We had a 12 page thread on here aruging about who should line up in the halves; should it be Myler, or should it be Tomkins.

Yet, it was the other link in the halves Danny McGuire, who no-one batted an eyelid about, who no-one brought into the occassion who was on par with Lee Smith as being the worst person on the pitch yesterday.

Kinda makes that previous thread look like a waste of time. Hopefully Tony Smith will bite the bulllet and play two of Tomkins, Eastmond or Myler against New Zealand. He should also drop Lee Smith, he was bloody awful.

Smith shouldn't have got a shirt anyway, defecting to Union as soon as the series is over

I haven't watched the game back yet, so I'm going off 'match eye view', I didn't think Lee Smith was that bad to be honest. I felt for him a bit in that first half, defending next to McGuire, Australia clearly decided to target that 'channel' and did a job on them, but I thought the credit at times was in the crispness of the Australia passing, the running lines etc, that first try where Inglis went through that hole, for me, was almost undefendable. They managed to iscolate Smith a bit like teams did with King & Penny, a lack of slide etc.

McGuire stank the place out. The cheer around teh ground when he was replaced, unreal. His decision making is slow, he puts runners into trouble, he lacked creativity, he just looked sort of ill equipped to take them on. Too many of his passes hit runners on the back of arms, or legs, he can't time passes etc. I think he'll be replaced for next week, I think Smith saw enough, maybe Eastmond at 7. Graham played much of the second half getting in at first receiver, I thought he was outstanding yesterday. He along with Ellis & Burgess in particular just got England by the scruff of the neck, with help from Crabtree & Westwood who I thought were superb from the bencjh.

I thought Australia were a joy to watch in the 1st half and totally eased off in the 2nd half with the game already won. Basically, they proved that there is a lack of proven quality in English rl backs.

The final score was not a true reflection of the game, which yet again showed how far behind English rl is behind the Kiwis and Australia. Only Burgess, Crabtree and Tompkins can take any credit from yesterday's game.

The only chance we have next week is with Eastmond and Tompkins starting at halfbacks, if not, we are in for a good hiding.

mcguire yesterday was simply bobbins,the half backs for next week must not include him.

my thoughts exactly.

I'm amazed that lee smith was anywhere near this England team considering his move to union. Still all he was doing was keeping atkins shirt warm for him I suppose.

That doesn't fill me with much hope.

That is the best and most sensible thing you have ever posted.

I really dont know what Tony Smiths thinking was, Lee Smith's heart and head hasn't been on RL for a long time. Its hardly building for the future by including him either.

For me, i thought we looked far more dangerous when Eastmond was in at centre. Smith is clearly a winger, and proved as much as he took his try really well. Shenton didnt really offer much at all, altho he didnt really get much ball. McGuire was bloody awful and should be dropped and Tomkins and Myler should player 6 and 7 and move Smith to the wing in place of T Briscoe and bring Eastmond and Bridge in at centre, which will bring much needed pace into the back line.

I think Shenton and Hall worked well together, and could be a partnership worth pursuing for the England future. As for the other side, if only we had a player in the squad, who's had a storming year at centre, who would naturally slot in....

A few posts on this thread have hit the nail on the head with the Lee Smith situation.

Tony Smith has made a lot of noise about building for the future but the Lee Smith selection is non-sensical.

My selection would have been Keith Senior. He put his hand up to be selected and has had another excellent season. A good big centre who certainly would have troubled Inglis ( I know Senior normally plays left centre where Shenton plays but Lee Smith is either a winger of fiullback).

And ont get me started about scrum half... Rob Burrow should have been a shoe in for that position. To me it would have made perfect sense to have had the pivotal positions of 6,7,9 and 13 all from the same club.

McGuire, Burrow, Diskin and Sinfield

We are not as good as the Aussies but could have had an edge with 4 pivotal players who were all extremely comfortable with each other

been postin about mcguire on hear for ages about him not bein good enough but got shot down ,now your all doing the same

not saying you are rong but surely one bad game doesn't make him a bad player...does it?

You also said Higham should be the England 9.