Certainly not Mossop or Ablett

Charnley has had a raw deal as he is being judged against the Aussies whereas Briscoe played against Ireland and their performances during the regular season were incomparable. Some have said that Josh was poor against the Aussies but his stats in that match were better than Hall's in what was his first match against Aus / NZ. Can't help feeling that if we can get close in the semi or final the loss of the x-factor which Josh has served up time and time again will come back to haunt us.

McIlorum and Burrow from the bench for me. I've never fancied Mossop there tbh



Overall I'd go-

Tomkins
Briscoe Watkins Cudjoe Hall
Sinfield Chase
Hill McIlorum Graham
Ferres S Burgess O'Loughlin

Subs
G Burgess Westwood Farrell Burrow


I'd be happy with the three out and out props there considering we can throw Sam Burgess or Westwood in there when needed.

I'd use Sam Burgess as a 2nd rower and leave Westwood and Ablett out, start Ferres and Burgess with Farrell on the bench. Can't believe he's not giving Widdop 80 minutes. It's like he decided Chase and Sinfield were his halfbacks 2 years ago that's what he's sticking with, regardless.

My sincere apologies. I thought you were leaving out McIlorum. I must be going senile or require some new spectacles.

It's exactly what he's done and it's the reason we stand no chance of winning this World Cup IMO. He has backed himself in to a corner with both. Firstly he's selected a guy in Sinfield as captain when he should be far from a certain starter but now he has to and he picked a Kiwi in Chase to play for England and seems to feel he has to keep justifying the decision by playing him.

He'll say he's trying to breed continuity but I don't think that works in a sport where you only play 3 or 4 games a year maximum. You need to pick your best players and your form players and IMO the halfback pairing should have been Widdop and Matty Smith. The season that Smith has had had got him on cloud 9 and his confidence must be sky high. He can do the things Sinfield can with the boot but had more zip to his play.

I'd love to be proved wrong but I think we'll now out with a whimper in the semis and that has to be the end for McNamara. We don't need a full time and I'd be happy for Shaun Wane to take the job on alongside his Wigan role.

No, can't wait to watch Micky Mac rip in. Doubt we'll see the Fijians try and bully him!!

No need for apologies either.

Just watching the Scotland v USA on Premier Live. Hope the rugby is better than the singing of the anthems.

cracking game so far. really enjoying the expansive game the scots are playing.

brough just shown why mcnamara is an idiot. regardless of the pen, that was great creativity.

Fair play to you, stuck to your nationality and avoided our pi$$ poor coach and the circus that's following him!

I think Pettybourne must have played all but about 10 minutes of that game which is ridiculous for a prop forward.

A little bit of fitness work for Pettybourne should see us with a really good prop on our hands. He just keeps rolling forward and will be an excellent partner for Ben Flower.

Better than Sinfield, Chase, Widdop and Burrow. Such a shame the England coach couldn't see that.

Crap in the play off series done bugger all against very average opposition in the World Cup.

Should be nowhere near the England team.

I cannot understand the principle of bugging up Brough, but ignoring Matty Smith.

Right wing, hooker and half back for USA would all do a great job in Super League.

Yes I agree, his stubborn-ness with regards to those 2 has left one SL dreamteam half back with a Man of Steel, league leaders and League writer's player of the year alienated and playing for Scotland, and the other, with a SL winners ring, challenge cup medal and lance todd trophy under his belt sat at home. Melbourne's first choice 6 is limited to a few cameo 15-20 minute appearances off the bench. Meanwhile England are beng guided round the pitch by a Kiwi who doesn't look capable of playing to a structure and a 33 year old who's played most of his career at 13.

Don't get the love for Widdop, from what I can gather it seems to be a case of 'if he plays for a top NRL side he must be good'
Do people actually watch the NRL and Storm? Widdop is very much a support player and at times no more than a foil for Billy Slater.

Storm are ran by the '3' Smith to Cronk to Slater, Smith and Cronk run the show with Slater linking in the line with Widdop often dropping back or moving to allow Slater to play.

