biggest fan of the laptop n radio thinking coach.
okay have him on board but sometimes that rolled up shirt sleeve motivation coach approach has more effect on performance from heart than brain.

Really? I haven't actually watched the game yet I've recorded it.. I heard it was an unchanged team..
I have to disagree I don't think he's done well at all... There is a post on the VT that McNamarra has had 20 games 8 of which are against NZ or Aus with only one win... We've also lost to Italy and a thrown together team of Aussies and Kiwis (The Exiles) during his tenure..

We have improved immensely since 2008 but that might be more down to clubs' academies or just chance that a decent crop have come through at once. I don't actually rate MacNamara that highly; he picked the wrong half backs last year for the WC and Bret Ferres at dummy half yesterday?and the inclusion of JTomkins after half a season of fairly average rugby league?

We did play some attractive rugby in this tournament but we didn't make the most of too many good situations and we were poor in the second half against Aus. But I suppose he's still learning as a coach.

There's no reason we can't build on what we've done in this tournament though as our players progress and get older/wiser/better. Maybe a 2016 Four Nations win?!

More chance of the Pope getting married than England winning under McNamara.