Sundays team to face France. : Tue Nov 07, 2017 7:17 am  

England coach Wayne Bennett has made four changes to his squad for Sunday's World Cup group match against France.

Mark Percival, Kevin Brown, Mike McMeeken and Scott Taylor come into the matchday 17 for the game in Perth.

Jermaine McGillvary, who faces a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday, is included but Ryan Hall, Kallum Watkins, Elliott Whitehead and Chris Heighington are rested for the 10:00 GMT kick-off.

If Australia beat Lebanon on Saturday, England will progress with a win.

Bennett's side will play the Group C winners - either Papua New Guinea or Ireland - in the quarter-finals.

And the Australian will give St Helens centre Percival, Warrington stand-off Brown and Castleford second rower McMeeken their first appearances of the World Cup on Sunday, with prop Taylor on the bench.

Bennett said: "I was pleased with the win against Lebanon but I'm looking for a better performance this week."

Winger McGillvary has been charged for allegedly biting Robbie Farah during England's 29-10 win over Lebanon.

England squad to face France: Gareth Widdop, Stefan Ratchford, Mark Percival, John Bateman, Jermaine McGillvary, Kevin Brown, Luke Gale, Chris Hill, James Roby, James Graham, Ben Currie, Mike McMeeken, Sean O'Loughlin, Alex Walmsley, Thomas Burgess, Scott Taylor, George Williams.

What do you think, were his Hodgson.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Tue Nov 07, 2017 7:32 am  

Hopefully Hodgson has been dropped and not rested but I won't hold my breath.

Weird team really but it shouldn't have too many problems against the French. I'd be a bit miffed if I were George Williams tbh. He was our MOM against Scotland last year and hit dropped to the bench for the Aussie game. He was brilliant when he came on in that yet was overlooked in the first game this year. He then got about 20 mins last week and now has the shame of Kev Brown being picked in front of him on the back of a truly woeful debut season at Warrington.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:03 pm  

Can't understand why George is on the bench especially after Bennett stating he wanted to give him game time last week when he rested Roby.

I think Hodgson is adequate as a hooker but not in the same class as Roby. I'd like to see Roby play the full 80 from here on in. (Get him tired for next season! )

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:40 pm  

What is the benefit of bringing Brown on the tour, or playing him in this game? He isn't first choice, and given his age, he isn't a player we are developing for the future. This would have been a good opportunity to play Williams and Gale together, with the better performer keeping the role the following week.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:47 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

What is the benefit of bringing Brown on the tour, or playing him in this game? He isn't first choice, and given his age, he isn't a player we are developing for the future. This would have been a good opportunity to play Williams and Gale together, with the better performer keeping the role the following week.

Bennett obviously rates Brown from his performances in the 4 Nations and the mid season game against Samoa.

I think Gale has struggled so far. He may still not be 100% fit in his defence. But it does seem odd that George isn't given a chance to start.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:20 pm  

In the last two years we've played big games against Australia and New Zealand and Williams has yet to get a start in any even though he's played very well in the limited game time he's been given.

It's been like this performance wise imo-

New Zealand 2016
6-Widdop-decent performance
7-Gale-poor game

Scotland 2016
6-Williams-Man of the match
7-Gale-decent performance

Australia 2016
6-Brown-Poor game
7-Widdop-poor game

Sub-Williams-fantastic cameo in 25/30 mins

Samoa 2017
6-Brown-Decent game
7-Gale-Slightly better then Brown

Australia 2017
6-Widdop-Good game
7-Gale-Poor game

Lebanon 2017
6-Widdop-Average game
7-Gale-Poor game

Sub-Williams-A 15 minute cameo with hardly any ball.

To sum up George has been man of the match in his only full game, was our best halfback even in just 30 minutes against the Aussies last year and then got next to no game time against Lebanon.

Seems fair!

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:03 pm  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

Bennett obviously rates Brown from his performances in the 4 Nations and the mid season game against Samoa.

I think Gale has struggled so far. He may still not be 100% fit in his defence. But it does seem odd that George isn't given a chance to start.

I agree that Brown was decent against the Aussies in the four nations last year (NickyKiss, think you missed him off your post), but I think we should only really be having a player that age in the squad if he is a starter. Otherwise, it's better to have a slightly worse younger player (if that is how Williams is perceived) as reserve, with a view to development IMO.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:10 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

I agree that Brown was decent against the Aussies in the four nations last year (NickyKiss, think you missed him off your post), but I think we should only really be having a player that age in the squad if he is a starter. Otherwise, it's better to have a slightly worse younger player (if that is how Williams is perceived) as reserve, with a view to development IMO.

Of course I have. As I was thinking about it I remembered Brown had played but then forgot again

I thought he was terrible tbh. I was at the game at the Olympic Stadium and he offered very little imo. I think he was one of the two guilty parties along with Widdop for failing to make touch from a penalty and his kicking was aimless at times.

I link back in to posts from the other day and that was that in the past two years there's been a common link throughout all the poor performances from the halves and that's the appallingly slow ball Josh Hodgson is giving them from dummy half.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Sat Nov 11, 2017 8:29 pm  

Now that Tonga as beaten New Zealand dose that mean it could be Australia and New Zealand semi and could be England and Tonga the other semi.

Re: Sundays team to face France. : Sat Nov 11, 2017 10:39 pm  

Ashton Bears wrote:

Now that Tonga as beaten New Zealand dose that mean it could be Australia and New Zealand semi and could be England and Tonga the other semi.

Yes, NZ will go into the other side of the knockout stages with Australia so they can’t meet in the final.