Pretty much.
I'm actually fairly content with 10-15 right now.
At fly-half, Ford is a shoe-in for me, with Cips backing him up. Both have the distinct issue of goal kicking potentially undermining them though. I do wish we had a decent goalkicker somewhere else in the backline.
In the centres, we've struggled without Tuilagi. He'll be back soon and if we can keep him fit, I think we're actually alright in the centres. I'd partner him with Eastmond or Slade personally. If Tuilagi wasn't fit, that's when I'd involve Joseph or Burrell, as I do like to have a distributor somewhere in the centres.
May, Brown and Watson/Roko is a pretty obvious back three, with Watson covering fullback and Nowell covering wing. I think all of these players have the potential to be amongst the best in their position worldwide. I actually think it's the best area of our backline, and it's vital we find ways of bringing them more into the game.
I'd have Roko over Watson, although that's assuming he can get back to the form that got him picked - he seems to be having a fairly major crisis of confidence at the moment (couldn't catch a cold against Montpellier), since he came back from injury. It's tempting to think his slightly harsh treatment by Lancaster has had something to do with it, but we can't know for certain, plus it doesn't really speak much to his character if that is the case. Anyway, I think they're both very good players but Roko suits England's game better, he's better under the high ball and better in defence. I'd like to see Lancaster bringing him into the midfield as well, he doesn't seem to like doing that with wingers though.
As for ten, actually I'd have Farrell over For...just kidding, obviously it's Ford. I don't think I'd pick Cips as his backup though, partly because of the goalkicking issue (although Ford is not as poor as Cips I don't think) and partly because I'm not convinced of his overall game management compared to Ford, I couldn't see him running effectively running a kicking game like Ford did against Aus for example
Farrell's game management and kicking game is also poor at the moment, but back on form he is good in these areas and would give a different style of fly-half (which is nice to have from your reserve) as well as obviously offering goal kicking. Failing Farrell regaining form, I'd actually seriously consider Myler, again he offers a different kind of player from Ford and kicks his goals reliably. I do think if you pick Ford you really need to know you have a backup goalkicker, because he's one of those who misses in clusters. You need to know if he's having "one of those days" you've got the backup there, either on the bench or elsewhere in the backline. (But please, for the love of God, no Goode ... )
Twelve's the other real issue, agree Tuilagi is a shoe-in (although better management of the area might have brought some players through to challenge ... call me biased, we all are, but I can't for the life of me see what's wrong with JJ) so it's mainly a question of who's inside him, and I (again, call me biased ... ) thought Eastmond was hard done by. Didn't set the world alight, but at least tried, and looked like he might succeed. Aside from May the only player to have any flashes of real line-breaking class. Anyway, the big question marks over him before the autumn were his defence and I thought he stacked up admirably there. To be honest I suspect Barritt will be the eventual choice, and I am a lot happier with him than I was when he was first named at 13 (credit to him), he still isn't the future of the England midfield for me. I want to see Ford, Eastmond, Tuilagi with May popping up outside that channel more often, running the fullback's line in attack. Brown is excellent in many ways but doesn't have the hands or pace for this job; May does.
Just scrum-half that's a pest to solve and potentially the goal kicking issue. What is Slade's percentage like? (I know Steenson takes the kicks at Exe, so not sure what Slade is like these days.)
I think it's high, I think he and Steenson share the kicks (Slade has the longer ones) and I recall looking at the kicking stats earlier in the season and seeing that they were both right up there pushing 80s - particularly impressive for Slade taking mainly speculative ones. That was before the autumn internationals though I think, not sure if they've changed since then - annoying, I went back to the Aviva Prem website and couldn't for the life of me work out where I had found the kicking percentages stats before, so wasn't able to update myself!
