i think the Samoan's were definitely undercooked and would have benefitted from a game before that test

re England (i'm still in the GB camp

having been brought up watching Britain), its good to see us score some well worked tries through hard graft up front, and then a bit of class out wide. Its also good to know that we have Wardle, Marshall, Makinson (know he's probably retired from international now), Percival, Handley still available to come into the backline, and it wouldnt suffer

onto the forwards, and as others have mentioned, our pack looks lacking in true world class stars, but we know Havard and Lees can both do long minutes at intensity, add Thompson to that next week, and we have 3 effective props and can then use either McMeekan or Burgess, and its likely one of those wont be in the team next week. Knowles is in a strange position, as he wont get a gig in front of Radley, so going to be very sply used

Lewis on the bench proved to be the right call. Harry organising everything, and letting Williams do the running. All the pre-match pundits agreed that Harry was the right decision, and it should have been Smith and Williams / Lewis, not a pick between Smith and Lewis. They even showed the SL stats to show that Lewis should be the player to pick but all said in the big games they would only go with Smith as he controls the show, and his kicking into the corners builds control and pressure

re the debate on 2nd rows, KPP was quiet initially but grew into the game, and got his offloading game going causing problems. Bateman was what we know he is, a grafter, and also a nuisance, getting under the skin of the Samoans. Does Junior deserve a chance, probably yes given the season he's had, but equally, happy for him to be involved to get the experience, but then get a good off season to refresh, and come back firing for next season. Again, with the pack, we have some good depth, with Dupree, Faz, Minchella, Smith (leeds) Mulhearn all missing out, and wouldnt let us down if selected

Yeah I think you may be right. He jumped the gun with his signing too, telling the media in Oz before Saints had announced it.

Saints fans are going to need to be patient with him, and there is now a lot of pressure on Lomax to run the show single handedly like Smith does for us.

Took 3 years to transition French into the 6 position even though he only has that free role.

I think Sailor will be facing a lot of traffic down his edge as whilst he has pace and talent his defence is questionable and moving up into the line will make him a big target.

What makes you say that John? He only switched at the end of last season. He's only done 18 months there in total and was a success from the off, although he has obviously improved this year with a full season under his belt.

In regards French?

He was used as a half during games a number of times when he first came over.

He may not have started there but during games he was shifted and was poor.

Remember Wakefield away where fe was moved there for 20/30 minutes and he was shocking and his line defence was exposed. I’d go so far as to say his line defence is maybe where his biggest improvement has been, it’s gone from being poor to excellent.

I think in the background there has been a plan in place from the off and the injury/loss of form from Cust accelerated it to him having a chance but I believe a lot of work since he signed has gone into that positional shift away from the glare of SL.

I've said a few times, I think the scariest thing with French playing 6 is that he can get even better. He got to the point towards the end of last season where he basically just choose when to cause havoc and he's seeing those opportunities now and not just moving the ball on, as he seemed to think was his role when he first went in to 6 on a regular basis. It's easy to forget that for all the flashy stuff, he's a real team player but if he's just a touch more selfish, I think you could see his level go up even further and that is a crazy thought.