I love this idea that England were a "Bounce of the ball" away from beating New Zealand in a semi final they honestly shouldn't have been involved in had the World Cup draw been fairer to better performing teams than England.

And....when you see what New Zealand did in the final...well...what could England have done.....if they had been able to....well....perform.....in any game......


Of 10 teams England could only point to France as a worse performing team at the WC.

You ARE terrible. These are not mind games. You are so far off the pace that Australia and New Zealand have finals places wrapped up.

And your getting worse!

When did you meet Leaguefreak??
I had you down as having more class Rich

You know, you are right. I don't even go to home games I've got a season ticket for if I think we'll lose or if it's raining

Thinking about this, I reckon England should play an established forward combination with a new look backline against France.

Even with alot of new Faces England should be confident. France have a decent frontline, maybe as good as England, but in the backs

Fox v Pelo (I rate Pelo as a better all-round player, Fox as the better winger)
Briscoe/Smith v Vaccari? (French options are Championship or LER level)
Shenton&Eastmond v Raguin&Baile (Centres v Backrow Forwards)
Myler&Tomkins v Bosc&? (Bosc is better than Myler but France's options at SO are very poor, while Tomkins is very good)
Briscoe v Greenshileds (pretty balanced)

So, other than at scrum-half, England is better than France in all positions, even if they play debutants. By all means change the combination v Oz or Nz, but give the kids a crack at it.

I would think that Ryan Hall would play on the wing.

Seems to me that Wales was a chance to play the youngsters who will be on the fringes of the squad next year. France is a chance to play the youngsters who are on the fringes this year, with established, cooler heads coming in to balance the squad (if needed) when playing Oz/Nz.

Please tell me Sykes will now be dropped from the squad after last night.

I do hope so, he was garbage, a bit surprised he was chose in first place.

Bridge isn't the best full back but dear god he'd have done better than Sykes. He'd have torn them apart imo if he was.

Surely Briscoe will get the nod in the Four Nations.

of course, i was referring to the other night

You got me worried then

Ah....no.....this isn't a one off. Englands been sh*t for going on 40 years!