Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well, I must admit, England's game against the Exiles didn't quite go off with the bang I was hoping for. Perhaps the powder was somewhat moistened by the down pour that greeted kick off.

The Exiles, with the wind and rain in their faces gave away some cheap possession and territory early on and, subsequently, a lead they could never re-gather.

Whilst it was a very wet night, the rain did abate at periods through the game but I'm afraid that it didn't have the intensity that you expect from a test match. Whilst it can be debated about how emotionally stirring an appearance for the Exiles can be, that should not be said about winning an England cap and I'm sorry to say that there was not the speed and pressure applied in defence that your expect from a side filled with a sense of occasion. The forwards trucked the ball up well enough although without the sense of venom that I was looking for.

I mentioned before, what I really wanted to see was our pack rip in to the opposition mercilessly, mate vs mate - state vs state style. They didn't manage that, but they did control the majority of the game. Unfortunately, we did very little to capitalise on this, scoring all our tries from kicks. The link between Chase and Sinfield and therefore through to our main danger man Tomkins was rough and stuttering.

The Exiles played a bit more expansive rugby, grabbing a try on the wing for Francis Meli who's out of contract at Saints and rumour has it leaving at the end of the season. He's vilified by some sections of the Saints support for some big game gaffs over the years, but he certainly seems a handful; when I see him. If only his forwards on Saturday had the same motivation to smash someone, then we may have had a few more firework to entertain us.

So for me, a verdict of "Could to better" for the England team and "Must try harder" for the Exiles. I reckon the next fixture may go up a gear, though.

We get the usual poignant debrief from McNamara, which he seems to have built his reputation on, but they tend leave me somewhat uninspired.

Meanwhile, Ellery's been in the press stating how gloomy things are regarding the standard of the English league and national team. I'm pretty sure you'll find good old Gary Schofield complaining about something as well.

Whilst I appreciate the opinion of guys who've been there and done that, it does grate on me that there always seems a queue of guys to tell us how rubbish we are without much sensible comment to help rectify said situations. If you fancy helping Ellery, why don't you coach England - or is that your plan all along? Hanley for England?

England Vs Exiles

They say that when Orson Welles started a project, he would hire one extra crew member, and then fire them in the first week of filming to demonstrate his authority to the others.
One wonders if something similar was going through Steve McNamara's mind all those months ago when he left Ryan Atkins out of his Elite Training Squad. Atkins might not be everyone's cup of tea at centre, but his form was fairly undenyable.
Now,  few months on, his (and Danny Tickle's) inclusion in the England Squad has shown players that they shouldn't lose hope of achieving international honours and, if they can mantain form, will always have a chance.

The England squad looks OK, doesn't it? We've not got a bad set of lads and I'm sure we'll have the Exiles worried. There is a couple of eyebrow raisers, mainly the inclusion of a whopping 6 players from a much maligned Leeds Rhinos squad.
Jamie Peacock, fresh from a tweeting match with Gary Schofield, will captain the side.
Leeds have shipped a lot of points over the past few weeks and have suffered convincing defeats to Wigan, Saints and Wire - all of whom have fewer players than the Rhinos. This is especially head scratching when Wigan are currently flying head and shoulders above the rest of superleague with a raft of British players pulling up trees for them.
Peacock himself should count himself pretty lucky he hasn't been displaced by the likes of Chris Hill and Louis M-Scarsbrick who are growing in stature, or Andy Lynch, who seems to have transferred his metronomic go forward from Bradford to Hull. Adrian Morley's omission suggests some intent to move forward, but only so far it seems.

Our failure at international level grates on me as much as anyone and my opinion is that until we can compete physically, we'll never compete on the scoreboard. So, when selecting my squad, bashing seven bells out of the opposition is my main objective. So the selection Rob Burrow and Luke Robinson, presumabley as hookers rather than halfbacks, isn't really down my street, not when you've got Danny Houghton in the reserve squad and Michael McIlorum left to one side completely.

Come the end of the season, we'll have James Graham, Sam Burgess and Gareth Ellis to swell our forward ranks as almost automatic choices & I wouldn't personally look further than Roby for the hooker shirt.
The trio of Wigan forwards, Mossop, Hock and O'Loughlin excite me and I think combined with the players above and the bull headed Ben Westwood, we're only a couple of choice picks away from a forward pack that can genuinely take the game to the best international opposition.

The inclusion of Danny Brough is interesting. A half back with an organising and kicking game should mean that the almost automatic choice of Kevin Sinfield, shoehorned in wherever we can fit him, should be a thing of the past.
If Brough is given the seven shirt, you'd think that the maverick charms of Rangi Chase will find their way to the 6. Let's see if he can work his magic on this stage. If Brough takes to it and Rangi not, you could swap in someone like Lomax for the next game to add a running element to the halves.

The 3/4s don't concern me greatly, we've a few good options, and peoples favourites probably co-incide with who you've had the chance to see more of, but until out forwards are demolishing their Exile opposites to such a degree that the backs can be accused of holding us back, it a bit like complaining about the colour of the icing on a cake before you've baked it.

Good luck England. Go get'em.