Re: England : Tue Oct 28, 2014 1:23 pm  

Perhaps LMS was hard done to, not being taken as a back row?
I've been critical of his inconsistency, but perhaps he could be adding a real bit of power to the England back row.

Re: England : Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:32 pm  

St pete wrote:

What's the point in taking lockers if he's not going to play?

McNamara says injured captain Sean O'Loughlin, 31, is recovering well from the quad muscle injury that ruled him out of the tournament opener against Samoa at Suncorp Stadium.

"Those that were unable to train are making decent progress. Sean O'Loughlin is definitely improving and we will continue to monitor him throughout this week," he said.

"It is really difficult to name a team earlier in the week. A firmer decision will be made towards the weekend, when we arrive in Melbourne."

We don't know that he isn't plus there's still games after this one.

Re: England : Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:54 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

We don't know that he isn't plus there's still games after this one.

If he doesn't play and we lose then we basically out

Re: England : Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:16 pm  

Do you think????

Or will it be a case of NZ deciding who to play?

Re: England : Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:09 am  

St pete wrote:

If he doesn't play and we lose then we basically out

True. But it's equally right to say if he does play and we lose we're out...or if he doesn't play and we win we still have to more games etc. The point being that he's there as the current best LF available to us and is expected to be available at some point during the competition. There is no one else who could have gone in his place who, frankly, would make a difference in this game anyway so I'm not sure what we lose by him being there even if he can't play, especially given his undoubted influence around the camp. I don't think it's over stating the case to say our chances of a win are significantly improved with a fit O'Loughlin in the team on Sunday, so it's certainly worth having him there to at least make that a possibility. However, I hope that fact doesn't push the management into taking a gamble on playing him if he isn't fit. Unlike SL, an unfit player would get exposed at this level. That's the only negative I can see regarding him being there tbh and I hope McNamara makes the right decision.

Re: England : Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:15 pm  

St pete wrote:

If he doesn't play and we lose then we basically out

why?

Assuming NZ beat Samoa, and Aus beat Samoa, we would need to beat NZ to get to 4 points with Aus. Depending on points difference, we would be in the final (unless the Aussies decide to vote on appointing themselves into the final). NZ would undoubtedly prefer to play England than Aus in the final, so I would expect them to field a weaker team against us.

Re: England : Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:48 pm  

EHW wrote:

why?

Assuming NZ beat Samoa, and Aus beat Samoa, we would need to beat NZ to get to 4 points with Aus. Depending on points difference, we would be in the final (unless the Aussies decide to vote on appointing themselves into the final). NZ would undoubtedly prefer to play England than Aus in the final, so I would expect them to field a weaker team against us.

Because we won't beat the Aussies or the kiwis and the Aussies will put a big score on Samoa

Re: England : Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:55 pm  

EHW wrote:

why?

Assuming NZ beat Samoa, and Aus beat Samoa, we would need to beat NZ to get to 4 points with Aus. Depending on points difference, we would be in the final (unless the Aussies decide to vote on appointing themselves into the final). NZ would undoubtedly prefer to play England than Aus in the final, so I would expect them to field a weaker team against us.

That would be very interesting to see what they would do. There are probably some that would say they'd back themselves again against this Aussie side so nothing to lose either way?

Re: England : Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:08 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Perhaps LMS was hard done to, not being taken as a back row?
I've been critical of his inconsistency, but perhaps he could be adding a real bit of power to the England back row.

I don't think Lms was ever in contention and rightly so.

Re: England : Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:45 pm  

St pete wrote:

I don't think Lms was ever in contention and rightly so.

I've been a critic, but he'd have faired better than Jomkins,