He wasn't head and shoulders above Chris Hill. Thought he had a great game last night.

Which is why England have been selecting a slow moving, ageing Loose Forward at stand-off fairly recently. At 20 years old O'Brien has the potential to go all the way, but Smith will look after him. On the return of Myler I think we'll see various combinations of Myler, O'Brien, Briers, and maybe Ratchford.

Sounds like a good idea but with the current coach england would rather pick ageing players past their best or non-english players rather than take a gamble on a player like o'brien the only six that is young that might have a chance is widdop in terms of the 2013 but even he won't get picked ahead of sinfield chase mcguire etc because the coach won't stray away from old heads because he is about as useful as a car with no wheels

I think I would agree with this. Agreed he looks to have fantastic potential because he is only 20, but he has been fairly quiet in a number of games. My list of skills and areas to work on are;

Goal kicking, outstanding
Speed, lacks a yard at the moment
Ball handling and passing, excellent
Understanding of game, very good
Field kicking, needs work
Tackling, needs work but improving fast
Work rate, very good

We should be cautious of being too critical because we see him play with Briers, and compare him with a master. But just imagine what he will be like in 2-3 yrs if he continues to develop !

With Myler, Ratchford and, eventually, O' Brien (unless Sam Tomkins is moved back forward- if that makes sense), I think we have the best English halves in the league and will do for some time, as all 3 are comfortable there. It feels good doesn't it?

On another note, Chase and Sinfield, in my opinion, should be no where near the halves and I am still unsure/uncertain of Widdop.

I think McBanana should play a younger half in the second Exiles match, unless he wants to against Ireland or someone. Myler deserves a chance, at least.

On a slightly related note, with all things staying the same, will we ever see Ratchford in an England shirt? Tomkins is the prodical son of rugby league and anyone attached the RFL would move hell and high water to make him happy. Plus Ratchford is developing into a fine fullback and will be even better after nother year with Brett and, finally, McBanana doesn't know what a halfback pairing is and wouldn't play a natural there (even though Ratch would technically be out of position there).

From what i have seen GOB is good in defence. He gets around the legs well, seen him easily stop far bigger players when they have been running through a gap.