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.

If Watkins is worried about his knee get ablett in there
I think he could do a good job for England given the chance

rlhttp://www.nrl.com/england-v-fiji-player-ratings/tabid/11073/newsid/75334/default.aspxrl

NRL.com ratings:

ENGLAND

1. Sam Tomkins: Moments of class but also some indecision. 7.5

2. Tom Briscoe: Commercial contribution without anything flash. 6

3. Kallum Watkins: Defended well but had limited opportunities to run the ball. 6

4. Leroy Cudjoe: Solid running and plenty of tackles (24) but his effort to try to stop Semi Radradra from scoring was poor. 6

5. Ryan Hall: Two tries in a stirring effort. 7

6. Rangi Chase: Not much separated Chase, Kevin Sinfield and Sam Burgess as England’s best. Contributed two line-break assists and two try assists with his sublime short-passing game. 8.5

7. Kevin Sinfield: Courageous game from the skipper. Lively and scheming and kicked five from six. 8.5

8. Sam Burgess: Relished the confrontation with the Sims brothers and was tough to contain all afternoon. Made 152 metres with three line-breaks, four offloads and a try. 9

9. Michael McIlorum: Not much of a factor in limited game time. 5

10. James Graham: Solid up front, running for 100 metres and made 32 tackles. 7.5

11. Brett Ferres: Excellent support play to score a try and did his share in defence. 7

12. Ben Westwood: A try, 91 metres and 25 tackles. 7.5

13. Sean O’Loughlin: Not required to pull out anything spectacular. Made seven runs and 23 tackles. 6.5

14. Rob Burrow: Gave excellent quick service from dummy-half and was ever-present in support. Rewarded with a try. 8

15. Liam Farrell: Limited game time. 5

16. Chris Hill: Made 15 runs for 115 metres in a stirring effort off the bench. 7.5

17. George Burgess: Contributed a try assist and 115 metres. 7

FIJI

1. Kevin Naiqama: Rarely ran the ball and was well contained. 6

2. Marika Koroibete: Threatened on occasion, with 111 metres and three tackle busts. 7

3. Daryl Millard: Unlucky not to have been awarded a try that was denied on video review. Contributed one of Fiji’s two line-break assists. 6

4. Wes Naiqama: Needed to get more involved than just his seven runs. 5.5

5. Semi Radradra: Rewarded for a determined game with a late try. Made a team-high 14 runs. 7

6. Ryan Millard: Threw a peach of a ball to set up Fiji’s first try. 6.5

7. Aaron Groom: Was called on to make a mountain of tackles (21). Ran the ball just twice. 5.5

8. Ashton Sims: Hit hard in defence with 32 tackles. Denied Sam Burgess a try. 7

9. James Storer: Gave fair service from dummy-half and made 32 tackles. 6

10. Petero Civoniceva: Ran for exactly 100 metres in his rugby league career swansong, with a game-high 38 tackles to boot! 8

11. Tariq Sims: Plenty of venom in defence and threw the last pass for Fiji’s opening try. 6.5

12. Jayson Bukuya: Limited impact with just six runs and 49 metres plus 16 tackles. 6

13. Korbin Sims: Strong running the football (13 runs, 114 metres) but missed more tackles than any other player on the park (4). 6

15. Eloni Vunakece: Scored a try in limited game time. 6

16. Peni Botiki: Not much time to impress. 5

17. Vitale Junior Roqica: Made three runs at 10 metres a pop, plus 10 tackles in little game time. 5.5.

18. Kane Evans: Two runs and 11 tackles. 5

reckon those ratings are just about spot on - possibly would up hill's rating to 8, he was excellent today

He didn't mention Josh Hodgson. Maybe it's your posts that should be disregarded?