Tough test for England ahead

Once again there is no place for Rob Purdham in the team that will face Australia on Sunday.  The only change to the team which  beat Papua New Guinea last Saturday is that Mark Calderwood is called in to replace Lee Smith.  And that change has only occurred through Smith’s foot injury.  After Keith Senior’s lacklustre performance in an uninspiring England team, surely it would have been a chance for Purdham, man of the match against Wales in their warm up match, to show what he could do.

It is probably the case that whatever team Tony Smith puts out will be made mincemeat of by the rampant Australians, and perhaps he feels that Senior’s international experience will be best for the team.  I wouldn’t have advocated making major changes, but I’m glad to see Calderwood in the team, and I would definitely have dropped Senior for Purdham.  But maybe Senior will raise his game for this much more crucial test.

The tour organisers must be hoping for a good, close match this weekend.  Australia disposed of New Zealand far too easily, and thus one of the showpiece matches of the tournament turned out to be a damp squib.   If England are similarly destroyed by Australia it will do little for the credibility of the tournament, already in some doubt due to differing views on the way the teams have been allocated to the different pools.  Crowds are likely to suffer if matches are not exciting, and the profile of the game in the UK will not be raised in the way that the RFL had hoped.

England will have to improve significantly if they are to have a chance of beating Australia.  Their tougher than expected match against Papua New Guinea was good preparation, and perhaps having the big guns in their sights will get the team’s adrenalin flowing to good effect on Sunday morning.

First test for Smith’s new England team

Tonight sees the England team getting their first hit out before departing for the World Cup in Australia. They play Wales at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. For many it will be their only chance to play for England. The 15 players from Leeds and St Helens who will be going to Australia are rested tonight, and only 24 players will be on the plane. Tony Smith, the England coach, insists that every player needs to play at the top of their game in case there are casualties from the original squad, and others need to be drafted in.

There are three players from Harlequins in Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Rob Purdham and Tony Clubb, though only Purdham has made the final cut at present. The 18 year old Salford half back Richie Myler is also selected. Stuart Fielden has surprisingly missed out on the trip to Australia but is selected tonight, and must be hoping for a big game which alter change Tony Smith’s decision to leave him out. Mark Calderwood is selected on the wing, having been picked for England after initially opting for the Scotland squad. For those who are definitely going to Australia, it is an important chance to play a competitive game after several weeks without match practice.

Although only a warm up game, it it Wales’s only match after failing to qualify for the World Cup, and they will be wanting to make up for that failure by playing well tonight. Smith will be hoping that all his players will come through unscathed, but will also want to see a hard-fought game with the players treating it as seriously as if it was the World Cup final.

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Who will get the glory?

Very often the grand final is a rather one-sided affair, with one team or the other having used up all their energy in the fight to get there.  I had felt that this weekend would be the same, with St Helens easily beating Leeds to win the treble for the second time in three years.  Now, thinking about it and looking at the teams, I’m not so sure.  Both teams are at full strength (though of course Leeds lost Toopi earlier in the season) with Lee Smith avoiding suspension despite being found guilty of kicking a Wigan player.  Can’t quite get to grips with how someone can be guilty of something but yet not get suspended, though I am glad for the sake of the game, Smith was important to Leeds last weekend.

Leeds lost comprehensively to St Helens two weeks ago, and I thought then that no-one could get close to Saints.  They will be buoyed by James Graham being voted Man of Steel by the superleague players - four straight wins for Saints players in four years.  They have had another week’s rest, and have played only twice in the last month.  But that can be a disadvantage too, they could be out of practice and a little complacent by the ease with which they reached the final. Leeds have had two tough matches against Saints and Wigan, and are definitely battle-hardened.

St Helens will want to send their coach Daniel Anderson back to Australia on a high.  They will also want to gain the kudos of winning the treble again.  But Leeds are the champions and won’t give that up without a fight.

I would have liked an upset at an earlier stage in the playoffs, as the Leeds/Saints final is a rather predictable end to the season.  If Wigan or Catalans had made the final from outside the top two, that would have been a more exciting final run, though I think it would have given St Helens an easy win in the end.  As things stand, it’s a difficult one to call, but I am going to stick with my gut instincts and go with St Helens.  But I hope that, for a change, it will be a close and exciting final which keeps us on the edge of our seats till the final whistle!