Is he from Nantwich by any chance?

Just a thought.

Rangi Chase dropped frpm squad for Saturday. Widdop to replace him.

It says dropped, but surely there is more to it.A half back combination he has stuck by through thick and thin for two years,and throughout this whole comp., even against the weaker teams when he could have checked out other combinations (Widdop) and now he drops one from the 19 a few days before our biggest game in almost 20 years!

If he it is true, and he is dropped, then its a real ballsy decision in such a big game.

Not really. He had a bad game on Saturday. He had played much better than people giving him credit for before that, but Saturday he was really bad.

Players in any team, should always be picked on form. IMO that is what McNamara is doing.

Strange one that .
Maybe a bit too maverick for the coach/captain can be a bit of a one man show at times

Oh,I agree with you.My call before the WC began was to play Sinfield/Widdop in the halves.

Just seems very strange and out of character of McNamara he seemed dead set on the Sinfield/Chase combo.Big game to do it when he had chances to change earlier and see if Widdop and Sinfield went better.

Not saying its the wrong call though

The only problem I have with this is Widdop comes in cold after very little game time, a big risk in my opinion but let's see what happens

I'd question the timing more than the decision itself. He wasn't great on Saturday, but by that token you could drop most of the team. How much time have Sinfield and Widdop had playing together? Big call, hope it works.

Big call. Would have expected him to stick with chase for the whole tournament.

Big call by McNamara. Had he been seriously considering this before he would have played Widdopp last match, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was indeed that game that has cost Chase.

McNamara's the first England coach to stick with a halfback pairing and really give it a chance to develop, something for which too few fans will ever give him credit. He's obviously decided that it just wasn't happening. Ideally a game earlier to give Widdopp a full game with Sinfield, but I can understand his desperate hope that Chase would start to put together 80 minute performances.

He doesn't have quality options like Australia who could be brought in and expected to step up (and who also play with each other several times a year at least), or a no-brainer first-choice pairing like NZ.

Rumours on twitter that Chase has left the camp...

Plus side is widdop is chomping at the bit and wants to put in a big performance to prove himself. With burrow on the bench as well England's attack looks pretty potent

There is also another half back in the 19 who Sinfield has a great deal of experience playing alongside.

Can't imagine Chase has been dropped for playing reasons. Thought he has shown up reasonably well, and if McNamara has left it until now to realise he doesn't like him in the halves then I would be amazed. Chase has done what he has always done in an England shirt, which I assume was what the coach was expecting? If he wasn't expecting what he got from Chase then he's the only one in the country.

There are more teddies flying around in the England camp than at a 2 year olds bring a bear tea party.

Maybe having a tantrum is the way forward for the players under Steve Mac?

It was reported that Widdop last week had a one on one moan with Mac with his bottom lip out.

Look at him now, likely to be in starting line up for WC semi!