poor smith is damned if he does and damned if he doesnt....however, england backs are just not good enough and havent been for years, its nt smiths fault but there are far too many imports in the backs positions still !!! unfortunately he should have recalled gleeson and senior who are still the top two english centres available with lee smith on the wing (or not atall as he is off to kick and clap !). if you saw shenton against france he got pulled out of position everytime they went down his flank.......hes not good enough and will get very exposed on saturday if they target him..............and i still cant beleive eastmond aint in the run on side.......its well known aussie and kiwi forwards struggle against players with good feet......and eastmond is a jack in the box and will cut them up down the middle !!!!!

I think we are well over due a good result and so am gonna go for england by 4-6 points.
I know it goes against the grain of the get along thing, but i just have a sneaky feeling.

Come On England.

I was really excited during the week when my 10yr old grandaughter had a letter from the RFL at first I thought they may be asking her for help in runing the place but no .They were informing her she had been chosen to be one of the mascots for the England/Kiwi game.I was hoping she may bring England some luck but now wonder just who she is supporting as she has been asked to wear black.
She is still proud as punch though she is so excited whoever it is.

Teams for today:

England: S Briscoe, Fox, Bridge, Shenton, Hall; Tomkins, Eastmond; Morley, Roby, Graham; Peacock (capt), Ellis, Sinfield.
Replacements: Burgess, Crabtree, Westwood, Wilkin.

New Zealand: Hohaia, Perrett, Foran, Sau, Goodwin; Marshall (capt), Fien Nuuausala , Leuluai , Moimoi , Soliola , Pritchard, Blair .
Substitutes: Luke , Lima , Matulino, Waerea-Hargreaves.


I don't see what Westwood brings to the international team, he's an ordinary player who gives too many penalties away, I'd have benched Carvell instead of him, Burgess is more flexible in the back three. Looks like we're going to try and bash them up the middle with only Wilkin as cover for stand off or centre spots. Sinfield can also cover stand off & hooker, so I expect him to cover Roby at some point and I hope that's where he tries Eastmond to catch them tired in the latter stages of the first half, scooting out of dummy half.

Home mate in cup to keighley town. Will be headin straight over after game.

good game to watch, well done england, played well.