The front row forwards were excellent. They bullied the NZ pack in the 2nd half. I'd like to see Whithead, and Farrell come into the game more. They caused problems when they hit holes, but they got sucked into the middle too often.
Williams was good, Widdop, again was bang average.

Doubters?

I'd start Ferres ahead of Farrell next week, he's bigger and offers a greater threat.

I take it the Kiwis had a few drinks last night celebrating the Union team's WC win? They were bobbins in that second half.

We looked quite good, if a bit scrappy at times. We grew into the game and took full control in the second half though wth some very solid performances and for once we kept our penalty count and errors to a minimum.

We will have to be better again next week because the Kiwis can't possibly play that poorly again.

What doubters?

Neither side great but winning when not playing well is a good habit to get into.

For me Widdop and Williams would be our HB pairing until the next WC unless someone breaks on to the scene. We have a limited number of opportunities to play our half backs together. Williams and Widdop have the talent to be a great HB pairing. Got to e patient with Williams. He's going to make mistakes. But he's only 20 and 2 years of international tests will set him up for the 2017 WC.

Exciting thing is the depth we are now getting! Also how young this squad is, the core group of this squad will be hitting their peak in 2 years time.

Burgess brothers, Watkins, Tomkins, Hill, Hardaker, Bateman. They're only going to get better and hopefuly with have played plenty of tests together by 2017.

Our starting pack aside from Hill were really poor and could have left us with you much to do but for a huge effort from the bench.

That bench dragged guys like Graham and O'Loughlin with them second half and got us over the line.

Plenty to work on but after a poor start, that's avert good win.

Does anyone else think that attendance figure was rubbish? There were deffo more than 23,500 in there, I was full apart from that little bit by the tunnel which could only be 200 at the most.

Thought Williams grew in to the game. Neither half backs excelled but they did enough.

Thought Farrell worked hard defensively but was dominated too many times going forward. Bateman will one day make a top quality 2nd rower but he isnt a centre.

Hall worked incredibly hard, but was basically an extra forward we offered nothing really threatening on that edge.

Front row was very good, they pretty much ground them out of it, Hodgson and Roby interchanged very well.

But that was a very very simple game plan, we played pretty much all the game in the middle third with very little going wide, staying strong in the middle and waiting for mistakes. Of which the kiwis made plenty. Dropped a fair bit of ball, gave away some silly penalties, but our red zone attack was very poor.

Saying all that we have just beaten the world champions fairly comfortably. It was an outstanding defensive effort.

I couldn't see what the upper tier was like?
Does having a video screen take any off the capacity at the KC?

Williams took time to show the confidence at Wigan to really blow games apart but that's exactly what he can do. He needs to be given time to grow in to the side but he'll get there because he's special. I thought he got better with every minute tonight after a shaky start.

One guy I want to see show far more aggression next week is Bateman. He's a tough nut and I expected him to thrive but he seemed to be caught by surprise by Whare's aggression early doors. One things for sure though- he won't let that happen twice. I expect a huge game from him next week.

England beat the world no1 whilst barely breaking sweat.

Once we get the other 2 Burgi back and Williams et al gain more experience and improve then we'll see what this team can really do at the next world cup.

Obviously we were quite poor at the start. The forwards and halves took a while to get going.
I thought Graham, Burgess, Hill and Roby were the stand out performers despite taking that time to get going. Burgess was particularly good and showed a big improvement since his WC showing.
I thought Bateman wasn't up to much and why I'm not overly keen on having him at centre. But he's that good a player we should trust him to come good.
I also thought Hall showed that unless he's performing terribly you have to pick him. He might not be in top try-scoring form but his work in our own half is a huge boost to the team.

I agree on the halves. I'd like to say we'll stick with Williams and Widdop with Gale as a backup for the next WC. Let them work together and with the rest of the team for the next couple of years and go into the WC.

England's front row is top class and they really complement one another.

Ferres for Farrell, who can't impact at this level because he isn't big enough and England don't set up to isolate him all day like Wigan do.

Bateman needs to be in the back row. Hall didn't get a touch in an attacking position because we've a back rower as his centre. I'd drop O'Loughlin who I think is all but done and put Bateman at 13. He was atrocious first half, gifting pens and making wrong calls. Ferres, Whitehead and Bateman would be my back row.

