James Graham and Leeds Rhinos legend Jamie Peacock disagree with Shaun Wane’s England selection

Shaun Wane raised some eyebrows when he named his team for England’s clash against Greece yesterday.

He named winger Tommy Makinson at fullback with Jack Welsby at centre.

It was likely a team that we won’t see in the knockout stages with Welsby and Sam Tomkins ahead of Makinson at fullback and Welsby likely to replace Marc Sneyd in the halves alongside George Williams,

So, it was perhaps a missed opportunity to build combinations going into the must win games.

This was the opinion of James Graham on BBC yesterday as he said he would have liked to have seen England’s strongest side: “I feel Shaun Wane should have gone with his strongest team, there’s a lot of players who haven’t played a lot of rugby league in recent month, Herbie Farnworth who was rested is one, Kallum Watkins is out with the head injury assessment.

“Personally I would have liked to have seen Shaun Wane name his strongest team and keep that momentum.

“I would have liked to have seen Shaun Wane name his strongest team and build those combinations.”

This was an opinion shared by Leeds Rhinos legend Jamie Peacock who is a former England skipper and Super League’s most successful ever player.

He said: “For me it’s about combinations, once you get to the knockout stages of the World Cup you want to know your combinations.”

In the end, England ran in 17 tries in a statement win over Greece which showed the raw quality in Wane’s England side.

Of course, it also gave him further options. Either way the win somewhat vindicated his decision.