Meli is very, very ordinary but Hohaia is a shocker of a selection. The Saints fans who liked to laugh at Vaealiki (except when he was exposing Wellens' lack of pace) aren't laughing now.



Has there been a worse big name Kiwi signing? Ever? How long is his contract? His signing has been a masterstroke... for Wigan!

That's a very good side apart from the Kiwi at 6,i would have picked Kevin Brown there when fit

How the hell can SM justify having 6 Leeds players in the 17 is beyond me. This guy is a F*****G ID!OT!!!

Not 1 of those players (except maybe Hall) deserves to be in the England side on performance or even previous history with England.

Anyone who knows anything about British RL would have had Chase, Brough or Lomax playing together in the halves this year in this match. Sinfield has a decent kicking game but Brough has a better one & KS doesn't run the ball at the defensive line. Shocking decision. I'd even consider playing Scott Grix, Matty Smith or even Kevin Brown at 6 ahead of Sinfield!

Then we get on to having Carl Ablett playing at CENTRE... This guy isn't even a centre!!! How can you pick Ablett when you have Goulding, Welham, Bridge, & even Hardaker waiting is completely beyond me. He shouldn't even be in the 17.

Then we have Peacock, who has done nothing for over 3 years for the England side. Even as Captain he offers no impact on the field. He's too slow and should have retired a year ago.

Tickle... seriously? The man wasn't good enough for England in his better days never mind now! How can you pick a has-been like Danny Tickle when you have hot prospects like Elliott Whitehead or John Bateman biting at the cherry?

Carvell as we all saw last year is completely incompetent at international level.
Jones-Buchanan has done nothing good this year except shave half of his beard off.
Roby has played 3 times against Wigan, Burrow once & both players have been played of the park by Macca - who is not even in the 17!


Overall, a ridiculous side picked by a complete fool who should be sacked when the Exiles obliterate us. I was really looking forward to an England side with potential to challenge at the end of the year but unfortunately we're going backwards.

Can't wait for Saturday...

For crying out loud, you might not have the players selected that you wanted to be selected, i know i dont, but to want your own country to get ''spanked'' in a international game is just silly.

Thanks for that

It's the only way changes will be made.

Normally I would agree, I'm English through and through and would support them to the end. If it was a case that the players just weren't available and he was picking the best of a bad bunch and THAT'S why we couldnt compete with the best in the world then that would be fine. The fact of the matter is we have a guy in charge who is obviously out of his depth. If England losing 2 games to the Exiles is what it takes to get him out then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to see.

Yes. Why do people continually go out of their way to post about their apathy towered international rugby league? One of life's great mysteries.

I think Sinfield is actually the slowest half-back I've ever seen. He makes Deacon (in his final season) look like Usain Bolt.

Simply nowhere near International standard for that position, and that goes for at least 5 more players in the team.

Englishmen and women wanting England to lose. Words desert me. McNamara is clueless, we all know that, but I'd support England even if Ian Millward was the coach and he picked the cheerleaders to make up the pack.
The England job should not be full-time. There's just no need for it with the number of games played during the season, but the powers that be seem intent on it.

As for the team, a second row at centre, a loose forward at stand-off and a stand-off at scrum half. McNamara is stealing a living.

Chase isn't English and Sinfield isn't good enough as a stand-off or loose forward so halves would be Brough and Brown/Lomax for me. JJB has never been good enough. Tickle has looked good this year on the few times I've seen him but I would have picked Westwood instead of him had he been fit. Micky Mac should start at hooker on current form with Roby coming off the bench. Finally to Ablett, who is never an international in a million years in any position, let alone centre. Goulding is the centre to the league's leading try scorer and is in excellent form himself. Surely any decent coach would, given the choice, pair Josh and Daz up at international level.