England team: J Lomax; J McGillvary, K Watkins, J Bateman, R Hall; G Widdop, L Gale; C Hill, J Hodgson, J Graham; S Burgess, E Whitehead, S O'Loughlin (c).

Replacements: A Walmsley, C Heighington, T Burgess, J Roby.

Bateman ahead of Percival at centre, what’s that all about.

Percy is obviously not rated by Bennett - didn't he get chucked onto the wing last week vs CAS when he came off the bench?

You need some beef in the quarters vs Aus to be fare....and Bateman plays centre very very well indeed.
So much so that's where I would play him if he were a Wire.

That backline is [iseriously[/i short on pace. We're obviously going to try and go through them not round them.

No we are not....it looks very much like 2 NRL teams....I expect the same defence type low scoring NRL affair between them that they see in the NRL every week.

I would have preferred Ratchford to Lomax at F/B.

I would prefer a Full Back that can make one on one tackles, and we all know Stef doesn't do that very well.

Pretty sure the rest of the lads will get games against the other teams in the comp till at least the quarters.

Bateman is absolute nails. There will be no backwards step from him no matter who is running at him. Bennett knows that he's more likely to stand up better than Percy.

Ratch and Lomax is a tough call. Lomax so me is the more natural Fullback out of the two. It's no secret that Ratch was shoehorned into the 1 shirt. However Ratch can link into the line well and his hands are like glue. 50/50 call between the two and if I'm honest I would have been happy if either of them had got the nod.

Spot on

Haven't we got a big strong powerful centre that has carried us most of the year. Surprised if that Bennetts thinking that Atkins didn't get a shout in the squad at least.

Mind you, has he been in an England squad since he made himself unavailable for selection a few year back?

Don;t belive in conspiracy theories. In any event, Michael Shenton should be left centre for England.

I am not Atkins' biggest fan, but cant deny he has been stand out for us this year (not hard granted). If you are going up against back lines like the Aussies, someone like Atkins could of been useful.....

Why we are at international level and still playing players out of positions, like Bateman (who i di rate BTW) just tells you what is wrong with the game over here!!!

On the left for sure