I'm afraid you're delusional thinking that Tom Briscoe is good enough at this level - a 42 point shift in both halves indicates otherwise.

To put Briscoe outside of Eastmond is laughable because Briscoe just doesn't have the athletic ability to follow him.

I think it's time for the black and white tinted specs to come off and accept that a 42 point shift from both halves proves the harsh reality that Tom Briscoe just isn't good enough - end of.

It's certainly could have been a possible contributory factor (if it even happened) don't you agree?

Typo.

so Tom Briscoe is the sole reason England lost, you really are a complete loon

I'd give it up, fella. Over the last 48 hours and 100 odd posts, he's gone from a relatively predictable Fox is faster than Briscoe to comparing Fox to Offiah, to saying Briscoe vomited through the trauma of being unable to play at international level, that he is unable to play at all in the 3/4s, plus that it was his withdrawal that led entirely to England playing better in the 2nd half. Imagine if Briscoe has a good season in 2010 and Fox doesn't.

Imagine if Briscoe becomes the player he could be, is picked in the dream team on merit & is easily one of the best 2 English wingers (or probably centres) in the comp for 2 seasons. Would you then expect him to be playing for England, or overlooked for a youngster who shows potential?

Briscoe did nothing wrong yesterday, the game just passed him by. Poor lad. Hope his confidence doesn’t get knocked by this.

I reckon Fox would probably have caught Inglis, but catching him & bringing him down isn’t the same thing…& they’d probably have scored on the next play anyway.

Yeah, Fox can make mistakes, but he’s a threat every time he carries the ball & kicking to him in broken play is always a risk. Young Briscoe is more solid but just doesn’t carry the same threat…not yet anyway. His time will come. He doesn’t deserve to be dropped on yesterdays performance, but Fox has earned his chance over the last 2 seasons & IMO should be given a go.

As for the rest of the game Smith & McGuire seem to be taking most of the flack here, but weren’t they left as badly exposed as poor Briscoe? Who would have done better?

Every time the Aussies poured through our right centre they had more runners than we had defenders. Did anybody notice any covering forwards?

This is the problem with playing props in the back-row. If you sacrifice mobility for power you’ll always be vulnerable to a quick shift of the ball…& who does this better than Thurston & Lockyer?

If we get to play them again we need to be more mobile.

Very good and fair post. Over the last 24 hours the "discussion" has been turned into a witch hunt aginst Briscoe on here and the VT by your learned friend, with the statements about Briscoe's weaknesses and Fox's strengths being exaggerated 10-fold. Fox will do well to live up to this billing, good player though he is.

We have a winner.

Why? I assume you'd pick out your database full of quotes to manufacture a point because your not content simply to talk about the game without making references to past quotes - you really are a sad low-life...