So how does this relate to England? We need two halves who run the show, who can create and run the time, Widdop has very little experience of this, at least Chase and Sinfield both run their club teams from the halves.

The only way I can see Widdop in the halves is if you play the 'Storm way' Sam to play the Slater role taking on more of the plays, this would mean Roby would have to play as well as C Smith running the team with a 7 to match Cronk at running a team, do we have the personnel in our squad to do this? Debateable.

St George must have been taken in by the hype as well then because they've been prepared to throw huge money at him, on a long term deal and didn't mind letting Soward leave on the back of his signing. He has also been keeping Finch out of the team at Melbourne and we know what a good player he can be.

He's not in the class of the other three you mention but who is? He is certainly a better player then Chase.

I remember saying during the 2011 4N that the Sinfield/Chase combination was nullfying Sam's threat from FB. I do watch the NRL and I'm not just picking Widdop because he plays in Australia. He plays for a team that plays to a structured attack that allows Billy Slater to chime in and get his hands on the ball, in a similar style to how Wigan have played, allowing Tomkins to atatck from deep from fullback.

Sam has been one of, if not the best player in SL playing this role for 4 seasons now, playing alongside 4 different regular half back combinations (Deacon/Leuluai, Deacon/Finch, Finch/Leuluai, Green/Smith), showing that it isn't really important WHO plays in the 6/7 role for Tomkins to be effective, just that they can play to the correct attacking structures. Smith, Brough and Widdop are all capable of this, and they are also able to play what's in front on them when the structured plays are closed down. Sinfield is too slow to be an international half and Chase is too unpredictable. It's really disappointing that 2 years on from first saying this, we still have the same problems.

Do you know anything about Widdops contract? Either which way Widdop might be a cracking half when given the time to create, but so far he's not been in the position to control and run storm like what's required from a half in England.
All in all at this point like yourself I do take issue with the halfbacks and the lack of creation, possibly Sinfield and Chase aren't the right choice, possibly they're being played wrong, but backing on about Widdop this Widdop like he's our saviour isn't backed with evidence from his club games, whereas Chase and Sinfield both run their teams at club level.

For me it's all about who you have available and what style you wanna play, under the current system I don't see Widdop as a better option, after all, he doesn't exactly set the world on fire when he comes on.

PS St George also must have bought into the Mike Coooper hype

All I know about Widdops deal is that its for four years and is reported to be a huge wedge according to the Aussie press. I think the more telling fact though is St George have been happy to let Soward leave on the back of it and he'd walk a place in the England side (well under most coaches he would).

As for Widdop not influencing games when he's come on, he been getting 20 minutes. Hardly ideal for a halfback who's an 80 minute player. He isn't a Rob Burrow or James Roby style player who will bust holes in people and needs the time to start controlling the tempo of a game.

ps we all know Mike Coopers s*ite but he'll be on buttons (at a guess) and will never be discussed as having the potential to influence an England World Cup campaign.

I guess that no-one has commented on this because they don't want to get into a prolonged discussion with you, life's too short. Suffice to say that every so often a post comes along that astounds me, and here's one.

i thought exactly the same as i belly laughed at Jonh's comments..!! Baffling to say the least..

Im no big fan of brough the way he handles/conducts himself but the Little Englishman is guiding us to a possible

Quarter final berth at Headingley on Friday so keep it up wee man!!

i think Mcnamara was a fool not to take Brough as a starter at 6 and choose a non English player instead, with the exception of Australia and NZ, England could've boasted a full team of players from the country they're representing which i think would be refreshing in this farcical rent-a-player world cup.

Having said that its bloody great entertainment, roll on the Tonga v Italy game

Completely agree with Jonh.

Very unimpressed with Brough both in the playoffs and in the WC.

Outstanding kicker on his day but I wouldn't want him in the England team. Don't have an issue with the halves chosen in the England squad - my only issue is that Widdop has never been given a chance to start at 6.