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.

Higham couldn't have done a worse job out of dummy half than Roby did on Saturday, even with only one good arm.

Nothing wrong with Higham.

My point was aimed more at St ives love affair with him than his actually ability.

Yes, in some peoples eyes he can do nothing right, even games where he has stood out. Some people are blinded by a hatred of him no matter how well he plays. I don't get it, i don't know him personally but in any article / interview i read where he is featured or mentioned by other players he is always credited with being a decent lad. Perhaps the problem is he is young, talented, successful etc. Some folk just don't like it.

He played poorly on sat, which i'm sure he'd be the first to acknowledge. But can the same people saying he should never play for England again also acknowledge his performances in the last world cup, particuarly the semi again NZ?

I'm pretty sure most fans of any club would be highly delighted if McGuire ever left Leeds for their club. I know I would. Yes, he had a poor game on Saturday but he certainly wasn't alone in that. Whether TS changes the half backs is up to him but he obviously rates McGuire highly and I wouldn't be suprised if he kept the 6 shirt and had a terrific game on Saturday.