If he played on Saturday there'd be a lot of winding going on from his erstwhile countrymen and, with his temperament, he's likely to become a liability pretty quickly. So maybe best to leave him out against NZ even if you think he deserves a place.

Personally I'd choose Burrow and Widdop for halves. Burrow will scare the pants of all those massive blokes, they're just not used to tackling garden gnomes on motor bikes where they come from

I'd put the 'drop Chase because the NZers will wind him up' in the same category as 'play McIlorum because he will get in their face'. That is total rubbish. The reason he has logically been dropped is he hasn't performed satisfactorily & kept to the game plan. I thought his defence & control against Aus was magnificent but, unfortunately, we need a HB to be creative in attack as well, especially with Sinfield at other HB. Whether Widdop can be that I don't know. I've hardly ever seen him play, however he is obviously very highly thought of down under.
Overall MacNamara (I have refrained from Banana out of respect) has done better than my low expectations. The Brough issue has happened, until we know the reasoning you have to believe McN did it on principle. Similarly he had little option with Hock & Hardaker. He has dropped the non-performing players, the likes of McIlorum, Mossop, Farrell (who Stevie Wonder could see are not world class), & made a brave (or stupid) decision to change the HBs before the SF. This game could make or break McN's coaching reputation.