To me it's pointless debating the halves as mcnamara has decided on his structure and he's sticking to it. He had this in 2011, and since then everything has been on building for the world cup so he won't change it now, injury permitting.

Starting front row was outstanding and they gave us the edge through the middle. George's footwork is nothing short of amazing for a man of his size, I get more impressed every time I see him, he could be anything in this game.



Thought Briscoe would have been a better option for us than Charnley today, bit more direct and threatening in the contact and gets a quick play more often. Bit disappointed in some individual performances but nothing that can't be fixed. O'Loughlin was a big miss for us today and if we are going to spell Roby then get McIlorum in there, he would have thrived in that physical environment.



Expect Burgess to get a game, maybe two so for me SOL, Graham and McIlorum in for Burgess, Widdop and either Tom or Mossop



We weren't too far away today I thought. What worries me for the rest of the tournament my belief that the Aussies have far more potential to improve throughout the tournament than we do. If we get to play them again that is.

The major difference today was the half backs.... Comparing Chase/Sinfield to Cronk/Thurston is classic chalk and cheese.



Chase is out of his depth at this level, Sinfield has never been upto this level..... Without wanting to hark back to the good old days, a Andy Gregory/Shaun Edwards quality half back pairing would have torn that Aussie side to pieces.



Its ironic that back when we had some decent backs, then our forwards would inevitably get blown away... Now when we have some forwards that match the Aussies, it seems obvious our backs are a mile behind theirs.



If Sinfield and chase are the best we can offer, then our game is truly in a sorry state.

When did Edwards tear 'em apart?

Not necessarily individually, but as a partnership they offered miles more.... Let's just say that I bet Edwards/Gregory worried the Aussies coaching side more than Sinfield/Chase does.



Has an opposing coach, do Sinfield or Chase offer anything that would give you any significant worries in the run up to a game?

Chase is lost in an England setup sorry.

Worked perfectly fine for Wigan in both competitions this year with what many would consider not 'exciting' halfbacks. And Sinfield was at 6 for the 2 previous GF's wins.

Chase did play more free when he first played for England in 2011, it wasn't good at all.

And sorry but regarding Widdop, if he can't come on with a game plan devised by a coach and make an impact, then yes he isn't worth his place.



It's quite clear yourself and others have made up your minds about Sinfield in the halves LONG ago, thinking that the difference today was the halves shows this. Pretty difficult for any halves to dictate play when you have Westwood and Tom Burgess knocking on at halfway just when you were on top, or Westwood and Sam Burgess giving away high shot penalties or Westwood not being able to play the ball correctly when under the Aussie posts or Charnley not chasing back hard enough.



No we'll just ignore stuff that actually happened in the game (like you did firstly by not noticing who was involved in the first two England tries because you don't like the player in question) and instead whine that Sinfield doesn't have any pace and bemoan that teams play to a plan. Do you not think Australia played to a plan? Did they (apart from the Inglis out jump) provide anything too exciting or off-the-cuff? Or were they effective, completing the basics better, better discipline and ball retention.

Hill, Ferres and George B superb. The inclusion of Tom looks like another Mcnamara clanger. He was more or less the same player that was dropped by Bradford a year a go.



Mossop was a waste of space. Westwood penalty machine. Sinfield still doesn't offer anything for a stand-off. For gods sake play Widdop from the start. It is so hard for a half back to have an impact on a game in a 20min spell. Either play Widdop from the start or not at all. Give the other bench spot to Burrow who can afd some zip at dummy half'. McNamara needs to stop putting Sinfield at hooker too. Our attack became so pedestrian with his distribution!



A lot of effort from it guys, but we won't clinical enough in attacke defence or discipline.

We did tear them apart in Melbourne 1992 but Edwardss played with Schofield in the halves, with Graham Steadman doing damage from full-back. I cannot remember Gregory and Edwards tearing them apart, although I stand to be corrected.

...... Don't want to get into a petty squabble, so I'll just point out that I said a Gregory/Edwards QUALITY half back pairing.



My main point is that our present half backs are mediocre in comparison with those we had in the late 80's/early 90's era, of which Gregory and Edwards were our most famous.

I thought we lost it when our defence tired, we missed some key tackles and our important forwards went off.



There's no doubt with Graham, Farrell and O'Loughlin playing/coming on that we would have had a bigger chance of getting the result. People like Ablett may have had a respectable season at club level but I just don't see them giving us that extra something at international level.



For me, people keep harking about Chase and speak like Widdop is some kind of saviour for one of Chase or Sinfield. The simple fact is that Widdop did very little whilst he was on the field and for me he's very much a support player and not a man you can rely on to take control. He'd probably just be same as one of Chase/Sinfield.



In the halves, if we want to have this discussion, Sinfield and Chase are very similar players in that both need to be in control of a game. Chase is wasted as second-receiver because it gives the opposition defence time to close him down. Ditto if Sinfield was out in the left centre/second row position.



There needs to be some fluidity in that if it's on one side of the pitch Sinfield takes control and ditto Chase on the other. Either that or one needs to play and the other not. Undeniably, though, it says it all when probably our best half is playing for Scotland in this tournament. Talking of Sinfield's kick for Cudjoe, I don't believe that it was planned; in fact, I think his kick had an air of luck about it and praise goes for Cudjoe for taking a punt and for challenging for it with 2/3 Aussies around it.



For me, the issue with Sinfield is that he's very consistent across his skill-set and a great leader. But I don't think he particularly stands out significantly in one area like other players do (i.e. Burrow is a great runner, McGuire great support player, Crabtree good offloading game, Brough excellent in-play kicking game and organiser). Is that a weakness I don't know? But with O'Loughlin and Burgess at 13, Roby at 9 the only place to put him is the halves; or you take the captaincy off him and clearly that isn't going to happen.



For next week, Sinfield has to play 13 and we need to let Chase control things. Playing O'Loughlin off bench will allow him a chance to get up-to-speed, get some match fitness and build for later in the tournament than throwing him in 80 minutes.



Away from the above argument, I thought Hill, George Burgess, Sam Burgess and Westwood all played good. Roby played well in patches but very much an inconsistent performance. We need to learn how to play for 80 mins and the simple fact is that we switched off for 20 minutes, whether through tiredness or complacency, and allowed Australia some encouragement and far, far too much space. Cannot loosen the rope around the neck.



Think right flank was quiet, though. Mossop didn't impress me and Ablett didn't do anything to make me think he'd be ahead of Ferres with Farrell's return hopefully next week.



On to next week and my line up would be:



Tomkins, Charnley, Watkins, Cudjoe, Hall, Widdop, Chase, Graham, Roby, G Burgess, Westwood, Burgess, Sinfield



Bench: O'Loughlin, Burrow, Hill, Farrell.



Gone with one prop because Burgess can fall into prop role for a bit with Farrell coming on.

But how often did they play together for GB? Looking back it was Gregory / Hulme; D Fox / Edwards; Gregory / Powell; etc. In other words we rarely had a settled partnership.