England 2024/25

[Geordie]

Didn't mention his all round game,
Said he was dire - set piece trumps absolutely everything
Dan was dire for England on the weekend...because his set piece was so poor

Without going round in circles, His set piece wasnt poor...one aspect of it is. His scrummaging is excellent but his lineout is a problem.....hence why i wouldnt pick him for USA...

But i repeat if they fix it, hes a great Prem player the tigers have signed...

 

[Jimbo]

What is it with English hookers. Singleton and Walker both mentioned in the other thread also fairly erratic with their line outs. LCD much improved but not perfect. As Olyy says it's a non-negotiable and George and Hartley have been light years ahead.

And I'd still love to know whether Barbeary's darts weren't fixable or whether just didn't want to fix them as he fancied the glory boy ball in hand stuff (my spin on his words). Ships have sailed etc, but he ain't getting a look in at international back row any time soon

IIRC at the time at Wasps there was Ogre and Tommy Taylor (he wasn’t ear marked as injury prone at that point) Barbs had the worst darts of the lot was capable of playing back row and that was the area that needed addressing at the time, I don’t think there was much more to it than that.

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

Tommy Taylor has aged terribly.

 

[Saintjay]

View attachment 24096

Tommy Taylor has aged terribly.

Looks like Rod Stewart. Surprised Gregor hasn't called him up.

 

[BPM]

Parling is prob the best head coach for Blamire imo

Definitely. He’ll also have the added benefit of playing with Chessum and Martin on a regular basis.

 

[IT157]

Looks like Rod Stewart. Surprised Gregor hasn't called him up.

More like Rod Stewart's Dad!

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Was wondering would we have been better having a A team playing Chile, USA and Canada. Whilst our first teamers had 3 tests v Argentina?

 

[Reiser99]

Was wondering would we have been better having a A team playing Chile, USA and Canada. Whilst our first teamers had 3 tests v Argentina?

Does the RFU have the finances for that?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Does the RFU have the finances for that?

I mean I don't see why not. Honestly if they wanted to go cheaper then I don't see why they couldn't do a 2 game tour of Europe v any of Spain, Portugal, Romania, Georgia.

IDK I just feel like this tour has been a bit of a waste for some players like Clark and Iyogun.

England has the biggest playing base might aswell use it. I don't think Players get paid much if anything for A games
1. Iyogun, 2. Blamire, 3. Fasogbon
4. Clark, 5. Lockett
6. Kenningham, 7. Ilione, 8. Reid
9. Quirke, 10. Donoghue
12. Woodward, 13. RMW
11. OHC, 14. Radwan, 15. TDG

16. Blake, 17. Haffar, 18. Kloska
19. Munga, 20. Alfie
21. Quirke, 22. Barton, 23. Elliot

 

[Which Tyler]

Was wondering would we have been better having a A team playing Chile, USA and Canada. Whilst our first teamers had 3 tests v Argentina?

I'd love it.
Would Chile, USA and Canada accept it?

The Churchill Cup failed because USA & Canada didn't want to play the 6N A-teams - despite USA never winning a match that wasn't against Canada, and Canada only beating Russia, Georgia, Italy A and France D... and USA

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I'd love it.
Would Chile, USA and Canada accept it?

The Churchill Cup failed because USA & Canada didn't want to play the 6N A-teams - despite USA never winning a match that wasn't against Canada, and Canada only beating Russia, Georgia, Italy A and France D... and USA

I feel they would take it now.
Canada was at the time 11th in the rankings and now 24th, USA similar higher in the rankings. Both taken a hard fall.
Chile I highly doubt they would be against it at all.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Also if not who cares plenty of other teams would take their place now

 

[Reiser99]

I mean I don't see why not. Honestly if they wanted to go cheaper then I don't see why they couldn't do a 2 game tour of Europe v any of Spain, Portugal, Romania, Georgia.

IDK I just feel like this tour has been a bit of a waste for some players like Clark and Iyogun.

England has the biggest playing base might aswell use it. I don't think Players get paid much if anything for A games
1. Iyogun, 2. Blamire, 3. Fasogbon
4. Clark, 5. Lockett
6. Kenningham, 7. Ilione, 8. Reid
9. Quirke, 10. Donoghue
12. Woodward, 13. RMW
11. OHC, 14. Radwan, 15. TDG

16. Blake, 17. Haffar, 18. Kloska
19. Munga, 20. Alfie
21. Quirke, 22. Barton, 23. Elliot

Less paying the players and more the overhead costs of flying out, hotels, staff etc...

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

So the end of the season at last. Where are we at?

If terms of player strength I'd probably say in as good a place as we've been for a long time.

