Me two mate

.

Correct. One for the future for certain.

Me too.

I personally enjoyed the game. For the first time, I saw a desire from an England team to put in the extra effort to keep the opposition out.

Did this game serve its purpose. I think it did, not only did we expose our players to a higher level of football, but it also allows the coaching team to see which players may or may not be able to handle it. I am a firm believer that in order to improve, we need to get our elite players playing at a higher level more often.

In fact, I would also like to see the England Knights team play the exiles. We may find that we have a few 'fringe' players that actually are able to step up their game when playing with and against better players.

I would love for us to make this a three game series. I think the England team would improve a lot if we were going to be playing the exiles again in a few days.

Paul Wood anyone?

No doubt the team will be better on paper come 4 Nations time but with McNamara as coach I just cant see England doing anything. His 1 out football is a joke!

What would be the point? He isn't going to be playing in the world cup and he isn't as good as Peacock and Morley. If we needed someone else to pass on valuable experience then I might agree but we have Morley and Peacock for that. An argument can be made that we shouldn't be playing them either really if I'm honest.

My one main thought was Westwood proved to be England's best player, just like some would say in the World Cup last year. The only one who wanted it to be intense as a SOO game. He's the most underrated player in SL.

An absolute machine.

Right now, Paul Wood is better than Peacock.

But Peacock is the England captain and is probably the best man for passing on experience and being around the young players. Peacock is coming back from injury, he will come good by the end of the year I think.

Paul Wood is in good form though, he impresses me when I see him.

He was Englands best player, he was made for international rugby. He can raise his intensity in the tackle. He is the first name on the bench for me and the first player in if Ellis and Burgess get injured.

He moved to Oz before he was 12 years old.
He has committed himself to Australia, and was mentioned as a long shot for SOO

Looking at various tweets from players involved and not involved in the Exiles game it is quite obvious that Steve Mcnamara is not looked on very highly amongst his fellow peers out enthused and organised by a team who only had 3 days together enough said BUT DONT BLAME STEVE look at who appointed him

I didnt even know he was English till I read it on here. Listened to him interviewed and his all Ozzie.

S.Tomkins
McGillvary/Lawrence
Cudjoe
Shenton (Best we have at the mo, sound defensively most of the time.)
Briscoe
Lomax
Brough
Graham
Roby
Burgess
Ellis
Westwood
O'Loughlin

Robinson
Morley
Crabtree/Carvell/Wood
Tomkins/Hock

Biggest change we need is the tactics. Tbh i thought we started quite well and played some decent rugby in the first 10-20 mins, Sam Tomkins got the ball in a few decent positions outwide its just the runners wernt there to help him create something and the centres and wings over ran all the time. With a attacking trio of Brough, Lomax and S.tomkins theres more than enough flair to trouble any team.

I'm not saying Wales don't deserve that spot in the 4N's...I fully understand the need for teams like Wales, France, PNG etc to get a chance against the "big 3" teams in the world. If we're honest though, will Wales win a game in the 4N's? I for one hope they do (against Aus or NZ

) however, I can't see it happening. The Exiles, with a proper training camp, would be capable of beating all the teams...which makes for a more interesting tournament as a whole.

Again, I'm not bashing Wales or any other country...they're there on merit and fair play to them. My main focus is on a fully competitive 4N's and I just think the Exiles will offer more.

As an uninterested neutral , the attendance was good , the main purpose was served , and if they don't continue with it , they are stupid

The game was a bit boring until the last ten minutes , but that is exactly the type of play the England team need to learn to defend against if they are ever to beat the Aussies

Just asking from an Aussie perspective will this have an annual event like Origin?

From this side of the world we've only heard good things from the match

Talks are underway about whether this is repeated next year and onwards

When the fixture was announced there was some scepticism (myself included) but in pretty much every element it was a success – the attendance was good (although the crowd was a little quiet which is to be expected when it is a new fixture) and the game was well contested and played in the manner of an international match (i.e. lots of contact at the ruck and therefore slower play the balls)

There has been widespread agreement over the past couple of decades that State of Origin has helped the Aussie team to dominate international league due to it preparing the players for high intensity matches – whether this is true or not is up for debate as the NZ team seems to do well enough without a similar event. My feeling is that the week to week intensity of the NRL is a more important factor and that needs to be matched by SL (which is getting better year on year in this regard) in order for the English team to compete

As a fixture it can certainly help our International team – I don’t think it will reach the profile of SOO as that benefits from two sets of partisan fans that, by definition, can’t exist for International Origin but I hope that it continues

You're missing the point. It's about the structure of the international game and being long term. Whatever the problems Italy have in the six nations they will come good, france in the same comp got hammered for decades! But they stuck by the structure. Without this structure wales, france, png et al will never be competitive. How can you expect a team not getting regular exposure to that level to suddenly make some magic leap? The exiles are a good short term measure but beyond a good trial for england mid-season it is a dead end for the long term future of the international game.

The exiles being in the 4 nations would make a mockery of the tournament and International Rugby League. U cant enter sides into International Test Rugby League who have no nationality. It would be laughable.

Its much more important to push forward in growing the game in the fringe nations and helping them improve!!

A classic example of a 'think about what you have just typed before you click the submit button' post

The back line still isn't good enonough, the fact that Joel Tomkins is being considered for the centres just shows hoe desperatly short of centres we are. I hope Lawrence, Watkins and Charnley all have good ends to the season and push for selection because the current options are no where near good enough., and there's no gurantee that Ellis or Burges will play in the 4 nations.

Thing is though, Westwood is as near as wasted on the bench and doesn't get to show his full potential. He's not an impact player, he's a player who, from the first whislte, is straight in giving 100%. He normally plays the full game for Warrington, and as seen when he's started on the bench for England in the part he doesn't perform as well as he does starting. IMO, you'd be better off playing Graham on the bench with Burgess at prop, as we know Graham can make a difference coming off the bench and would give us a better impact.

Westwood, along with Monaghan and Briers is the first name I look for when the squads are announced. I don't think people realize how good he actually is. He's hard as nail, 100% commited, a great tackler, a great metre-maker and rarely tires. I know stats don't show the whole picture but I believe they state he is currently better than Luke O'Donnel or Ryan Hoffman. He'd do very well in the NRL IMO, he has a great mould for it and has the attributes that the Aussies love over there.

Why? What's wrong with what you have quoted?

She would expect awesome atmosphere's for untested fixtures?