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.