We should now be competitive against pretty much anyone and have also developed a winning habit, which is good although the 6N could just as easily have been 2 from 5, putting a very different spin on things.

Despite the positive signs I remain unconvinced by the coaching set up. This coming year I want to see us actually go out and dominate games more against decent opposition.

Front row - improved and we know who first and second choices are in all 3 positions which is good clarity. Bit of a drop off after those.

Lock - 3 very good players, but some injury issues. Is 6 Plan A for Chessum? Could use another big horrible unit emerging.

Flanker - a lot of choice. Almost too much. Given that we're likely to be fielding a big 8 Twindaloo would be fine. Still a massive Underhill fan and I'd love to see the Willis boys in tandem. (Could J get tempted now T is in the team?) Then there's Earl and Pepper and the boy wonder. Competitive!

8 - Seem to have landed on a big powerful carrier. Good. No need for Earl or Pollock or Curry to be seen there ever again. Willis in possession. CCS to fight him hard.

9 - Mitchell owns the shirt. Some pleasing stuff from JvP too. Not sure they're really being pushed too hard at the moment.

10 - F Smith in possession, still learning but potentially the real deal. M seems like a game breaking bench option now. Couple of vets in the background who can fill in in emergencies.

Wings - IFW will be fine with some game time and be first choice with Freeman. Likes of Roebuck and Sleightholme give decent alternatives.

Centres. A bit like 8 we might just be on the way to solving a problem. Whisper it quietly but there might just be some round pegs emerging. A fair bit of proving to do, but grounds for cautious optimism.

15. This is probably the most problematic. Furbank seems first choice but had an injury ruined year. Steward's improved in some respects, but his weaknesses have been done to death on here and I don't think he's really what SB is after. Whatever the answer is it's not M Smith. Do we now back Carpenter as the no2?

 

[Geordie]

Agree with all of that...

Suddenly Slade isn't a necessity. Northmore showed he's worth some more time to check him out. Ojomoh the same.
Atkinson, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Northmore... We could get a decent combo from that.

I also thought Clarke showed one or two moments that would suggest it's worth watching how he develops this season.

I'm concerned about Hooker. Langdon really didn't give me anything form that game last night, though I haven't seen the stats. And Dan just isnt selling it either.

 

[Reiser99]

I still worry we kick it too much. I know you have to play in the right areas, but against better teams they will use that possession to score points.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I thought Langdon and Oghre both showed enough to be bumped up a few rungs,
Dan was poor but he rarely isn't - hopefully the central contracts reset at the end of the season and he can be sent back to Saracens to work on his core duties

 

[Geordie]

I thought Langdon and Oghre both showed enough to be bumped up a few rungs,
Dan was poor but he rarely isn't - hopefully the central contracts reset at the end of the season and he can be sent back to Saracens to work on his core duties

I'm still not sold on Ohgre either. He just looks a little lightweight.

I'm really interested to see how Jibulu goes with your guys. He's a big unit, explosive.

And I still think Seb Blake is worth looking at also.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

15. This is probably the most problematic. Furbank seems first choice but had an injury ruined year. Steward's improved in some respects, but his weaknesses have been done to death on here and I don't think he's really what SB is after. Whatever the answer is it's not M Smith. Do we now back Carpenter as the no2?

I’m curious to see how Malins gets on at Sarries once he’s back fit. I’ve been very critical of him in the past but do still feel as though he’s never really gotten a fair shot at the 15 shirt. He’s always been stuck out on the wing which clearly isn’t his position of best fit. Think he’d be a decent back up to Furbank as a playmaking 15 option.

Also Daly’s been doing alright recently…

 

[Which Tyler]

Agree with all of that...

Suddenly Slade isn't a necessity. Northmore showed he's worth some more time to check him out. Ojomoh the same.
Atkinson, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Northmore... We could get a decent combo from that.

Biggest winners from the tour are the centres, all of whom did well with what they had.
I see no need for Slade to wear an England shirt again. I'd rather see Freeman given a shot at 13 than Slade there again.
We've now got Lawrence, Atkinson, Dingwall, Northmore and Ojomoh to invest time in, and enough round pegs to fill the round hole at IC that we can let Ollie play in his actual position.
Also worth noting that 2 of those 5 are comfortable in either centre berth, which allows a lot of extra freedom, only pairing the two OCs together could end up looking unbalanced, and even that wouldn't be terrible.

Only real losers from the tour would be Dan and Dombrandt, but both seem to have protected status, so will probably hold on to 3rd place in the pecking order - Dommers could lose out if CCS moves to 8 (unlikely given that they're a club combination), but neither really being challenged by their 4th choice.