Not good enough to lead Wigan, let alone England.

this

Yet Smith performance vs NZ @ Wigan was the better of any English HB efforts throughout the series. Smith has his weaknesses but has always been a steady performer for England. Admittedly I'd have gone with Gale last Autumn and said Smith was done after his Grand Final howler. I'll leave it in the hands of Mr Bennett.

England's scrum halves should be between Richard Myler, Lucas Gale, and Daniel McGuire. All three are talented and have performed well in 2016.



England's stand off/five eighth should be between Kevin Brown, Gareth Widdop, and Samuel Tomkins. (I am assuming that Zachary Hardaker is the first choice full back for England).



Personally I would like to see a Gale-Tomkins combination, a Myler-Tomkins or a McGuire-Tomkins combination.



Of those three scrum halves Lucas Gale has an advantage. He is a very good player with a good field kicking game, and, very important, goal kicking talent. Samuel Tomkins is a very elusive attacking player. Because Tomkins is not a goal kicker, if you chose Tomkins then you would need a goal kicking scrum half. Gale is the only candidate. Those two would add a great spark to the England attack.



One thing is for sure: Matthew Smith is yesterday's man, and Gareth Widdop, unless his form improves, is heading in Smith's direction.

Who the heck is Lucas Gale?



Why the full names, are you their mum?

Some of the less fashionable clubs have got off to a flier with some of theirs halves showing some real form. Hopefully the new coach will see past the usual suspects from saints, Leeds, Wigan etc & them a chance.

in all of my 25 years watching the game, that hasn't happened, apart from maybe once in 2010 when Huddersfield had something like 6 guys called up.

as i said previously i can't see what Widdop offers any more than any other decent half back over here.

we have had some good half backs over the years but they have never been used, possibly due to their clubs colours, Briers, a perfect example, recognised as one of the best half backs of his era and yet he never got a call up for GB as far as i can remember, at a time when we were shoehorning wingers/loose forwards/props etc from Wigan,Leeds,Bradford and saints into the side!

Not at the moment

Who's the form English FB then? Matty Russell is Scottish isn't he?

Maybe Josh Hodgson will get a go at 6?

Jordan Tansey

Or Elliot Whitehead?