Egg Chasing wrote:
He picked MM because he wanted aggression in the middle of the park. Having coached him since he was a kid he knew he could trust him.
Was it the right call? Not sure, but MM didn't cost us the game on Saturday.
I did not see any aggressive play from MM, indeed Samoa exposed his lack of fitness so much that even the commentators were asking for him to be given a breather.
I actually thought Tomkins played well and played a good captains role.
Welsby had a bit of a mare, but given he is not the first choice halfback for Saints that is hardly surprising that at international level you can't have a down week.
Watkins was a weird one, looked very decent the first 3 games but just completely switched off in the semi, if he was injured then it was poor of the coaching team to pick him.
Young also had a pretty average game whilst no big errors he made little impact taking the ball forward. Sadly 3 of those were on the same side and got schooled all day long.
The rest of the squad were fine but with such a weak wing they could not hold Samoa out.