It's a little disappointing that Bennett appears to already have his team picked for the first game.

Regardless of how well some of the lads played they couldn't have played their way into the team. That must have been frustrating for them.

I thought Johnstone did enough to warrant a place on merit, as did Oggy Holmes in my opinion. I thought the left edge of Connor, Holmes, Percival and Johnstone was outstanding - and it came as no shock to me that the points dried up when that was split up 15 minutes into the second half.

Having watched Australia v NZ last week, the centre battle between manu and Mitchell was absolutely ridiculous. They are just phenomenal.

It does highlight a massive weakness in England - we don't have a centre even close to those two.

That said, Lyne can only be better than whatever else is out there, and I think last night he did pretty much all he could. He ran well and made no mistakes.

Its just a position where Australia and NZ have a huge advantage on us.

Lyne went really well last night, put a shift in and went looking for the work right up to the end. Not sure that’s enough to get himself in the frame for NZ.

TJ finished his chances off but didn’t think he really saw a lot of the ball in the wide areas. Some strong carries out from the back which we’ll need against NZ. He’d be unlucky to miss out now.

Holmes had a good game but unlikely to displace the main 2nd row options and he’s due on a plane to PNG with the Knights.

I thought Lyne had a decent game but I wished he'd given the ball to MacGillivray after that break down the right wing.

I'd have to watch it back to be sure but at the time he seemed to get closed down fairly quickly by the French and was maybe better hanging onto it than throwing out a low percentage pass in traffic that ended up going nowhere - that quite a few players did last night.

They never showed a replay but MacG was on his inside. May or may not have got tackled but RL should have passed.
Good performance by Tom Johnstone. Great to score hat trick especially since the only other times he touched the ball were from acting half back.

Looked to be a bit of a risky pass as there were a few bodies around, and probably the right decision to hang on (first tackle, I think). I think we scored from that set? So, right decision...

I did think that the more streamlined Lyne of 3 or 4 seasons back would've scored - he's quick for a big bloke now, but he used to be lightning fast.

Not seen a replay but at the time I though Mcgilvary was caught short, don't suppose he was expecting Reece to do them on the outside and by the time he'd made up ground Reece was having to check his run and was closed out by the defense.
Should have gone on his own and not checked his run, mcgilvary wasn't there at the time the decision had to be made.

course....I could be completely wrong about that..



Ollie Holmes had a banging game in that first half.

Reece was right not to pass in my opinion.
Too much traffic and a try was always on the next couple of plays.
Everyone would have said he was rubbish if he'd passed and the ball went to ground.

It's not as if Lyne is a wingers centre either. He will, more often than not, back himself to score than pass.

I'll bet Percival was under Saints orders to keep TJ frozen out to aid Makinsons standing.

Never got a single pass off Percival