Team for Monday

Quote: cadoo "Yes I would. Two players who are playing out of position and against Saints were still two of our better players. So I would like to see what they can do in their natural positions.

Thomas Leuluai played against Saints like a hooker. Instead of running out wide he took them on up the middle and caused them all sorts of problems. Just take a break he made in the first half as an example, jinking his way through the middle of the Saints pack and if he had seen Phelps on his inside we would have scored. New Zealand recognised that Leuluai was a much better player at hooker than at scrum half and from when they made that change we saw a different Leuluai and a different New Zealand team. The same applies to Wigan.

Cameron Phelps showed characteristics of a stand off on Thursday which incidentally is where the Aussies really rate him. He took the pressure of Leuluai/Tomkins with his kicks which were far more accurate and precise than Leuluai's or Tomkins in the first half. Our tactics were to kick early in the tackle count which is fine but we weren't making enough ground when we were kicking for touch. With Phelps we did and had Saints on the back foot. He also showed good support play last night which we don't have with Richards and linked up in attack a lot more. His bullet pass for Ainscough to score was fantastic and highlighted to me that this lad would/is a damn good stand off. He also made some cracking offloads in the first half on his kick returns, spinning in the tackle and allowing us to make breaks and confuse the Saints defence. Okay he was hit and miss fielding high kicks - the one which led to Pryce's try but that again further highlights to me why he is more suited to six rather than centre, fullback or wing. Yes he can play all them positions but IMO he is better at six. Also moving Phelps to six will allow Tomkins to play in his preferred position at scrum half. We would see a much better Sam Tomkins if he was played at scrum half.'"

you are spot on with this.

I would be tempted to put sam at 7 and phelps at 6 with tommy starting on the bench and taking the field after 20 mins. The difficulty here is that tommy could play the full 80 at 9 meaning riddell is surplus especially given that riddell doesnt play like an impact hooker. His style is that of a first 20 mins starting hooker