[2013 EOYT] England

[Aedaphon]

Love that theyve included the fat controller

#CoronaTime

 

[Patchey]

That's not really representing the truth of the matter. He did come through playing 15, but that was a youngster, which is not an uncommon practice - Burns did too - but the plan was always to move him to 10. They did when Hougaard got injured and Goode did ok there, but promptly got injured himself, leading to the rise of Farrell. After that, Sarries kept Goode at 15 as they had a 10 (well, in their eyes) and still had the gap at 15. If Goode is up to the defensive duties at 10, I still think it would be his best position.

p.s. All this winger talk - I'd consider playing Daly there for the time being.

I stand corrected. That was the first season I really paid attention to any teams other Wasps than Quins so I've always assumed he was their standard 10 back then!

Agreed on Daly, think he'd do a job out there if asked.



I'm praying for an Andy Goode recall just to see everyone's face. #coronatime

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I'd back him to do a job. Probably be better than Farrell, to be honest.
Not sure how #coronatime would fit in with Lancaster's environment, though.

 

[ratsapprentice]

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Exciting #England squad to be named tomorrow - call-ups for May Nowell Watson Ford Burrell Mullan Webber Thomas Slater Johnson. #rugby

— Chris Foy (@FoyChris) January 8, 2014



​

Nowell and Watson... no strettle.


#Phew

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[Patchey]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Exciting <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23England&amp;src=hash">#England</a> squad to be named tomorrow - call-ups for May Nowell Watson Ford Burrell Mullan Webber Thomas Slater Johnson. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23rugby&amp;src=hash">#rugby</a></p>â€" Chris Foy (@FoyChris) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoyChris/statuses/421046292828405760">January 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Thank, *****!

 

[Aedaphon]

So... Ashton's been dropped? That means Ashton's been dropped right??

But also- no bloody Cipriani <_<

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Hold on a sec... doesn't there have to be someone dropped for each person called up?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Pretty sure they are all "injury cover"....

8 injuries to current squad, 8 new players named.
Aside from Flood/Ford.

Note that the injury cover don't suddenly drop out if the person they are covering recovers.
Don't quote me on it as this is the "6N squad" rather than the senior EPS (not sure how it differs but Foy seemed to differentiate between them).
I think it means that, for example, If Watson is selected as Wade's cover and Wade recovers we get to keep both of them in the EPS.
So the team for the 6N could theoretically end up being 40 strong.

 

[Patchey]

I bloody hate how the EPS system works.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I do like that Lancaster brazenly exploits it though.

Ignore what I said above about "8 in 8 injured" clearly wrong as there are ten names above!

It's a little unclear because of the uncertainty surrounding Tomkins' status in the squad, whether he counts as injury cover or a full member.

Going through the names:

Ford --> Flood
Mullan --> Corbisiero (injury)
Thomas --> Wilson (injury)
Slater --> Parling (injury)
Johnson --> Croft (injury)

Not sure:

Watson --> Wade ?
Nowell --> Yarde ?
May --> Foden ?
Webber --> ???
Burrell --> ???

Pretty sure we are going to see 2 players dropped from the current EPS squad - either that or they will be carrying more players than the EPS allows for.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Place your bets on who will be evicted from the big bro... erm I mean the EPS.

 

[Peat]

These are not call ups to the EPS. These are call ups to the England Six Nations squad. Injured players won't be dropped from the EPS but temporarily replaced for the Six Nations.

 

[Crapspray]

Johnson?! As in Tom Johnson? The 31 year-old average club player? Who's been in pretty naff form? Not, say, Luke Wallace? The openside who's been in great form and has a club partnership with Robshaw?

****'s sake.

Also, no Joseph? He's not been lighting the world on fire, but he has experience and no glaring weaknesses I can think of. And no Daly. Again. Good job Goode is in there.

It seems he still wants a fall-back, dull, turgid backline in case he's frightened by his backs scoring too many tries/showing anything in attack. It's lucky that sort of conservatism didn't cost England the Six Nations last year...

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Daly should bloody well be in there for Ashton.

Well summarised ratsapprentice. So it looks pretty inevitable from that and the rumours that Eastmond will indeed be dropped for Burrell. The thing thats confusing me most is Rob Webber - there's no way that either Tom Youngs or Dylan Hartley will be dropped, and neither are injured.

 

[ratsapprentice]

ESPN seem to think that Myler is replacing Burns.

 

[Crapspray]

Isn't Burrell cover for Tomkins, who's cover for Tuilagi? The Daily Wail is saying that Lancaster's plan A is to play Burrell at outside centre, so it's possible.

They also have Eastmond listed in their squad.

---

EDIT: They also say it'll be a 35-man squad. It was 34 in the Autumn, so there's one extra player.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I think Johnson is in the squad as an older head and will never play. I'd rather have Wallace in the Saxons playing this year rather than sitting in eps doing nothing.

You have wood, robshaw, Morgan
Billy on the bench and then kvesic if anyone is injured. If two are injured then Johnson comes in but that's very unlikely as none of them play for wasps!

As for daly, I have no idea why he isn't in the eps. Is keep him in the 23 shirt, he always seems to have good games when I see him play and that's wing, fullback or centre. Bizarre

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Why is the BBC always late to everything:

"Flood set to be dropped from England squad - well d'uh, the whole world knows this by now beeb!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/25665393

One of the great things about Daly is that mistakes don't phase him. There's no knock on effect for him if he drops a ball etc - gets on with it with the same confidence and ability. A sign of class imo.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Burns has been dropped for Myler.

 

[Crapspray]

Understandable, if disappointing. Burns should get some game time with Saxons, which may help his form and confidence.