England 2025/26

[Quel Carreleur]

Who else?

Dingwall and Ojomoh are both perfectly happy at 13.
Add in Maasie-White, Litchfield, Kerr and Wand as options waiting to be fulfilled.

Of those, Dingwall and Ojomoh have already been capped, and are happy in either centre berth.
Litchfield has the advantage of playing for Saints which A] makes him look better by default, and B] gives him a head-start in forming understandings with other backs.
Kerr is the most exciting for me of the above, but he's also the youngest, and plays for a Quins side that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be (so playing for England won't be a massive shock, I guess).

For me, Marchant is in prime position as a specialist OC - I'd have liked to see him taken on this SIs if plausible.
BJVR, Dingwall, Ojomoh, Maasi-White and Kerr are all comfortable in both centre berths, which is very useful to get into a 32-man squad (and TBH, useful in-game too).



Ultimately centre - or just about any selection outside of finding a hooker in his prime - is just tinkering around the edges, the problems go way deeper than any individual or any unit of the team

 

[Scotty]

Dingwall and Ojomoh are both perfectly happy at 13.
Add in Maasie-White, Litchfield, Kerr and Wand as options waiting to be fulfilled.

Of those, Dingwall and Ojomoh have already been capped, and are happy in either centre berth.
Litchfield has the advantage of playing for Saints which A] makes him look better by default, and B] gives him a head-start in forming understandings with other backs.
Kerr is the most exciting for me of the above, but he's also the youngest, and plays for a Quins side that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be (so playing for England won't be a massive shock, I guess).

For me, Marchant is in prime position as a specialist OC - I'd have liked to see him taken on this SIs if plausible.
BJVR, Dingwall, Ojomoh, Maasi-White and Kerr are all comfortable in both centre berths, which is very useful to get into a 32-man squad (and TBH, useful in-game too).



Ultimately centre - or just about any selection outside of finding a hooker in his prime - is just tinkering around the edges, the problems go way deeper than any individual or any unit of the team

BJVR, Ojomoh Dingwall and Maasi white are primarily used as 12s right? If that's what they play for club then keep them there for country, same as Freeman.

Litchfield does look like hes 1 for the future though.

Not sure about the others either way tbh.

 

[Quel Carreleur]

Yes, but unlike Freeman, they have, and regularly get, plenty of game time at 13 and are actually comfortable there.
Dingwall has played more at OC than IC
BJVR is pretty much 50:50
Ojomoh and M-W are 2:1
Freeman is 7:1

 

[Geordie]

Despite what i said about Atkinson i think we need to give him some time.

Chopping and changing all the time is futile. We need to build a centre combo.
Maybe Atkinson and Slade could be the answer or Atkinson and BJVR

Id stick with Freeman on the wing now. Just leave him there. Experiement over.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Despite what i said about Atkinson i think we need to give him some time.

Chopping and changing all the time is futile. We need to build a centre combo.
Maybe Atkinson and Slade could be the answer or Atkinson and BJVR

Id stick with Freeman on the wing now. Just leave him there. Experiement over.

Marchant’s going to enter the equation too.

No-one said it was easy!

 

[Geordie]

Marchant’s going to enter the equation too.

No-one said it was easy!

You're right but he needs to perform first.

But hes another 13 who can play wing...we have lots of them. But i still think we need to pick a combo and stick with it now. Give Atkinson and Slade the shirts or (BJVR at 13) and run with it now. The others can fight to strengthen the bench.

Waboso and Freeman on the wings...really just leaves 9 (if Mitchell is increasingly injured) and 15 to look at.

 

[Scotty]

You're right but he needs to perform first.

But hes another 13 who can play wing...we have lots of them. But i still think we need to pick a combo and stick with it now. Give Atkinson and Slade the shirts or (BJVR at 13) and run with it now. The others can fight to strengthen the bench.

Waboso and Freeman on the wings...really just leaves 9 (if Mitchell is increasingly injured) and 15 to look at.

I dont rate BJVR half as highly at 13 tbh. But agree with the rest.

 

[Geordie]

I dont rate BJVR half as highly at 13 tbh. But agree with the rest.

And thats a fair comment. If Atkinson can make that 12 spot his, then we have options at 13. Just getting the right combo and sticking with them until the WC now.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

And thats a fair comment. If Atkinson can make that 12 spot his, then we have options at 13. Just getting the right combo and sticking with them until the WC now.

‘Just’ doing a lot of heavy lifting there