Yeh cos I'm sure Cronk, Thurston etc will "go ok" come the World Cup won't they! We don't play to any sort of structure and it was all down to the half back combination. Chase is too off the cuff and Sinfield is too slow to be an international 6. If we are to have any chance then England need to play to a similar style as Wigan where Tomkins is brought in to the attacking line as a 3rd pivot.

I am an England fan and I go to games but it is disheartening to see some of the selections that are made. Wev got some world class forwards and and exciting back line, particularly once we get the NRL-based players involved, but I think ultimately it is going to be our halves that let us down.

You have judged him on a couple of games, clearly.

Do you not factor in that it takes 3 defenders to put him down and therefore by default he creates gaps if he can get a quick play the balls??

It's not *all* down to the half-back combination. A fair bit of it has got to be coaching/training. (Though I agree we've seen nothing to suggest Sinfield/Chase can combine effectively and Sinfield/Brough, Sinfield/Widdop or Brough/Widdop would all be more effective combinations.

The other thing worth mentioning is that Cameron Smith is in a different class as an organising acting-half
than Roby. Roby is excellent in his way, but Smith gets defences on the back foot and sets Australia's play more than Thurston or Cronk and if Roby can't do that then there's even more pressure and less space for our halves.

I think people are just focusing on the half back because it seems to be the 'in' thing to do, what we have to remember is Australia are a far better squad with better players in most of the positions. However we can win the WC, we only have to beat Australia once out of a probable two games, we've shown we can do that on occasion and NZ dont ever seem to be a problem when we play them on home turf. And whatever people seem to think just putting Brough in because hes had a good first half of the season will not win us a WC, good preparation and good Squad that knows each others plays and gell together can.

But as Ive said a few times I genuinely get the feeling people want to see England faik so they can get some kind of bragging rights and say I told you so.

Yeh I definitely agree it's down to the coaching as well. FWIW Widdop and Brough would have been my first choice HB pairing for the WC. I think Widdop/Chase could work if Chase can be disciplined enough to play to a structure and pick and choose when he plays what he sees.

Of course all the Rhinos players are average and shouldn't be in. Any unbiased fair minded fan would agree. Makes me wonder why the fantastic players in all the other teams can't stop them winning championships.

Last season they were on form. We will see how you do this season.

We've won more games this season than the same time last year I believe.

So what do we think of the Exiles squad:

Travis Burns (Hull Kingston Rovers), Chris Bailey (London Broncos), Brett Delaney (Leeds Rhinos), Michael Dobson (Hull Kingston Rovers), Rhys Hanbury (Widnes Vikings), Harrison Hansen (Wigan Warriors), Brett Hodgson (Warrington Wolves), Lance Hohaia (St Helens), Kylie Leuluai (Leeds Rhinos), Steve Menzies (Catalans Dragons), Joel Monaghan (Warrington Wolves), Michael Monaghan (Warrington Wolves, Australia), Joel Moon (Leeds Rhinos), Mickey Paea (Hull Kingston Rovers), Tony Puletua (St Helens), Pat Richards (Wigan Warriors), Iosia Soliola (St Helens), Zeb Taia (Catalan Dragons), Trent Waterhouse (Warrington Wolves)

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/22780690[/url

What do you reckon the final team will be?

I'll go with:

Hodgson
Joel Monaghan
Soliola/Taia??
Moon
Richards
Burns/Lance
Dobson
Kylie
M Monaghan
Puletua
Hanson
Menzies
Waterhouse

Paea
Soliola/Taia
Hanbury/Lance
Bailey

Its the weakest Exiles squad so far IMO.

harrison hansen makes my head hurt

cudjoe and ferres the centre for england on friday?

If Ferres is centre it's more proof MacNamara is clueless