Wouldn't disagree to much with that. I quite liked Sam starting at proper and then dropping into the second row or loose when spelled at prop.

Also I would have ablett on the bench to cover centre. Watkins is carrying a knee injury

I think that's the last we'll see of McIllorum this tournament unless injuries hit us. He was extremely poor today, distribution and decision making left a lot to be desired at dummy half.
Roby starting with Burrow coming off the bench for the rest of the tournament in my eyes.

We had some moments where we played some very nice rugby but still need to find more consistency.

I thought it was appalling how long it took the England medical team to go and help Burrow when he went down injured in the 70th (ish) minute. The cameraman was signalling them, the ballboy was signalling them, the crowd were signalling them. In the end the cameraman had to put his camera down to help Burrow and the physio only came over when he was redirected when going to a different player.

Overall, I found it pretty entertaining. I went with family members who are not into rugby at all and they really enjoyed it, found it quite exciting at times.

Please girls put your club colours away for a few weeks, normal hand bags can be resumed on 1st December.

Our team played we'll a roos the park. Some showed up better than others, but WE WON! At the end of the day winning is the most important thing! Do you think the Aussies care if the odd player has bit of an off day? They are only interested that the team WON!


Get behind the white shirts, you know our national team!

I reckon Robbie Burrows has done enough to be in the starting 17, would prefer Sam Burgess to start again at prop with Hill, bench props James Graham and George Burgess.
Ferres has been excellent in every game so partners Westwood. Sean O,Loughlin still not up to speed but should get better. Roby a shoe in at 9.

Its too late to mess around with the backline so leave it as it is.

If/when England string it together for 80 minutes, they are a threat to anyone.

It's the times when they disappear into their shell that represent the problem. They get dragged into the "five drives and kick" arm wrestle rather than looking to put some width on the ball and challenge the defence.

They can't go out of this tournament wondering. Take risks, challenge defenders and have a dig.

You mean the Briscoe that has outjumped pretty much everyone so far, directly creating a try, almost another today and also gained a penalty right on the try line from a jump ball he won (which we scored from), so not that great in the air huh?
Briscoe i think made the one error (case of the dropsies), made a couple of telling tackles and is a lot stronger than Charnley in the tackle both in attack & defence. Watkins gave him bugger all space today and but for a high tackle might have even bagged one of his special's.
Charnley is an exceptional winger no doubt but Briscoe just shades it, we're going to need a better defensive winger come the kiwi game.

It's Burrow not Burrows FFS

My team for the rest of the wc would be

Tompkin
Briscoes
Watkin
Cudjoes
Halls
Chases
Sinfields
Hills
Robys
S burge
Ferre
Westwoods
Oloughlins

Burrows
G burge
Grahams
Abletts

A mistake, but certainly not a howler. It never looks great when you're fumbling for the ball, but thats's actually a tough kick to field. For pure safety, your odds are slightly higher if you go to ground to field that ball, but only slightly - you can still fumble if it takes an unkind bounce and then of course you're on your arris and unable to do anything to recover. He stayed on his feet, as would most counter attacking fullbacks, which meant taking the ball under pressure. He probably did take his eye off it for a split second, which is technically a mistake, but Tomkins' great attacking ability is that he plays with his head up, looking for where the opportunites are. I've seen him scoop those up and go clean through the onrushing chasers. He's the best English fullback by a country mile and made some great defensive plays today - if you can't see that you've either never played the game, or played it so much that you've had all the sense knocked out of you.

I knew McIlorum would get panned after today because he isn't an eye catching flashy player out of dummy half like a Roby or a Burrow. When you watch him week in week out you know how good he is and I know it's easy for me to sit here and say that but you only need to look at the play offs to see how good he is. He is a big game player and he steps up to the mark when the really big games come around. All season guys like Lunt and Higham were spoke about as the form hookers in the league and they were but in the play offs McIlorum played them off the park and showed how good he is.

I say all that but I agree he wasn't at his best today but I'm convinced if he was given a go against the Kiwi's and Aussies he'd step it up and thrive in that enviroment. I don't think we'll see him get the chance though which I do feel will be a shame.

Looking ahead to next week I think Burrow earned his place on the bench and when it comes to a straight fight between Roby and McIlorum I can appreciate the class of Roby and you can't leave him out. The two halfbacks finally came to the party with Chase on fire in the second half. I've also been really impressed with lads like Ferres and Chris Hill in the tournament. I would bring Charnley back in for Briscoe as I feel he deserves a fair crack to nail a semi final spot. I didn't think Briscoe played as well this week as last and to give them both two hit outs before the semis would allow us to make a fair judgement.

I'd go-

Tomkins
Charnley Watkins Cudjoe Hall
Chase Sinfield
Hill Roby Graham
S Burgess Ferres O'Loughlin

subs
G Burgess Westwood Farrell Burrow

Hill looks even better than graham. Been so impressed with him.

I'd go with that but Ablett for Farrell on the bench because they both give you similar interchanging the forwards but Ablett can also cover centre where Watkins is playing at 75% and looks worried his knee's about to give out.

I thought Faz offered more in his spell today then Ablett has done in his two to date. He has covered centre a bit at Wigan as well and if it's France we play next week I'd have no issue with him doing that if needs be. It becomes more of a worry if it's Samoa because they have two excellent centres. Another player who can give us some cover in there is Brett Ferres thinking about it so I see no need to play Ablett just on the off chance.

I believe Faz is a better player then Ablett as is Ferres so I'd have to go with them.

I'd stick with what was done today. Start with Graham. Hill on when the game opens up a bit. I thought Graham played well today.

I don't think it is too late. By my reckoning, our quarter-final will now be fairly straightforward against France. That gives us one more trial game. I agree that Roby has to come ahead of McIlorum, and I saw today's game as just Macnamara giving McIlorum a run-out in case Roby gets injured. Personally, I'd rather have Charnley back in ahead of Briscoe. I think he offers much more threat.

But the big worry for me is in the centres. I simply don't see much threat coming from there. I feel like England has, for the first time in ages, some genuinely threatening wingers. But to get to them, the halves are having to bypass the centres. Cudjoe and Watkins just aren't offering enough. I would use the quarter final to bring in Ablett. He has played better than either Watkins or Cudjoe is currently playing, and he's also the sort of player who will really upset the opposition with his niggles.