No we don't. We had a good half back pairing last year but one of them retired.
We could have potentially a great half back pairing if Sam Tomkins was partnered with Widdop.



Did you watch the game today?



Are you trolling?



Ah, yes you are.

Sam Tompkins is a world class full back, he isn't a half back, do you not watch rugby?



I'll take it from your comments you didn't watch it nor did you watch last year when Sinfield missed the tackle which caused us to lose to the Kiwis

It's fantastic news that England are still relentlessly losing but getting much closer.

Losing to the worst Australian team ever by such a small margin is indeed progress and with a bit of luck, the Australians might continue with their policy of fielding third-string sides with just the one prop forward.

Losing to New Zealand by such a small margin is also magnificent progress and with a bit more luck next time, we could beat New Zealand down under for the first time ever during the SL era and reduce that 10-0 game losing streak to a much more respectable 10-1.

Here's hoping

Yes i remember them beating England in the WC final.

And as bad as that team was they had proper props playing as well as Andrew Johns who many say was the best player ever on the greatest player thread Brad Fittler and Steve menzies.

First time i saw the Aussies was 1978 and i still reckon that team that beat England last week was the worst Aussie team i can remember.

So you were asleep during the 2003 Ashes? That was the worst Aussie team in my lifetime by some margin. The only area they could have improved this year is Thurston and at prop - but England 'could' have had Sam Burgess and James Roby.

I don't think anyone's saying that we should be satisfied with losing, but ignoring the clear progression we've made over the past two years is stupid. What McNamara needs to do is look to improve the gaps in the side - notably one halfback and the backrow. That's immeasurably closer in terms of gaps than we've been for years. If Tomkins moves into the halves for the Warriors that will solve one problem.

Oh, and play a warm-up game so he's more able to rotate the squad.

Civoneciva, Willie Mason Webcke at prop
Lockyer at full back
Kimmorley and Gower in the halves
Matt Sing and Anthony Minichello in the backs

And that was the worst you have seen.

And they still whitewashed GB

So you can't tell the difference between losing by 40 and losing by 4? Not much of a surprise there. Add dire at maths to your many list of faults.

Anyone who believes the selection of Hardaker at full back would not result in "several" positional changes for other England players is the one who is indeed dire at maths as well as being dire in relation to "several" other disciplines too.

Inability to distinguish between excellent Australian teams and worst ever Australian teams... hence the differential in margins of defeat... duly noted.

After reading all the dross on hear the only thing I think would have made us better was to have played a couple of warm up games and that would have let the coach see how all the players played in 2 different teams and he might have had a couple of changes but how do we do it,all we have over hear to play against is France and wales fat lot of good that is when oz. and new Zealand play each over lots of times

Funny how the people claiming Australia could put together 3 teams capable of beating England are the same people claiming the only reason England came close was because the Australians were poor! The real reason we lost that game was a shocking decision. End of. We matched both Oz & NZ play for play, in their back yard. To claim that isn't progress is ridiculous. I'm no huge McNamara fan, nor agree with some of his selections - and that's not just a club bias - but he's doing a good job given his hands are tied by such an inept international program.

I agree,i think we would have beaten the Aussies with a warm up game first then followed by the Samoa game.
I also think its time the England knights were taken seriously,They need a series of trial matches throughout the season so the coaching staff can have a look at the likes of Hardaker,Ratchford,Burgess,Makinson,Whitehead etc outside of ther club environment.
I think the Aussies have blooded 9 players so far in this tournament,we cant do that

The fact of the matter is the Australian team was very strong, it was in no way third rate. They picked the best players based on how they played in the NRL this season, there was not one player that did not deserve to be there

The core of that great team has come to an end, they have to start picking new players, RL players have a life span they do not play for ever

2006???? SFS, Australia 12 Great Britain 23...

And its wonderful that everyone conveniently overlooks the fact that Samoa can say exactly the same things as England and were rightly aggrieved not to have beaten us...this is the same people who overlooked the dreadful performances against the NRL over 30 team and against the might of Italy...the most embarrassing performance in England RL history...

We have a pretty good set of players but we have no "winning mentality" from the top down...