Hodgson shouldn't be playing when Roby is capable of doing 80 minutes. Bring another back rower in.

George Williams is going to be superb. I had him our best tonight. He's a star in the making and I hope he goes to Australia to keep developing. He'll find SL all too easy as he matures.

England look good but they could seriously challenge Aus and NZ if they make some amendments.

I was surprised it was announced that high. From my view on the Upper West I saw lot of empty seats. There were full rows unoccupied on the centre of the East and plenty of gaps in all the corners. There was a full row empty along from us too.

Well, i hope all the Wigan players are withdrawn from the team next week, and England can go hang........

Grow up children, it's a team game and the team won... Took a while to settle, but functioned well for the last 50 mins... Roll on next week.

I rate Bateman but it's the same as trying Ablett there a few years back. They do a good job at centre at SL but it's very different at International level. It's obvious that his future is in the backrow anyway so he is just a stopgap filling at centre for the time being.

I agree but currently we've not got many options. I believe we should have picked Percival tbh (an ideal opportunity to expose him to this level which is his level IMO) but from within the squad Bateman must play.

England are crying out for a big athletic back rower who creates space for the 3/4s, Whithead does it well for Catalans, but seems to be a bit of a passenger at the moment. I'd like to see him try and get his hands on the ball a bit more.
On another note, Cooper's injury makes Walmsley's injury, and Cuthbertson's bizarre non-selection even more crucial. I don't think we have any other front rowers in the squad, do we?

1 penalty against SOL, not plural for effect
Not sure what wrong calls, but keep saying it for effect

I thought Farrells 40odd tackles was fantastic and out of the 3 Whitehead was the quietest although he didn't have a bad game by any stretch.

Everyone did what they had to do as a TEAM and a really good effort from everyone.

As for Williams going to the NRL, ditto Makinson, Percival, Joe Greenwood, Savelio, Thompson etc.
Maybe even Roby???
Maybe we should only all be delighted when all our stars have to go to the NRL to develop because there's no-one left in SL to play against.
Can't wait till Hall, Hardaker, Watkins, ward and Sutcliffe go from Leeds as well.

Agree with most of the above, I think some posters were a bit premature on being a bit critical of George Williams in the first half, overall he attempted a lot more creativity than Widdop. Our centres were a bit ineffective on the attacking front, we need to play a lot better next week because I think the kiwis certainly will.

Good start to the series for England. A win whilst nowhere near at their best.

Stand-outs for me where Tom Burgess who had a huge impact off the bench, possibly the best game I've ever seen him play! He morphed into George!

Williams who grew into the game and for a 20 year old halfback stood up well, he took on the line more than most England halves have done over the last 10 years.

Hill, a fantastic prop. Wire are lucky that the NRL haven't come sniffing yet as he would do well over there.

Roby along with T Burgess completely swung the momentum of the game, with his pace from the ruck.

Mention to Ferres as well as the two try's where big moments in the game.

Slightly below par for me ...

Bateman, but not due to his lack of attacking threat more his lack of aggression and mongrel that all Wigan fans have come to love. Against Whare who IMO is the best defensive centre in the game he was always going to struggle to make much of an impression going forward.

Watkins, unlike Bateman was up against a make shift centre who usually plays FB or wing. I was hoping for a little more.

Hardaker, he didn't get himself involved enough. To try and take the FB away from S Tomkins he needs to become more of a threat going forward.

Once the likes of Alex Walmsley, George and Sam Burgess return to that pack it's pretty mouth watering. Particularly the front row.

Lots of positives. For me, though, the areas to improve are halfbacks and centres.

Widdop offered less than Williams, so it would be Widdop I'd drop to get Gale in for a bit more unpredictability.

Bateman is a good second row. But if he's the second best English centre playing the game, I'm a monkey. Our attack was notably more threatening down the right with Watkins, and if we get two halves who can distribute the ball, we need a genuine centre on the left too. Time to get Cudjoe in. Bateman would be better used in the pack.

But who'll do the tackling that Farrell does/did today?

Odd games really. Thought England had some luck at key times. With all that possession and dominance tries were still pretty hard to come by. NZ dropped a lot of ball too. Overall, nice win but I am less optimistic than I was on 3-0 over the series. Still think we can do it but no longer cocksure!