World Cup 2008. Its over, now move on.

There was no player rift in the England squad during the World Cup. The players have blamed themselves and we head into the next international with a clean sheet. So say the powers that be, but how do we move on from a disastrous campaign that saw England win only one game and perform so badly so three consecutive occasions?

Well for a start, I think if we had played at a reasonable standard we wouldn't be in this mess having a post-mortem. I can't see how, out of three super power nations, that England were expected to reach the final. New Zealand and Australia are two very good nations, and the squad the eventual world champions put out was very different to the one that lost a test series 3-0. So we can't be expected to make the final if we're just off the pace. Except we weren't just off the pace. We were miles away from reaching any sort of credibility. Papua New Guinea came out of the competition with more credibility than England. We were an embarrassment.

And what of the rift between Leeds and Saints players? Its obvious to see that there is tension between the two sets of players. Their match in March was a fine example of players out to, not just defeat the other, but physically hurt them. I haven't seen anything like it for some time. It was one of the most physical matches I have ever seen. Thankfully I was sat in my comfy armchair, away from the brutality and aggression. But anyone who suggests that there is no reift is stark raving mad.

But how do we go about easing tension in the national squad? Getting rid of the dead weight would be a good start. Leon Pryce, supposedly one of the best stand offs in Super League was a dead rubber. Mark Calderwood was nigh on useless. Rob Burrow, Ade Gardner, Paul Wellens and Keith Senior all had terrible World Cups. Its little surprise that five of the six names mentioned come from the two best teams in Super League.

But there's the problem. Week in week out they are the best in the competition. But put the best together and they can't play. Considering the last time they played in an international jersey they were nothing short of disgraceful, its time we shifted some of the senior players out of the national side. Bring in a new generation of talent for the mid season test against France and see how they fair.

We couldn't do much worse than what we did in Aus.