I dont understand why sinfield gets slated so much. he is doing very well considering he is being put in positions that are foreign to him. For starters he is getting played at scrum half which i dont think Ive ever seen him play for Leeds. The second issue is he was always dealing with the play the ball. This is not part of his game and he needs instead to be the first or second reciever to allow him to distribute the ball. Why wasnt Roby at the PTB?

Chase on the bench would be a better option would it not?
ad some zip from the bench that I think is missed from burrow/robinson.

real shame about burrow, I thought he could be the difference

Pobably difficult when you playing out of position, he won MOS as a stand off!!!

Lets get everyone back to their natural positions, if we gonna play Sinfield play him at loose forward, if we gonna play Chase play him at stand off the position he won man of steel in.

Why don't we have a natural scrum half in the team such as Myler, Lomax or even Brough?

IMO Brough at 7 Chase at 6 would be a better option than Chase at 7 and Sinfield at 6, Heighington hasnt exactly set the world on fire so would have Sinfield back at 13 had we had options at 7, would have then had Sinfield, Roby and Brough for open play kicking and Sinfield and Brough for goal kicking.

Quite a simple game really if everyone plays in their best positions and if we gonna be beating the Aussies we will need some flair cos IMO won't do it up the middle.

Thought sinfield had a good game but agree with most posters above. Would have him at loose not scrum half!

Slightly OT but thought JJB had a good game yesterday

Chase at international level so far has been poor IMO, 'Big fish in small pond' is very apt in this case.

With the squad MacNamara's got, I would go with Sinfield & McGuire, but had there been other options at S/H then one of Burrow, Myler, Brough or Robinson would have got a chance for mine.

Sinfield controlled the game on saturday, allbeit against wales.

I'd keep the same 17, except someone with more physicality on the bench instead of wilkin.

Sinfield played most of the match at stand off and it was in this position that he played important parts in several tries with astute passes including giving Tompkins the space he needed to excel. He was one of our best players. Why is this not being acknowledged?

It was in fact Chase who looked lost in the scrum half role and failed to provide a link. He seemed to be playing a 2nd stand off role on the blind side. He also made some bad decisions and was not at all sharp.

When Widdop replaced Chase, Sinfield went to SH and Wippop at 6 did nothing of note except one run.

Later Chase returned for Roby (who was also a bit below par) and Sinfield then took over at hooker and supplied some good distribution.

Without a dynamic SH in the side we need the sort of creative passing game that Sinfield supplies so I would keep him there. If he keeps creating tries why change. At this level he may no be physically big enough to play at 13.

It is too late to make many changes against Australia but I would consider playing Widdop at centre for Yeaman and having an extra forward on the bench.

first of all I think KS is a LF and not a SO but think he's done a good job for us and continues to do well for England. It's back to the old chesnut two stars from different clubs can't gell, no way Chase will be able to read what Sinny is going to do and vice versa. Most pairings/triangle no each others play and are able most of the time to be in the right place. Better a hard working player than a flash in the pan. Do think that we should find a place for Widdop though, i think we are very weak in the centre both defensively and in creation agree with Julian we should swap for Yeaman. Also thought JJB had a good game and love him or loath him young sam T is exciting.

The rest of the England team must bend over backwards and alternate position at every Sinny whim because it's clear that Sinny demands the role of stand off, scrum half, hooker, kicker, organiser and loose forward all rolled into one.

It s Juan not Julian (or Sandy!) Agree about JJB

ON one hand I agree. Sinfield is not an international class 6. However, he is able to organise the team, and had a very good game on Saturday. Widdop may to a better job, but if I was going to replace any of the halves on Saturday it'd be chase

Had a strong second half.

He was very quiet in his first stint, not much on the activity levels which is very un-like JJB.

Ellis was also quiet in the first half.

I just feel someone needs to grab this England team by the scruff of the neck and tell them what move etc to play.

Oh I'm still really glad that Wilkin is playing. Poor last week, awful this week. But don't worry he's in the form of his life.



I think changes will be made next week. The real games start.