Wilko's omission is weird, baffling, bizarre

Interesting article in hindsight.

Indeed, there are some fine footballing talents in the England side, certainly far more than they're given credit for, BUT too many players are out of form. You should not be chopping and changing during a WC tournament. What we saw last night is simply not acceptable. There are a lot of smaller issues as well: why have Wright-Phillips and Lennon still not improved beyond the 'we beat the man and don't know what to do' phase of their careers? What is happening with the coaching at Premiership level? I'm taking a secret pleasure in the French debacle. Obviously their predicament won't redress the injustice of the handball, but a little schadenfreude is sometimes a warming medicine.

Hmm such a shame. For what I view as a a group of highly talented players - a golden generation if you will - it is a travesty if they do not realise their potential as a team - Signor Capello excepted. And Domenech has fired Anelka from the team - what a sorry pass the French team has come to.

Who knows, pothale? The performance last night was a dirge. I think the passion is there, but there was no spark, invention or leadership. The units (centre backs and midfield especially) don't seem to have any understanding. Glen Johnson was particularly poor. I don't know if the team is tired or if there are background problems, but simple things like 6 yard passes were being hit too hard or too wide. I'd drop one of Lampard and Gerrard for a more dogged midfielder, play Dawson instead of Carragher, Hart instead of James and Defoe and Crouch up front. Whoever plays they better perk up their ideas or they've got an extended summer break on the horizon. On another note, I have a mate from Millwall who was at the game v Algeria and he informed me that the England fans weren't booing, it was local people angry at such a poor contest. A lot of my 'circle' were pretty dismissive of England pre-tournament, and I know a lot of people who don't want England to succeed on account of disliking various players (Terry, Cole, Lampard etc).

In contrast, the English soccer team seem to be losing their way, KO. What is going on in the English camp? I thought that they were a quiet bet to go all the way - the view of a lot of people in Ireland that I've talked who for the first time that I've ever seen have been openly supporting England as opposed to being part of the usual ABE brigade. It's been very disappointing so far. I hope they can pull a victory out of the bag in their last pool match.

Scotland are struggling for tries too. For mine, Cole is THE England player at the moment. Kudos to all the players who stood up in a white jersey today, but this lad is a 23 year old tighthead, 6'3 (too long a back etc), in his first season of domestic rugby. He has been immense. Significantly, the England victory proved that rugby at the top level can be a simple thing if done well. England scrummaged well, they hit rucks and defended strongly. The backs took risks and the dots were connected by a 9 that was able to fulfill basic scrum half duties. I've liked what I've seen of Tuohy. He's aggressive, and his play is muscular (I hate that term).

Argentina seem to have lost their ability to score tries - they're going the way of Italy at the moment. They have work to do if they're going to compete effectively in the 4 Nations in 2012. Still it makes a change to have a June test weekend going 2-2 between 6N and SANZARGAR. Given the amount of injuries abounding, it's been quite a useful tour series for new or newish talent to be developed amongst a number of sides. England look like they may some future sterling players in Youngs, Foden and Ashton. I liked them today a lot, with Foden and Ashton beginning to show what they've been doing with Saints most of the season. Dan Tuohy of Ulster who I thought would do well in a Ireland test jersey has acquitted himself superbly on tour, and hopefully will feature more next season. He along with Cronin, Fogarty and Henry have done themselves proud. Trimble has rediscovered some of his old grittiness and will push Earls and Fitzgerald next Autumn. For what was alsways going to a Tour from Hell before they even left Limerick, it's not a a bad outcome.

A poor spectacle but a great series win. A mental blow may have been struck prior to the WC. I really wish Parks would reconsider the length and shape of his sideburns.

You don't get to see Robinson with his angry face, Mr S. Scotland win the SH series with a grinding 13-9 win over Argentina. 2-0 to the Scots - very impressive impressive. Definitely my international team of the month for winning performance.

Absolutely. The Stuart Barnes propaganda machine has a lot to answer for.

I think it's just a question of semantics, VC. Let me clarify: IMO Cole is mobile, but not an explosive ball carrier. Conversely, Wilson doesn't appear too mobile but is a good ball carrier. That was one of the reasons that Meehan took him on. Payne is in the side by default. His discipline is suspect too.

One would think Elsom might have learned his lesson by now. I'm not at all convinced by him. He's hyped to the skies on the back of one excellent season for Leinster but I don't think he's ever consistently dominated - or even come close to dominating - at Test level.

I'm surprised by this talk of Cole's lack of mobility. I think he's surprisingly athletic for a tight-head. I've seen him make remarkable try-saving tackles on at least two occasions. He's not a big ball carrier, that's true, but he's pretty handy in the defensive line. And Wilson "dynamic"? I've seen elephants run faster. But the bigger problem is Payne. It's generally the loose-head's responsibility to add the dynamism and athleticism. Payne is a plucky fellow but his scrummaging is only adequate and he doesn't exactly display Jenkins/Beast levels of dynamism.

