Probably confused it was such a rare occasion, pass the ball into space and the combination of hall and shenton will score tries, when we do occasionally pass the ball out we do it when there defensive line is already on top of us.

I don't have a problem with Shenton at all and have posted on the Wigan forum that i thought he went pretty well against the French. This however is a huge step up and I wouldn't really back any English centre bar maybe Keith Senior(due to his sheer size) to stand a chance of limiting the damage Inglis could do to us.

The reason i'd pick Eastmond over Shenton is that i believe he'll cause far more problems going forward then Shenton will and that could just tire out a big bloke in Inglis enough to limit his impact(which i'd guess would still be huge). It could backfire bigtime but it's a gamble i'd take.

As for Shenton long term he'll be a good superleague centre(and already is one) but if he's to cut it at international level he may need to put abit of bulk on. When you look at all the best centres over the past few years like Inglis, Hodges, Senior, Gasnier, Cooper, Talau(for a short spell with the Kiwi's) etc they've all been big blokes and powerfull blokes and for Shenton to match those sort of guys it's something he may have to look at.

And as for his lack of ball so far thats something i totally agree with and it's been a problem for a while with England and from my point of view at Wigan. I'm more then used to watching a side where our right centre and winger never touch the ball other then to run it out from dummy half.

The are certainly more solid backlines Smith could pick. It is strange that he seems to not care what happens.

When is the team announced?

S. Briscoe
Smith
Eastmond
Ellis
Hall
McGuire
Tomkins
Graham
Roby
Morley
Wilkin
Peacock
Sinfield

Burgess
Carvell
Myler
T. Briscoe

Sorry i forgot that he needs to play for the big 4, ah well send him home then

Got to have more than 2 props on the bench, we are playing the Aussies!!!

Forgive me if i just havent looked hard enough but the only comment i can see on shenton from your board is 'i dont rate him tbh'.

I think that the players that are available are good enough to cause Oz and NZ problems but they do not appear to have self belief. You have got to think you can win otherwise you just open the door to defeat before you've started.

There is something about the England setup that is, well, too laid back.

They need confidence, respect but not fear, and a bit of good old passion.

I really, really hope we can raise the intensity, get in the aussies faces, and put them under pressure. NZ have already sowed the seeds of doubt in their minds.

If we just sit back and let them run we will play right into their hands.

I say we go into the game with 14 mobile backrowers, 2 halves (whose main strengths are defence, and obviously one has to be able to kick the ball) and a full-back. We could just tackle for 80 minutes and hope for the best. Who knows, we may be able to keep Australia down to about 50 points

Smith will feel under pressure to get a result in this match so my guess is that he'll do something random like...

Smith
Briscoe (T)
Bridge
Ellis
Hall
Sinfield
Myler

Morley
Roby
Graham
Peacock
Burgess
Wilkin

Eastmond
Westwood
Carvell
Crabtree

In the side i picked for Saturdays game and to be fair I should have added 'At international level' in that because tbh i don't at this moment in time.

He's caused Wigan plenty of problems in superleague and is comfortable at that level.

This is obviously a huge step up though but i'd love him to prove me wrong.

Id personally either Swap him for Bridge or stick Bridge in and Smith to the wing.
Shenton hasn't produced the goods yet, give him one more game then someone else has his place

we have shenton

they have inglis


MOTHER OF GOD

Am I the only one who thinks Myler won't actually play after getting knocked out on Friday?