Quote: saint at wire "Of the fringe players I tohugh only Ratchford did himself proud.'"
Ratchford impressed me. He looked like the only player who was really up for it in the England team. While he still has to sort out his defensive positioning a bit - something that will no doubt come with experience - I thought he looked good at fullback.
Pity we have two strong fullbacks and no halves! I remember when Smith was the national coach and he played Tomkins and Eastmond together in the Four Nations final at Leeds. I thought that at last we had found the halfback pairing for England. They were both still raw but they looked so good.
The fact that neither of them is playing at halfback for England shouldn't mean that we end up playing Sinfield and Chase there though. McBanana should choose the best English halfbacks, with a reserve, and stick with them for a while. Brough may be off form at the moment but that doesn't mean that given the opportunity to play with the team again he won't play much better than he did on Wednesday. Even Robes looked half the player he usually is so I think something more was off kilter on Wednesday than simply a question of playing staff.
The coach maybe? The limited preparation time? Being shoe-horned between two Superleague matches? Inexperience in playing together as a team?