My thoughts too as he has been great this season and far better than Chris(Over the)Hill and Philbin who have both robbed him of a GB spot IMO

Yeah Philbins a strange one for me also. Always seen him as a bit of a FTB.

Look forward to being proved wrong.

I quite rate Phillbin. Hughes' inclusion is the strangest IMO

I'd have had

Grace in, Trueman out

Watts in, Philbin out

Thought both the men and women did well on day 1, lots to do tomorrow, but both look more g than competent.

Spoke too soon. Men done by a Lebanon side including three 17year olds...

Hardly a surprise. There's not enough pace in the England team for this format.

This england team is so slow

Hold on.....so were playing 9 a side and we picked Ryan Hall over someone like Kieron Dixon??? Wow.....Wayne Bennett master coach.

Well, that could have gone better. Looked gassed from the outset. We seemed to lose shape really easily with props defending on the wing a few times and seriously lacked creativity. Widdop was disappointing, Tompkins easily our most creative player.

We do lack speed, McGilvray should have scored (different game if he does?), and Hall looked (and was used) more like a prop. Credit James Graham for the unending effort, he’s a real warrior.

I thought exactly the same thing.

Wayne Bennett has used the 9’s tournament to blow off some cobwebs for players who will be featuring in the next few weeks. We face a tough Tongan team next week, with some players not having played a competitive game for quite a while.