1. Gareth Widdop - Ridiculous to bring him the squad.
2. Tom Briscoe
3. Michael Shenton - Dont think he is International Quality
4. Chris Bridge - Dont think he is International Quality
5. Ryan Hall
6. Sam Tomkins
7. Kevin Sinfield
8. Adrian Morley
9. James Roby
10. James Graham
11. Jamie Peacock
12. Gareth Ellis
13. Sean O'Loughlin

14. Danny Mc Guire - Bring on like Wigan did with Deacon and move Sinfield to hooker whilst Roby as a break
15. Sam Burgess
16. Joel Tomkins
17. Ben Westwood

You can rotate Morley / Graham / Burgess / Peacock between front row and second row with Joel Tomkins and Ben Westwood off the bench.

To be honest I wouldnt have picked Westwood, Scruton, Widdop, Bridge and Shenton from this squad.

Crabtree was awesome in the 4 nations but isnt in the squad and come to think about it there is no Huddersfield players in the squad at all.
Shenton as been injured most of the season but with him and Bridge getting in it just shows how bad are english centres are since Keith Senior retired from rep footy.

Sad when the 3 times champs can't cope with the loss of 4 players for a match against lowly opposition. This shows how their glorious youth system is now bankrupt.

You missed a word out. That being "key" players.

=#8040FFWhy? player of the year in the NRL feeder system, played for Melbourne at the weekend and played very well, better then briscoe by a mile



=#8000FFWhich is why he made Hodges look silly twice last season in the 4 Nations and held his own against NZ



=#8000FFAgain, how do you get that? he's playing well and did nothing wrong in the 4 Nations

Instead of saying Shenton and Bridge just aren't "international quality", who would you like to suggest is in those positions?

As for Widdop, you hear good things but obviously you can't really tell until you have a look at him, so surely a pretty meaningless match against france is a good opportunity to meet the lad, see how he is around training etc, and see a full match of him (in a problem position for England) up close.

A meaningless match you can't stop commenting on.

Haven't seen many Bulls games, admittedly, but young Halley seems a decent prospect from the ones I have seen? Bit dodgy in defence, perhaps, but then again so are they all!

I like international rugby, I think it should be a lot more important. By meaningless, what I meant was that we should be able to beat the french even if he's not as good as he's hyped up to be.

A really good call with Widdop IMO. Obviously a talent who is held in high regard with a club who have brought some quite simply outstanding players through the ranks lately.

Melbourne have to lose some of their star players very soon to fall under the salary cap for the start of the next NRL season. Slater could quite easily be one of the players to go which would mean Widdop will be potentially playing first grade for Melbourne next year. If this did happen it is almost inevitable he will be in the England team.

Playing him next week also rules him out from turning out in green and gold. Which probably will not bother the Aussies as they have plenty of quality full backs.

As for Wigan players McNamara has it spot on. I can see all three turning out for Wigan on the same weekend too, injuries permitting of course.

I really dont see who else he could have brought into the squad, Eastmond being out presents a different challenge, would like to see Ratchford called up in his place.

This game really doesnt matter though, because we will win it easily.

Whats important is come year end, he picks on form, not just by name.

Is Eastmond definitely ruled out? If so I'm with you on Ratchford. Danny McGuire may be a more established player and a try machine but he never seems to take his game to international level. It's weird how things change when we come up against Aus and NZ with some big names like McGuire and Sinfield (well, when he plays loose) coming up short and some less hyped players like Bridge and Crabtree getting the job done.

Isn't Ratchford out for a month?

Ratchford has been struggling to get a start at Salford. How is he worth a place for England?

If Eastmond is still available I would have played him at Centre.

There is no point playing him there if he can't play there agaist the aussies. He would get steamrolled by Inglis and co.

Always looked good when I've seen him, his kicking game was vital when they turned Saints over.

True, but we are playing France. When we play Australia we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

Surely this should be a practice for playing Aus and NZ.

If he will not play in that position against Aus and NZ he should not play there against France IMO.

I though he was a late substitution

play our best half back out of position, why?

He was.


It was Matty Smiths kicking that caused all the problems

McRae has been on record as saying he doesn't want to over burden him with responsibilty and too many games (something I don't really understand but I've never won the Challenge cup or Super League so what would I know?). Injuries have also limited his first team opportunities this year.

Interview with Gareth Widdop >>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=l27tYdv_8_U [don't know if i'm allowed to link to it but if not just type in "Gareth Widdop Chosen in England Squad" if it gets removed Comes across like it was quite a suprise for him, obviously wasn't expecting it.

Interview with Gareth Widdop >>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=l27tYdv_8_U [don't know if i'm allowed to link to it but if not just type in "Gareth Widdop Chosen in England Squad" if it gets removed Comes across like it was quite a suprise for him, obviously wasn't expecting it.

I like how he slips into his aussie accent sometimes!

I didn't say Coley hadn't been good for Wigan - Probably your best front rower. But, threre're a few players infront of him. Leeds and Saints have won a lot over the last few years, but do you think Bryn Hargreaves, or Ian Kirke were anywhere near an England call up?