England Rugby 2018/19 Thread

[Vieux Talonneur]

Unless he's mellowed wouldn't this be a case of bad cop and badder cop? Not convinced that's what we need.

 

[Scotty]

Some obvious notes.
Olowofela, Ibitoye and Kpoku join the training squad.
Ashton makes a return.
Hartley and Haskell both called back up.
Rhodes now qualifies.
No Care

Positions
1. Hepburn, Marler Vunipola,
2. Cowan-Dickie, George, Hartley, Singleton,
3. Hill, Sinckler, Williams
4. Launchbury, Spencer, Kpoku
5. Lawes, Itoje, Isiekwe, Stooke
6. Robshaw, Rhodes, Wilson
7. Curry, Haskell, Underhill,
8. Hughes, Simmonds,
9. Robson, Spencer, Youngs
10. Cipriani, Farrell, Ford
11. May, Ibitoye, Olowofela
12. Francis, Slade, Te'o
13. Daly, Marchant
14. Cokanasiga, Earle,
15. Ashton, Brown

Forgot Loz, him/slade will be 13 and daly will be a winger or maybe FB. Although Daly's prob our best 13 available though.

No woodward, must not have impressed EJ before

Will Spencer i rate, and will be a good addition to tigers but he'll have a fight for a England spot

Back row without billy worried me, hughes isnt on form, simmonds i highly rate but not as an international 8. Robshaws gone down hill, hask needs to be a 6 option not 7, curry did well in SA. 6 wilson 7 curry 8 hughes. 20 Simmonds? Anyone got thoughts on our current best back row?

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Forgot Loz, him/slade will be 13 and daly will be a winger or maybe FB. Although Daly's prob our best 13 available though.

No woodward, must not have impressed EJ before

Will Spencer i rate, and will be a good addition to tigers but he'll have a fight for a England spot

Back row without billy worried me, hughes isnt on form, simmonds i highly rate but not as an international 8. Robshaws gone down hill, hask needs to be a 6 option not 7, curry did well in SA. 6 wilson 7 curry 8 hughes. 20 Simmonds? Anyone got thoughts on our current best back row?

Shields?

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Anyone got thoughts on our current best back row?

Kvesic, Ewers, Morgan? Might as well be.

Curry did well in SA. He's young, improving, a proper 7 so should be given the chance to nail down the shirt.

At 8 everyone will say Binny and I'd probably agree with that if fit. But his fitness record is now such that we can't afford to build the team around him - Plan A has to move from give it to the biggest boy in the playground and we should look at him as a nice bonus to have when available. Hughes is OK when fit, but Morgan's continuing omission mystifies.

6 - who knows? I like Underhill, but also injury prone and him and Curry might be too inexperienced? Maybe whoever's playing better out of Shields and Rhodes?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Completely skimmed over Haskell being there, what a joke.

Released by his club even when he offered to stay at reduced wages, not picked up by anyone else until saints saw him in the £1 bin at a petrol station. But yeah he's good enough to play for England, why not.

 

[bushytop]

So the beeb are reporting that Jones wants John Mitchell as the New England D coach, replacing Gustard. If I were English I wouldn't be too over the moon about it, as a Welshman quite relieved as it probably means that any efforts to pry Edwards from the WRU have proved fruitless.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Were we ever in for Edwards?
I think we could have really easily gotten him if we were, he's gonna be out of a job real soon and I can't see any top tier countries going after him.
I expect he'll go to club rugby once Gatland is gone.

 

[Scotty]

Completely skimmed over Haskell being there, what a joke.

Released by his club even when he offered to stay at reduced wages, not picked up by anyone else until saints saw him in the £1 bin at a petrol station. But yeah he's good enough to play for England, why not.

Hask should be in the 44 man squad as should hartley, robshaw and brown we need the experience in there. He should help develop youngsters and but doubt he will get a shout in a matchday 23 without injuries though. All the players have players younger and on better form in the squad but doesnt mean we get rid of the oldies, with how robshaws been recently hask might be an improvment not that id have him over wilson shields underhill curry simmonds ect.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I disagree,
Can see a place for Robshaw and brown but not Haskell. He's experienced but a liability and one of the stupidest players in the game. What's he gonna teach them, how to give away a penalty every breakdown you look at? What wisdom can he impart that Robshaw can't?
I'd rather get tips from someone like shields*, who has a lot of exposure of playing a completely different type of game and playing and training with all blacks players, thank Haskell who is a donkey.


*I know he's there, But i mean that in a hypothetical camp fire session I wouldn't be queuing up to listen to what Haskell has to say

 

[bushytop]

Were we ever in for Edwards?
I think we could have really easily gotten him if we were, he's gonna be out of a job real soon and I can't see any top tier countries going after him.
I expect he'll go to club rugby once Gatland is gone.

