Widdop should be nowhere near an England shirt next week. I said when the squad was announced he shouldn't be in there, and that performances tonight was why he has only played 3 first grade games in the NRL. He missed numerous tackles, dropped plenty of ball and didn't look dangerous at all, as well as fluffing a kick at goal.

We looked a much more dangerous side with Tomkins at full back and Robinson in the halves. I'm not the biggest fan of Robinson, actually, i don't rate him at all but i thought we looked much dangerous with him at half back, and Tomkins at full back. Also, in the first half Brown was creating nothing, he wasn't going forward, he was running sideways across the field which is very easy to defend, especially at that level, but second half, he went forward a bit more and looked a lot more dangerous.

At the end of the day, we had chances and if a couple of decisions went our way we would have been well in the game. A poor start cost us. One thing that always gets on my nerves is when we go over there, there referee's give us nothing, yet when they come over here, our referee do everything they can to prove there not biased.

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Bit harsh, Graham was spot on when he said we had a decent 15/20mins. We gave them a helping hand at the start of both halves...

we need to run with this second half team next week and we will have a good go at the aussies. One word should be on the agenda this week:- Completion! we need to get our completion above 80% we have looked dangerous at times we need to really muscle up! If these are the best team in the competition it doesn't say much for the aussies! The likes of Shenton and Tom Briscoe this time last year looked out of their depth in the 4 nations but they have grown in stature and where two of our stand out players. Hopefully the likes of Goulding,Griffin,Robinson and Brown can take some confidence from this performance.

Id run with

1.Sam Tomkins
2.Goulding
3.Shenton
4.Widdop
5.Briscoe
6.Brown
7.Robinson
8.Graham
9.Roby
10.Fielden
11.Ellis
12.Burgess
13.O'Loughlin

14.Crabtree
15.Westwood
16.Joel Tomkins
17.Lunt

this tournament is about improving for england, the young stars getting the experience. Don't forget the injuries we have. Im proud of the lads tonight and will support them the same next week. Lets start to build a side and we do have a hell of alot of potential.

Shenton was good in the second half. First half i thought he was pretty poor to be honest.

I can't see a Brown / Robinson half back pairing troubling the Aussies tbh.

J Tomkins or Ellis to centre next week in place of Atkins, Sam Tomkins to full back, widdop to 6, Crabtree and Carvell in for Fielden and Griffin.

Tomkins might have bossed SL this year - but he was out of his depth in this game. At times he looked a whole second off the play.

Half backs are a real worry. S Tomkins has played full back for a fair portion of the season and doesn't Brown play centre these days?

Let's hope Mc.Banana keeps him off next week too even if he is fit. England looked like a team or group of players who have not been used to playing together. I know they haven't but you know what I mean.

Re- 5 mins...

I was exaggerating a touch. You get the point though. I'll give you 15.

Off to a bbq to explain the game to a few Yanks.

Enjoy yourselves with the dissection.

Is Claire Balding reading this?

TBH thought Tomkins had a really good 2nd half. Brown is a good club player but he isn't international standard.

he really needs to run at full back! I don't think he was fully fit aswell!

I was pleasantly surprised how well Shenton, Widdop, Goulding and Briscoe went today. Our top players in the forwards need to step it up to have any chance against the Aussies. I'd go with Robinson and Tomkins in the halves.

I never fooking said England were good enough did i? I stated the FACT that the scoreline is incorrect. We played poorly but that doesnt mean we arent allowed to get close or even win. If you look at the incidents over the full 80 minutes and we didnt get any decisions going our way.