England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:03 am  

England World Cup Squad Named The England squad to travel to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guineap for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup was named at lunchtime today and came hot on the heels of the news that one of its bright stars, Castelford’s Zak Hardaker, was definitely out of the World Cup and facing an uncertain future after failing a drugs test. England’s World Cup campaign kicks off with a game against the hosts Australia at 20:05 (UK) on Friday the 27th October at AAMI Park in Melbourne, followed by group games against Lebanon and France. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

England World Cup Squad Named The England squad to travel to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guineap for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup was named at lunchtime today and came hot on the heels of the news that one of its bright stars, Castelford’s Zak Hardaker, was definitely out of the World Cup and facing an uncertain future after failing a drugs test. England’s World Cup campaign kicks off with a game against the hosts Australia at 20:05 (UK) on Friday the 27th October at AAMI Park in Melbourne, followed by group games against Lebanon and France. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:14 am  

Well, at least Tomkins gets a full offseason.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:17 am  

Quite happy with that...Farell & Tomkins getting a full off-season!

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:21 am  

I feel bad for Farrell that he has missed out for a 35 year old aussie. Would have taken a third hooker rather than Kevin Brown.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:42 am  

I can't see Heighington or Brown getting any game time in that squad. I think it'll be the kick up the 'arris that Sam, Faz and Joe Burgess probably needed. Surprised to see Lomax in there as he did nothing last season and lost his place to Barba. Happy for Ratchford though as he is a talent. Pleased for Roby as it must have been galling to see McShane's name put forward by Sky every game this season, though not mentioned on Saturday strangely.

All in all though I don't think anyone can feel hard done by though I think Danny Houghton is unlucky to be playing when we actually have decent hookers around.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:45 am  

Only two wingers in the squad!!

Ben Currie is a fabulous player BUT to risk him when he's only played a couple of games all season doesn't seem right to me.
I would have taken Sam Tomkins and certainly Tom Davies who for me has been the find of the season in the wing position.
I also think Kev Brown is very fortunate to be in there but to be fair he played well in that mid season test.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:04 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Only two wingers in the squad!!

Ben Currie is a fabulous player BUT to risk him when he's only played a couple of games all season doesn't seem right to me.
I would have taken Sam Tomkins and certainly Tom Davies who for me has been the find of the season in the wing position.
I also think Kev Brown is very fortunate to be in there but to be fair he played well in that mid season test.

Any guy who scores forty tries in the season has got to be disappointed. So I would have thought that Eden would be ahead of Tom Davies. However McGilvarry and Hall have earned their places and rarely get injured so he would have been on drinks duty anyway.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:20 pm  

Can't complain about the omission of Tomkins and Faz and in truth I think Williams is a lucky boy to be going as well.

Think the like of Brown is very very lucky especially when you consider Sneyd has been overlooked.

I also think Shenton and Eden can feel a bit hard done to.

At the end of the day though we have a coach who has been there and done it anything less than a final appearance will be totallly unexpeptsble though given the issues the Kiwis are experiencing.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:06 pm  

Eden must be livid, he's had a fantastic season. I've seen a lot of people say that anyone would score tries on Cas' left side but many of his tries were acrobatic finishes in the corner or breakaways from his own half, he isn't just a fall-over-the-line merchant.

Can't complain with Hall and McGilvary though, you look at the outside backs that the likes of AUS, NZ, Fiji and Tonga have they are all absolute tanks! Those two are the only wingers we have I think that can cope with that physicality.

Re: England World Cup Squad Named : Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:10 pm  

Joel Tomkins would at one time have been an England shoe-in.

Now he's not even a Wigan regular, and would be lucky to make the bench if we had a full squad.

I'm sure he's a lot richer for his stint in Union, but as a sportsman it clearly did him no good at all.