Not sure about that Ol, I personally think (& I know I'm not alone on this one) that the RFU would've snapped up Edwards if it was a possibility... and feel sure he would do a better job than Mitchell will do if he gets the role. All opinion obviously.

I also think the RFU would take Gats if he is ruled out of ever taking over the All Blacks, which will probably be the case.

 

[Scotty]

I disagree,
Can see a place for Robshaw and brown but not Haskell. He's experienced but a liability and one of the stupidest players in the game. What's he gonna teach them, how to give away a penalty every breakdown you look at? What wisdom can he impart that Robshaw can't?
I'd rather get tips from someone like shields*, who has a lot of exposure of playing a completely different type of game and playing and training with all blacks players, thank Haskell who is a donkey.


*I know he's there, But i mean that in a hypothetical camp fire session I wouldn't be queuing up to listen to what Haskell has to say

I disagree,
Can see a place for Robshaw and brown but not Haskell. He's experienced but a liability and one of the stupidest players in the game. What's he gonna teach them, how to give away a penalty every breakdown you look at? What wisdom can he impart that Robshaw can't?
I'd rather get tips from someone like shields*, who has a lot of exposure of playing a completely different type of game and playing and training with all blacks players, thank Haskell who is a donkey.


*I know he's there, But i mean that in a hypothetical camp fire session I wouldn't be queuing up to listen to what Haskell has to say

I dont dislike hask as much as you but i get your points and by your logic i think hughes has been learning from hask at wasps over the year, that guy needs to stay away from the breakdown. He is the most stupid player ive ever seen. Everyone gives away penalties but his are normally stupid and idiotic

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I think we really need to ditch Hughes until he starts playing more intelligently and actually using his bulk. We bought him in as a Binny-lite and he can't do that role. When a 9 drives you back in the tackle as an 8, you need a good look at yourself.

Don't understand Morgans continued omission. Can play the power game as a Binny-lite but also offers more dynamism plus he has experience of international rugby. I also don't remember him having any stinkers for England and frequently stepped up to perform better than he did at Glos.

 

[BPM]

100% agree. Hughes was initially selected off the back of an excellent season (15/16 I think?). He's never looked better than OK for England and hasn't shown anything like the form that initially for Wasps that got him recognised since then.

Morgan has his drawbacks but he was significantly better for England than anything Hughes has shown. Ironically, his best club form has arguably been while he's been ignored by England.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

So Denny not in England due to Visa issues.

But no doubt people will still moan about his "Attitude"

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Did think it was a little odd that they had a very public breakup, then there was rumours of visa issues, then they were back together again shortly after.

 

[Geordie]

Is Mercer injured? He's the only other genuine 8 isn't he?

Agree about Nathan Hughes. He's simply never put in a decent shift in an England shirt. He's living off that one breakthrough season where he was a rampaging beast in the prem.

The only thing I will say mind to be fair to him, is that recently he simply hasn't been fit or on form and yet Eddie Jones has still forced him in to the side. Surely a Fit Armand or Ewers or someone is a better option in those circumstances!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Apparently the Solomona story is all BS and he was back in training yesterday,
Was just unfortunate timing that Eddie organised an extra training camp when he was already out of the country

 

[mania]

Apparently he parted company with the USA because he thought he could coach the team from his home in South Africa! His problems with the media and sponsors was cited as the reason NZ dispensed with his services.

nah it was because he thought he was bigger than the ABs and dumped players with huge amounts of test caps then complained after the WC that he didnt have enough experience in the team.
dropping cullen the top try scoring AB at the time didnt help, without providing a valid reason
carlos ahead of mehrtens. big mistake. carlos injured tanaUmaga during the Puma's game (running sideways as usual then getting smashed into umaga's path and knee) was pressured in the aus game. larkhams book, he said all they had to do was pressure carlos for the ABs to crumble.
brought in leonMcDonald, a fullback (who mortlock ran through to score the winning try) into centres to be a goal kicker (because carlos couldnt kick), despite having danCarter in the team.
screwed over jeffWilson, taineRandell, antonOliver and loads of other experienced ABs.

 

[mania]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby...rugby-face-massive-bill-to-hire-john-mitchell

luckily england is the richest rugby nation and can afford to pay shtloads of money for a has been. so mitchell has won a currieCup, once. anything else?

 

[RedruthRFC]

so mitchell has won a currieCup, once. anything else?

Nice try. Does this mean that you don't consider the Tri Nations / Bledisloe Cup noteworthy?