This is what I reckon Bennett will go with:

Lomax, Widdop, Williams, Gale, Hodgson, Walmsley, S.Burgess, Hall, Watkins, McGilvaray, O'Loughlin, Graham, Hill, Heighington, Roby, Clarke, Farrell, Whitehead, Bateman, G.Burgess, Tomkins, Percival, Shenton, Eden.

Done some analysis of the stats between the full back candidates, and for me, it is a no brainer that Shaul should be in the squad:

Tries - Shaul = 17, Tomkins = 5, Ratchford = 1, Lomax = 8
Assists - Shaul = 4, Tomkins = 7, Ratchford = 12, Lomax = 11
Tackles - Shaul = 170, Tomkins = 85, Ratchford = 117, Lomax = 169
Missed Tackles - Shaul = 19, Tomkins = 9, Ratchford = 11, Lomax = 10
Tackle Busts - Shaul = 124, Tomkins = 21, Ratchford = 52, Lomax = 19
Carries - Shaul = 336, Tomkins = 112, Ratchford = 201, Lomax = 235
Metres - Shaul = 3199, Tomkins = 615, Ratchford = 1824, Lomax = 1708
Av. Gain - Shaul = 9.52, Tomkins = 5.49, Ratchford = 9.07, Lomax = 7.27
Clean Breaks - Shaul = 24, Tomkins = 2, Ratchford = 9, Lomax = 9
Runs from DH - Shaul = 103, Tomkins = 13, Ratchford = 45, Lomax = 23
Errors - Shaul = 29, Tomkins = 12, Ratchford = 24, Lomax = 19
Offloads - Shaul = 18, Tomkins = 8, Ratchford = 20, Lomax = 5

To me, Shaul would be picked all day long. His ability to cause danger when running the ball, is something England just don't have in their squad, and is probably the only player in the squad capable of seeing a gap and being through it before the defence can set. These stats also don't include the Challenge Cup

I fully expect Bennett to stick with the same players as before that have under performed here and in the nrl

Currie has been picked and only played 1 or 2 games all season! Tells you everything about the process that is wrong


Face fits/colour of your clubs shirt then your in

Instead of Houghton?

He didn't get picked when he was Man of Steel. Highly unlikely he'll get picked this year.

Yep. Hodgson will start, and I'd prefer either of those two off the bench than Houghton.

Judas, your having a laugh aint you

4 wire players in the squad! shows you can be crap all year yet still be guaranteed an england jersey!

burgess! over-rated and over-hyped too!

graham shouldn't be in,been poor all season.bennetts an idiot

It's harder to get out of this England squad than it is to get in it.

Same old player will mean the same old result....defeat in the semis, which is effectively third in a three horse race.

Some shockers in there. Heighington & burgess twin we unfortunately knew would be in it, as he's been training with Graham, Widdop & Burgess the last few weeks.

Brown must have some incriminating pictures of Bennett.

Ratchford I assume was a late call up for Hardaker.

The squad looks as though it was picked months ago.


But, congratulations to Scott Taylor!

I'll stick up for tom burgess here, he was in good form before souths season ended and was getting back to his best form. however hill, brown and ratchford should not have been included - i would have had tomkins in before ratchford and watts for hill. kevin brown is the worst selection - if we don't have better than him we might as well not bother. i'm worried that his inclusion means bennett is thinking about moving widdop to full back to replace hardaker. widdop is our best half by some distance, it would be madness to move him. congrats to scott taylor