The comment about Paul Anderson being left in the 'growing bag' as a youngster stuck with me.

And was it French who liked a good 'raw-boned front row forward'?

University of Leeds alumnus as well

Tempted to mute the game and watch in blissful silence

Nsemba is looking good early on

If the tackle on Bateman warrants 10 mins, it was a forceful shot to the head according to Kendall, then player saftey would demand Bateman needs an HIA, surely?

Sounds more like ref fed up of repeat hits to the head on the border of being a penalty and his warning was ignored.

Deffo the softest of the high hits so far

As for HiA do international have different rules ?

Don't know, but surely protocols should be universal given the rationale around player safety. The risks don't change depending on whether the game is domestic or international. So, this being RL, they probably are different, yes.

Welsby's defence in this game

Farnworth, though... When was the last time England had the best centre in world? The best since prime Senior.

We've had a few good ones (Senior, Connolly, Newlove, Schofield) since I've been watching the game, but I don't think any of them could truly claim to be the best in the world. Farnworth has that acknowledged from his peers in the NRL. You'd have to say that makes him probably the best British centre since the days of Neil Fox.

Senior was voted into the world 13 2 years running in the early 2000s, Gleeson and Watkins were decent, but Farnworth is genuinely world class.

Yep. Watching him in the flesh today, he doesn’t just look like a world class a rugby player, he looks like a world class athlete. That's the measure for the best three quarters in the NRL, and he clearly exceeds it. England need to find two or three more (Young probably hits the mark) before we can be confident of giving the Aussies a game.