England team For France Match

[Jim Prendle]

1. Gareth Widdop
2. Stefan Ratchford
3. Mark Percival
4. John Bateman
5. Jermaine McGillvary
6. Kevin Brown
7. Luke Gale
8. Chris Hill
9. James Roby
10. James Graham
11. Ben Currie
12. Mike McMeeken
13. Sean O’Loughlin ©
14. Alex Walmsley
15. Thomas Burgess
16. Scott Taylor
17. George Williams

[DoubleD]

Stefan Ratchford on the wing and Kevin Brown in the halves...............jeez that’s really not showing France any respect!

[Gerrumonside ref]

Glad to see Roby back in.

Hopefully we can really get some rhythm going against the French that can be taken into the knockout stages.

[Southerner80]

It makes sense to give the players a game ie McMeeken and Brown. France should keep this one under 40 points. 

[DavidM]

I think Hill is lucky to above any of the other props in the pecking order 

[Hvy wg]

No respect for us 

[londonrlfan]

Good luck Mike.

[Desert Skipper]

That's an awesome attacking second row.

The rest of it just looks a teeny bit weird, but I guess players will be rotated through positions during the game.

[DoubleD]

4 minutes ago, Hvy wg said:

No respect for us 

Not sure you’ve earned it previously to be fair but if you beat us, it’s our own fault!!!!

[Man of Kent]

No Heighington or Hodgson. Good. 

[scrumhalf]

that looks a good team to me  think brown is creative roby will get the forwards moving apace  taylor  walmsley and burgess added to hill and graham thats a big set of forwards and a mobile pair of second rows all looks good to me

[Southerner]

Excited to see McMeeken, Percival and Taylor play. Not so much ratchford and Brown. 

Maybe this is an insignt that he’ll play Ratchford if Mcguilvery is banned. Can you imagine the difference!

[londonrlfan]

Do we really not have a better stand off than Brown? He was past his best at international level about 6 years ago. 

[latchford albion]

Nearly a third of the run on team are wires.  Do you reckon that Bennett saw any of our games other than the thrashing of Brisbane?

[roughyedspud]

Personally I'd sack Wayne Bennett now....I've seen enough

[Desert Skipper]

57 minutes ago, londonrlfan said:

Do we really not have a better stand off than Brown? He was past his best at international level about 6 years ago. 

I see where you’re coming from, but weirdly enough he’s played better on the international stage than Gale under Bennett, irrespective of who is the better player.   It’s a weird old tournament.   Hopefully Brown’s Bennett form will continue this Sunday.

I really don’t feel enthused by this team or the coach at present - So different from the way I felt when Bennett was announced as coach at the time.   He’ll have my full support until the final (if we get there) and then we’ll see how his tenure had been as I’m not seeing where a win against Aus or NZ is going to come from.

[londonrlfan]

20 minutes ago, roughyedspud said:

Personally I'd sack Wayne Bennett now....I've seen enough

For all the hype (I was very excited when we appointed him), he's been a huge flop. Fail to reach the final and he should be gone. 

[Davo5]

Williams on the bench again,should be starting in the halves.

[JohnM]

In my view, the same applies to Brown as Gale. The forwards have to create room and time for the halves to operate effectively. Browns close range kicking can be  just as good as Gales, too,  in my view. 

[Dave T]

As a Wire fan I am one of the biggest critics of both Brown and Ratchford. They both frustrate me.

But they both played for Bennett in the successful mid-season test against Samoa so I hardly think it is too shocking a selection.

I am surprised Williams doesnt seem to be getting his chance though, he was better than Brown this year and was on the bench last week, so surely ahead of Brown in the pecking order.

What is disappointing though is that this is our 3rd fullback, 2nd stand off and 2nd hooker in 3 games - hardly getting our spine working like a well oiled machine.

[Harry Stottle]

9 hours ago, roughyedspud said:

Personally I'd sack Wayne Bennett now....I've seen enough

Don't forget those who were back in the UK, his No2 and those other advisors who helped select the squad.

[BenGilesRL]

Feels a bit weird wanting to cheer for France based on our lack of stability and fluency, and their first half against Australia being so encouraging, plus the thought of Farah being knocked out of the tournament.

i won't, but there's a smidge of that feeling there

[Farmduck]

11 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

It makes sense to give the players a game ie McMeeken and Brown. France should keep this one under 40 points. 

That's clearly what this is, a "everyone in the squad gets at least 1 game" team.

[Scubby]

20 minutes ago, Dave T said:

As a Wire fan I am one of the biggest critics of both Brown and Ratchford. They both frustrate me.

But they both played for Bennett in the successful mid-season test against Samoa so I hardly think it is too shocking a selection.

I am surprised Williams doesnt seem to be getting his chance though, he was better than Brown this year and was on the bench last week, so surely ahead of Brown in the pecking order.

What is disappointing though is that this is our 3rd fullback, 2nd stand off and 2nd hooker in 3 games - hardly getting our spine working like a well oiled machine.

The frustrating thing is that when we switched hookers in the first game suddenly 1, 6 and 7 started to click in that 2nd half. I am a massive fan of Hodgson but if he doesn't fit the jigsaw then you need to sideline him. We should have been sticking with our 6,7 here and running them with Roby. Anyone can play full back against France.

Seeing what I've seen, I would go with 1. Lomax, 7. Gale, 6. Widdop and 9. Roby with Williams on the bench to cover both positions. 

[Vernon]

A good opportunity for McMeeken, Taylor and Percival to force their way into Bennett's team for next week. Maybe even for Kevin Brown, who, despite all the criticism, has performed better at international level than Luke Gale  (In my opinion !)