England remain on course for the Big Hit, the doubler header semi-final at Wembley in a fortnight, with New Zealand likely to lie in wait.
I genuinely can’t wait, although England have to get past France or Samoa first in their quarter-final. Judging by their performance against Fiji at the weekend, you would say they’ll do that easily.
Watching the game, I found myself getting a bit flustered when Fiji went 6-0 up in that first half but the thing I liked was that England didn’t panic and ran away with the game in the second half.
Sam Burgess had the sort of game that has made him a big attraction in the National Rugby League in Australia.
Come the final whistle, my main thought was the selection headache that Steve McNamara has now for the next round.
He made some changes for Fiji and those that came in, Rob Burrow in particular, really stuck their hands up.
I’m also impressed with the way England recovered from their latest off-the-field setback with Zak Hardaker leaving the tournament with a £2,000 fine. I’m not sure what he did — whether it involved staying out late or drinking, I just don’t know. But I like the fact he’s stayed quiet, England have moved on and the distraction was kept down to a minimum.
England’s bodies will be hurting after Fiji, James Graham most notably after that crunching spear tackle. It’s just a question of the match-day 17 for the quarter-finals.
Warren Gatland made the big calls for the Lions in the summer —none bigger than the decision to drop Brian O’Driscoll. McNamara’s got some similarly big calls to make.
Martin Offiah is an official ambassador for RLWC2013. For info and to purchase tickets visit rlwc2013.com
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