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[2023 Six Nations] England Squad

Youngs does this irritating step which at a 0.5s delay, is everything for the opponent in terms of setting their defence.

The best I ever saw him play was RWC 2019 when he seemed to have eradicated that step habit.

Borthwick seems intent on quick ball so I'm hoping the message is very clear to Ben.
I think this is okay at times, and entirely depends on the service, and should be quite varied. For example if you're passing to a forward at pace, keeping the fringe defenders eyes on you for that extra split second can be hugely beneficial
But obviously when looking for that width then this is a big drawback, so it's more about varying the half step/no step approaches
 
I feel England just played to numbers. They worked out the optimum number of kicks that led to the best outcomes, the optimum time at which they were done, where they were done etc etc and just built their game plan around hitting this averages as often as possible without any care for the context of what was happening. Sort of thinking that if we as a team were statistically similar to the optimum across certain measures then that must mean we were also the optimum team.
Definitely. I'm pretty sure there were a few games recently where England performed better against most of the core stats, but we're actually useless when it came to converting that in to an actual scoreboard advantage. The AI game vs. Argentina stands out as an obvious example of that.
 
England team Vs Scotland/South Africa (Nov. 22)
1. Genge/Vunipola
2. George
3. Sinckler
4. Itoje
5. Chessum/Hill
6. Ludlam/Coles
7. The Other Curry/Curry
8. Dombrandt/Vunipola

9. Van Poortvliet
10. Smith
11. Hassell-Collins/May
12. Farrell
13. Marchant/Tuilagi
14. Malins/Freeman
15. Steward

16. Walker/Cowan-Dickie
17. Vunipola/Genge
18. Cole/Stuart
19. Isiekwe/Ribbans
20. Earl/Simmonds
21. Youngs
22. Lawrence/Slade
23. Watson/Nowell

I'm barely sad about a single one of those swaps, even if injuries hadn't forced some.

Ben Curry being so overlooked when his twin brother has 46 England caps, captaining several times, 3 Lions caps, and still being 24 is just madness, so even if Tom was fit I'd not oppose that.
 
Screenshot_20230204_085135_BBC Sport.jpg

He actually has more experience than i thought, for 10 years coaching its an impressive CV really.
 
Playing devil's advocate. Based on the players Borthwick has called up to date (including those released )and injuries aside. What is our best XV. I would go for something like

Genge
George
Sinckler
Itoje
Chessum
Willis
Curry
Dombradnt
JVP
Smith
Kelly
Slade
Watson/Murley
Ohc
Steward
 
Playing devil's advocate. Based on the players Borthwick has called up to date (including those released )and injuries aside. What is our best XV. I would go for something like

Genge
George
Sinckler
Itoje
Chessum
Willis
Curry
Dombradnt
JVP
Smith
Kelly
Slade
Watson/Murley
Ohc
Steward
That would be pretty close to what I'd call but you have to have Farrell in there somewhere either 10 or 12 you can't consider him anything but a starter and first name on the sheet when he's captain.
 
Next week we need to show italy respect and put out a strong team, needs a few changes.

For me we go
Genge George Sinks
Itoje(not the player he used to be but who else) Chessum
Ludlam Dombrandt Curry
JVP Faz
Kelly>Lawrence>Manu at 12
Marchant(Slade)
Watson Steward Murley

Walker
Rodd(for gametime)
Cole
Ribbans
Willis
Mitchell(just not Youngs please)
Smith
Is Slade back fit?(Marchant)
 
I don't think they'll change much, my prediction (not my picks):

Genge, George, Sinckler
Itoje, Chessum
Ludlam, Earl, Dombrandt
JvP, Smith
Watson, Farrell, Marchant, Malins
Steward

Walker, Mako, Cole, Ribbans, Simmonds, Youngs, Tuilagi, Lawrence

Wouldn't be surprised at cole starting, also not sure on what they'll do with 22/23 shirts, just pick two of Tuilagi/Lawrence/Freeman/OHC
 
I don't think they'll change much, my prediction (not my picks):

Genge, George, Sinckler
Itoje, Chessum
Ludlam, Earl, Dombrandt
JvP, Smith
Watson, Farrell, Marchant, Malins
Steward

Walker, Mako, Cole, Ribbans, Simmonds, Youngs, Tuilagi, Lawrence

Wouldn't be surprised at cole starting, also not sure on what they'll do with 22/23 shirts, just pick two of Tuilagi/Lawrence/Freeman/OHC
Malins is a funny one (I didn't see the entirety of the game) he obviously got on the scoreboard and did some good things but the first 10 - 15 minutes I did see he get rag doled a few too many times and shown up somewhat defensively, it's hard to know if his selection should continue his coverage of multiple positions is clearly useful, if he was used to roam and either come in with a little burst of pace or distribute in a similar way Daily and Le Roux do I can see his worth although both have a little size on him but carrying into traffic he is unlikely to win many collisions and he doesn't have outstanding pace to go outside many wingers, appreciate that was not your selection just based on what you think SB will go with.
 
Not sure what the hell has happened to Maro since that World Cup semi final. I thought he was absolutely atrocious again today. I'd consider dropping him to be honest just to see if it puts a rocket up his arse. He's what? 27? Should be coming into his prime really. He's regressed massively.
 
For me:

Genge George Sinckler
Chessum Ribbans
Ludlam Curry Dombrandt

JVP Smith
Tuilagi Marchant
Freeman Steward OHC

Walker
Marler
Cole
Itoje
Willis
Quirke
Lawrence
Malins

Tuilagi to be replaced by Kelly ASAP. Marler and Quirke fantasies, but also because the other squad options have slipped my mind.
 
Quirke playing terribly atm - would honestly have him as fourth choice at Sale unless he has a massive turn around in the Prem cup semi,
Get Gus Warr in there before Scotland come sniffing
 

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