Croft can't stay at his current weight forever surely, Colin? Fair enough he's naturally skinny, but a life-style that incorporates regular heavy weight lifting and a protein packed diet allied to natural growth should bulk him as he ages? Do you remember how skinny Harinordoquy used to be, for example? Time well tell. Does Cole need a mobile prop to accompany him? It would be nice to have that balance as most teams do: Jacobsen and Murray, Healy and Hayes, Domingo and Mas, Perugini and Castro etc, but equally with players who can handle and carry like Hartley, Mears Attwood, Lawes, Shaw, Croft, Haskell etc I'm not sure if it is such an issue. I would be comfortable with two props who were exclusively scrummagers if they were both as good as Cole. I know that Meehan is expecting big things of Wilson as a ball carrier, and that Golding does a lot around the park, but the one prop that does excite me is Corbisiero. He is explosive. I wouldn't write Nick Wood off either. Mullan plays more in the mould of Payne but I htink a year in the first division will be a great scrummaging education for him. Incidentally, Doran-Jones impresses me too. I'm quite looking forward to the Scotland test too. I'd like them to win but I do find it irritating how all these Scottish blow hards come out (i.e. John Beattie Snr) talking about penetration and Scotland being a progressive forward thinking side when they couldn't buy a try.

True, VC, but Youngs also had a more aggressive pack to work off. Regardless, he played very well, was composed when he needed to be and influenced the game. IMO it was a mistake to drop Burgess when he had played so well last week. All that does is send out the message that however well he plays Genia will always be selected, which was the problem with the Gregan era. I hope that Youngs and Flood develop their relationship and grow as a pair. I had forgotten just how young Flood is (24). I read an interesting comment from Elsom post-match, along the lines that he was surprised how physical England were. Did the Australian group really expect a chastened side to be physically outgunned once more? Modern pro- rugby still is one of the only sports that evokes emotion and aggression (as opposed to calm clinical professionalism).

The problem with Croft though is when is he going to fill out? I heard somewhere that he is genetically thinner and has tried to put on more weight, but alas...... Nevertheless, he often makes ground when taking the ball into contact - his pace and acceleration helps him here, which is completely opposite to Easter who despite being physically powerful, can often be forced back because of his lumbering style. That's why I think an expansive England suits his game. A question Saunders: If Cole doesn't develop a Hayman-type game, do you think England need a more mobile prop alongside him? Sheridan is obviously that guy, but his injury is taking a while to heal up and Golding had a very good game against the Aussie Baabaas but seems a bit injury-prone. You can't deny that Payne is average, but he's reliable and does a job. I'm actually quite looking forward to watching Argentina-Scotland later. Although all of their points came from the boot of Parks, they continued their promising work from the six nations and played some nice rugby.

The difference between England last week and England this week was Ben Youngs. The young fellow is streets ahead of the woeful Danny Care. The try was excellent but his quick delivery from the ruck was even better. Whereas Care would have spent his time pointing and faffing about, Youngs just runs up and pops off the pass. Brilliant. It was no surprise to see Easter look much better with a proper scrum-half behind him.

Another interesting analysis, RF. Totally agree with everything. I was particularly worried when the new players entered the fray, and Wilkinson and Armitage both had their 'D'oh!' moments, but as far as I'm aware they were injury replacements (or in Tindall's case a fitness replacement). Nobody cited as of yet.

One of the nice things about a better performance and a win is that you finally have some basis to assess the players. Last week, most of the England team were anonymous so it was difficult to single out Care's pass, Flood's game management, the backs' alignment, the flanker's body positions or whatever because all were lacking. When some of the pieces do fall into place, it's easier to see where improvements are needed. For instance, I'd agree with Colin that Cueto didn't look like causing problems today which is a shame because he has been consistent when England have struggled. The Australian commentary team seemed to think that England had introduced a radical new game plan and wondered whether they were mentally up to making the change in a week. I think they were guilty of stereotyping the England team and probably hadn't seen much of them over the last couple of seasons. It's pretty clear that this is how England have wanted to play and how they have trained to play but their execution until now has been poor on match day. The longer they failed to click, the less confidence everyone seemed to have. It would have been more accurate to say England finally got the execution right when it mattered rather than that they suddenly chose a new gameplan. Nevertheless, England have flattered to deceive before. As Youngs, Cole and Lawes get plaudits, it's worth remembering that we were championing Delon Armitage and Ricky Flutey as new finds not so long ago and both lost form alarmingly following injuries. Croft is another who went off the boil so it was good to see him make some key plays. I was pleased that the team kept shape reasonably well even as Johnson threw on Wilkinson, Care & Armitage in the backs. Because we haven't always made that transition very smoothly. I wonder whether Johnson left Haskell on the bench because he could imagine him giving away some dumb penalties late on. Anyone cited after the match? There seemed to be some gouging claims late on but I haven't seen anything yet suggesting there might be repercussions.

from "Rumble in the jungle" to "Thriller in Manila" in one week.