England v Australia

[Kittwazzer]

"I've got lot of faith in both those young men but it's Sam's go this week."

How very inspiring!!

[ancientnloyal]

A lot of pressure put on Smith to include Sam... have been hearing we need to play him from all angles, even Stevo in the weekly's.

Good news... im sure he won't let us down on his home patch.

[oldskool]

GREAT news!

[platt-warrior]

I think Mr Smith is using a bit of common sense, Roby to play the full 80 ala Cameron Smith.Interchange your forwards of course.but your halves i dont't think is a good option at all.

[Woodentop07]

I wonder if Tony Smith was nudged by the RFL to pick Sam.....us Wiganers will want to go and watch then!!!
I was going anyway but can't wait now just to cheer Sam on!!

[platt-warrior]

no.

[ian.birchall]

You lot are all off your trolleys. It would be much better for Sams long term development, physical wellbeing and mental strength if he had been kept away from these terrifying brutal players. He is only a lick of paint says Stevo but if he is MOTM in an England win will he be the BBC Sportsman of the year?

[gpartin]

Sam strikes me as the type of player who isn't intimidated by anyone or anything and takes things in his stride. Lets be fair you can have the best set of defenders in the world but without a few organisers and playmakers on the pitch we won't do anything. The squad Smith has picked isn't exactly full of playmakers and Sam and Eastmond along with Lee Smith are players we need on the pitch as much as possible if we are going to have a chance of getting a few tries azgainst the Aussies. My main concern is that Smith knows we will get beat by the Aussies anyway and will use the fact that with Myler we won and with Tomkins we lost to justify dropping Sam for the NZ game which I think will potentially destroy any chance we have of beating them and making the final. How can you possibly compare a performance against France to a performance against Aus when the gap in quality is immense?

From Smith's squad (with which I would make several changes) I think the team he has picked is ok but I would have been tempted to have had Carvell in instead of Westwood given the fact that Ellis can play full 80, Peacock @ Second row can rotate with Burgess (who could go loose if Sinfield needed to cover hooker perhaps?)

Our kicking game is hugely important and it was crap against France but I think Sam could potentially improve this massively. He has never let us down and I'm sure he'll give 100%. He may well be better off out of it but from a purely selfish point of view I'm looking forward to the game far more with Sam in it.

[THE JUDGE]

I am delighted that Sam has regained his place, he should never have lost it in the first place, however I have a suspician that Tony Smith has two ulterior motives for this selection. (1) It obviously makes more sense to have Sam playing at the DW, so as to create more interest from home supporters. (2) I have a sneeky feeling Mr. Smith is now protecting his own interests in keeping Myler away from the big boys, in a club v country syndrome!

Also even though I am no supporter of Staines, I find it incredible that Westwood is selected in preference to Jon Wilkin. Wilkin brings more variety to the team because he can play in more than one position, and also has a reasonable kicking game. On the other hand you would have to give Westwood a TRICK to make him a ONE TRICK pony. The Aussies will in my opinion run all over Westwood.

[exile in Tiger country]

Smith is IMO a devious bar steward. He plays his golden boy against the French, a team we should have humiliated, and despite a lacklustre performance from "the chosen one", he manages to bag a couple of trys.
Change the situation, Sam is playing against arguably the best team in the world, definitely the best halves pairing, and Smith can then say
"The team didn't play as well with Sam in the side, Richie is my new first choice to play alongside Danny Maguire".













Or am I just being cynical?