Who was that? Apart from Widdop no one played out of position really. 7 and 6 are just about the same really. You need balance in the halves more than anything. Does not matter what number they have on their back. For example Sinfield plays like a traditional first receiver 7 for Leeds a lot of the time. I would have gone Brough 7 and Widdop 6 with Sinny as the security blanket off the bench. But that is me.

Apart from the sinfield 40/20 kick neither half was up to much all game. England have picked halves without the required skills for the international game for years and it has done us no good. Form is good, but does that form player have the skills that cross over to the top level?

Negativity surrounding aspects of the performance fair enough but I thought it was a positive night for international league.

Great crowd, unique atmosphere and a good watchable game. Both sides showed a lot of potential, both are also held back by head coaches who are clearly out of their depth.

If it helps your paranoia, I think Chase a very good player and if Wakefield raided Cas for him I'd be quite happy.

I say we are stuck with him at scrum half because we don't have another player suitable for scrum half in the 4Ns squad therefore we have to pick him. Would I have had him in the squad to start with, NO, he isn't English and even though the rules say he's eligible I don't agree. It's not because he's from Cas or because I don't rate him it's because I don't agree with him being selected due to him being from another country.

I've heard all the protestations about his new life in England, fresh start, new girlfriend ECT ECT but it doesn't wash as I've heard it all before. T Smith went to great lengths to ensure Maury Faasavalou was 100% committed to being English/British in order to validate his selection and guess what, he played for Samoa last month in the RU World Cup.

Agree with that. That French squad can only get better with good coaching. Just englands halves off this games performance worry me going forward in this comp.

Proof will be in the pudding. If he does a u-turn, I'll be right behind you criticising him. If, however, he plays his heart out for England for the next 7/8 years and is 100% committed to the cause then I have no reason to fault him. I genuinely believe his reasons for switching his allegiance.

All I care about, however, is a successful England and if he does the business on the field for us then fantastic.

He played against England this time last year and 4 months ago. That is all you need to know.

Match report guys www.rlfans.com/index.php?fid=43&id=47

Match report guys www.rlfans.com/index.php?fid=43&id=47

Quote ="justarugbyfan"Match report guys www.rlfans.com/index.php?fid=43&id=47'" Excellent report, spot on for me. I like that Briscoe and Yeaman got some mentions too because I thought they were brilliant tonight. I've not bothered to get involved in the threads on the match tonight because most people can't wait to get their claws into England but that was a report deserving a mention.

Quote ="justarugbyfan"Match report guys www.rlfans.com/index.php?fid=43&id=47'" Excellent report, spot on for me. I like that Briscoe and Yeaman got some mentions too because I thought they were brilliant tonight. I've not bothered to get involved in the threads on the match tonight because most people can't wait to get their claws into England but that was a report deserving a mention.

I thought they sorted the left side positions tonight. Makes that part of it an easy job for McNamara. And the pack is pretty settled.

It's the full back and half-backs that are the issue. Tomkins should get the number one. But do you stick with Chase and Sinfield as half-backs?

I'd like to see Widdop try his hand at half back. Taking nothing away from Sinfield, he was great tonight, but I'd like to see Widdop have a go even if it was for a few minutes off the bench

I think had Tomkins not been injured then Widdop would have gone in at half back and not full back tonight, with Sinfield going to loose forward.

I hope McNamara saw it like that too because after their performances I think Yeaman and Briscoe both deserve to start next week.

I think he'll go more or less the same again next week, agree or not, Chase was given the MOM and Sinfield played well so do they deserve to be dropped? I think we'll see Widdop off the bench again next week with his versatility at FB or HB.



Agree with that it was clearly an enforced change so McNamara's hands were tied a little tonight.

Hmm...and if Briscoe drops a pass under his own sticks against Aus/NZ they will convert the chance into a try.

Can someone tell me what the idea is with Sam Tomkins refusing to run at the line? His body language is appalling. He reminds me so much of Kyle Eastmond when he'd decided he didn't want to risk getting injured playing for Saints. He needs to be more committed. The whole point of him playing fullback is his broken field running.

A rovers fan, highlighting Briscoe's only mistake ....... surely not. Where's Peter Fox when you need him.

One mistake? Surprised he wasn't man of steel.

To be fair, he probably wasn't totally expecting Tomkins to launch the ball at him in that position of the field.

Yes true Leeds have really struggled with a ball playing LF over the last 5 yrs



Danny brought had a rubbish end of season, he was only good at start of the season and his form didn't warrant any selection

True. But you can't drop a player because he dropped the ball. Uate knocked on with not a player in sight last week. You think the Aussies will be focusing on that. Typical England fan, focusing on the negatives than the positives. What about his superb finsih for his first try??

Yes there is a lot to work on, but that was some players first game for 5 week. I would rather be make the mistakes this week than in two week time.

And if Sinfield could take his club form to the international stage he might buck the current trend that prevails within the international game and the NRL. The fact is he can't as we've seen on every occasion he's pulled on an England or GB shirt, don't get me wrong I've got great admiration for Sinfield in his role at Leeds where he looks world class but he's ordinary at international level.

Brough was brought back from a bad injury about three weeks before he was ready and was then expected to turn around the fortunes of an out of form Giants team. Without doubt he's the best number 7 that is available for England and should be in the team, all in my opinion of course.

Anyone who watches Sam play fullback at Wigan will have seen him throw those passes time and again to Richards and Charnley. It was a perfectly placed pass that Briscoe should have taken and it made me laugh when Stevo tried to blame Tomkins.

As for Briscoe he's a cracking young player and i'm sure next time he'll be more switched on.

He usually passes to Charnley/Richards after catching a kick so he can scoot from the play the ball if there are any gaps.

northernsportsreport.wordpress.c ... lot-to-do/ Personal reaction to the game. Thoughts?

northernsportsreport.wordpress.c ... lot-to-do/ Personal reaction to the game. Thoughts?

Probably getting ready for pre-season at Wakefield