You are right Allen and Charles both great entertainers its a shame we are not being entertained in the half back combination at international level. Yet we do at the domestic level.

Chase played like Ray Charles last night.

The guy is pretty wise ....he knows his level. Cas are welcome to him: hugely disappointing and flattered to deceive earlier in the season.

I never tire of this argument.

Rangi Chase wasn't being asked to do any different a job for England than he is every week for Castleford - get his hands on the ball and create chances for himself and those around him. The number on his back and where he was named on the team sheet is completely irrelevant as an argument for defending his performances.

McNamara even picked a half-back partner similar in style to the one he has for his club, one who takes the side around the field and allows him to pop in and out of the game as he pleases.

If he had been named at 6 with Danny Brough alongside him at 7, his role and contribution would not have changed one iota IMO.

Danny Brough should be first choice SH....although i would also argue the Gaskell and Lomax partnership be given chance to flourish.

I'm also a fan of Luke Robinson as back up hooker.

Burrow doesn't do too bad off the bench either

Any of the halfbacks mentioned would have struggled to kick well under the pressure that was put upon them by the Aussies on Saturday.

We need a pack going forward to create the time and space for the halfbacks. Something that rarely happened on Saturday.

Spot on. We always like to think our pack is better or at least as good, but we were beaten in the forwards and many of the forwards have been disappointing in the series as a whole. Players like Peacock, Heighington, Ellis for instance.

I don't whether it's because they play the game so well and so are fresher or are simply fitter than us but the Aussie forwards seem to do more work than ours, especially in their off the ball work. Every time Lockyer or Thurston runs across the line there are plenty of options with props and back rowers putting that extra effort in to put themselves forward as a support runner. Or they collectively put the effort in to close down the kicker, something which we generally don't do very well.
Far too often our forwards are taking a breather.

We're also far too soft, there aren't enough in the England squad willing to properly mix it with the Aussies. Every time the game gets close against the Aussies they get more aggressive and we don't. Out of the current squad there's probably only Westwood and Chase who's up for a scrap.

I also didn't have to be a tactical genius on Saturday to notice the aggressive purpose with which the Australian dummy runners approached the line. The execution had to be good to avoid obstruction, but rather than just pulling up or jogging in, the runners went rhrough the line, or into the face of their opposite number. All done inside the law, and must create real uncertainty in the defensive line, which in turn allows a bit more space and time for the runners on the outside.

It also isn't rocket surgery to see the work they do in the wrestling after the initial tackle impact to turn the opposing player on his back. We need to get to ground and play the ball quicker, and do better in defence at holding them up. I think even Eddie spotted that.

That's a very valid point. There was a time when we could always give them a good thumping even if we lost the match. But I wonder if all the Sky generated hysteria against anyone going high has led to a generation of players afraid to mix it. In the context of an international Thurston's high shot on Hall was relatively mild. But some of the hysteria & calls for a red were ludicrous. Notwithstanding if Barry Mac or similar had been playing there would have been a mass brawl following that incident & a few Aussies looking out for a bit of protection themselves for the rest of the match.

When your front row "enforcers" are both past pension age, it would have taken them so long to actually get over to the incident that it would have been all sorted anyway.

Like them or lump them, Sculthorpe and Farrell were never overly shy of a bit of biff with the Aussies.

Obviously brawling has no place in our family game, he lied.