Absolutely made up for the lad.. go on son lets have a crack at em lad!!!
this will do his confidence the world of good for us for next season win or loose.
As for crabtree he was one of the stand out players of last season and will to coin a phrase " put some washing out" I am sure and its about time we had another big barsteward knocking into em for a change.
Westwood, ugly but again cracking season and you may recal one of the players that stood tall last year for England!! even the Aussies were raving about him in their press

anyway COME ON ENGLAND ..................................................

Yes looking forward to the game for a change

Me too !

Afraid to say it but even with the changes I still cant see us getting close but come on England give em some good old fashioned English Biff straight from the off !!!

Thanks for that boring dross oh and wind your neck in will you!

Well done Tom, REGARDLESS of what happens on Saturday you have the potential to be a star in the game.

Like Morley did and get sent off in the first minute?

I was only talking about that incident today.

That really scuppered our chances in the game at the start , though I think the final result was fairly close IIRC.

Tom has been selected on the right wing for England and so will be up against Australia's left centre Greg Inglis and left winger Brett Morris.

Brett Morris is a big lump of a lad who looks more like a second row/centre then wing man. Not sure how fast he is but either way it is going to be one hell of a learning curve for young Tom.

Good luck!

With the level headed attitude he has got he will know that too. Hope he takes his chances and just gives it his best.

I am sure he will and he will be better for the experience for deffo.

I do fear for his right centre partner though whoever it is!

Would you have preferred Ellis inside him to cope with Inglis, or are you happier with a more natural centre in Smith? The Aussie left winger didn't look too frightening against the Kiwis, though neither did Hayne on the other side of the pitch, in fairness.

I wonder if there will be a late change positionally but looking at the pack and the bench Smith obviously sees this as an area where he thinks we can beat the Aussies.

i actually think we should play a centre at centre and not plan our whole game around defending against Inglis. Who is to say Inglis wouldnt run around, over or through Ellis, etc?

In an ideal world we would have a centre with Ellis' build and defensive strengths and Smiths pace!

Maybe we could play both at the same time? Some sort of dispensation - is Hudge busy next week? tell him to get on the phone with the IRFL.

Isnt that describing Inglis?