Dont agree with one word of that but there you go.

He's a Whinos fan who is still annoyed because Carl Ablett wasn't selected at all, Hardaker wasn't at full back, Burrow wasn't favoured ahead of Hodgson and Clark and both Sinfield and Peacock are sadly now internationally retired. England would have won by 50 with that lot playing alongside the solid and excellent Watkins and the World's Best Winger Hall.

I can see why you would disagree with picking Tom Burgess at 13 but I don't see how you could argue the back row weren't rubbish.

Well, the fact that two of them were the games top tacklers and that they only made two errors between them might be an inkling.

Also the fact that many posters had a ridiculous agenda against the back row before hand was an issue that seems to keep on going.

Out of the backrow I thought Ferres was the most disappointing. He was very good in the World Cup but looked down on his best form today. I thought Westerman and Tomkins went pretty well tbh and they'd be in my 17 next week. As for Farrell he showed his try scoring ability and a skill to run superb lines for his try but overall it wasn't his best. He didn't play enough minutes for me though. He's an 80 minute player but at this level with the size of the opposition I can understand Macca not doing that.

To sum up I'd bring in O'Loughlin and Whitehead next week with Ferres and Farrell to miss out.

I enjoyed the game.Yes we made some bad errors and gave away a lot of penalties, and there are lots of areas to tidy up especially around the ruck.But it was the first hit out for this team and it was a real good physical battle, we got the result and as long as we can tidy things up we should be much much better next week off the back of this.

I agree with that, Westerman is copping a bit of criticism over the internet but i don't think he was too bad at all. He looked ok in attack and will only get better considering he hasn't played in 6 weeks.

I thought he looked dangerous with the ball and made a couple of half breaks. He's a big lad and that's valuable at this level.

Looking at the stats for the game I'd say most of the forwards were possibly under used if anything. They all seemed to get a very even share of minutes but I think you want guys like Graham and hopefully next week Lockers out there for 60 to 70 minutes. The other guys can play around them then and try and add impact.

Looking at those stats I'd say Ferres wasn't busy enough. He made 13 tackles in the game compared to Westerman and Farrell who both made 33. I could be wrong but I don't think there was a great deal of difference in the time they spent on the field either.

I said on our Hull board, Westerman was picked for this tournament on he back of having a great year at Hull where he has been playing as a ball playing loose forward. It was obvious he'd been told to play more as an extra prop. No sure he made a pads all game other than the offload that went to ground (right idea, very poor execution).
We've seen at Hull that Westy is best when he gets more a free roam and he didn't get to show it today. Widdop had to do too much by himself (hardly any help from Smith).
Still think Westy was better than Ferres even when playing a role he isn't suited to, so I'd be happy to see O'Loughlin in at 13 and Westy in the second row over Ferres.

Next week.....Ferres and Westerman to miss out for me despite the 33 tackles he made.

Both O'Loughlin and Whitehead to replace them, the first being the captain, the second being the best second rower in the country this year.

I agree with everything there apart from the bit about Smith. I'm stunned he's had a few people knock him. Without him in that second half I don't think England win the game. His kicking game was the only thing keeping the Samoans at bay at times and it also led to a couple of try's. Add in the try he set up in the first half for Watkins with a stunning ball for Tomkins and it added up to a very successful debut.

He's never going to take the line on time and again, it just isn't his game but overall I thought the pairing with Widdop had nice balance.