England Saxons v Italy A

[Duckdee]

England Saxons (v Italy A, Sixways Stadium, Saturday, January 29, 3.15pm)
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins)
14 James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
13 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
12 Billy Twelvetrees (Leicester Tigers)
11 Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
10 Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
9 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins)
2 Lee Mears (Bath Rugby)
3 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
4 Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors)
5 Christian Day (Northampton Saints)
6 James Gaskell (Sale Sharks)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain)
8 Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)

Replacements
16 James Buckland (London Irish)
17 Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby)
18 George Robson (Harlequins)
19 Andrew Saull (Saracens)
20 Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
21 Brad Barritt (Saracens)
22 Olly Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)

 

[gingergenius]

i'd almost rather watch this than the proper england team.

strange to have a 2nd row playing blindside, and a blindside playing openside....

 

[Teh Mite]

Gaskells be playing a lot at flanker this season.

Pleased for Day, he's certainly earned it this year.

I'm assuming if Myler goes off, 36 moves to outhalf and Barritt to centre?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I wouldn't bet on the main England squad beating that Saxons team, that's a quality team

I thought Corbisiero was a loosey?

Gaskells switches between 6 and lock at Sale, but says he prefers to play 6 than lock and has played there all games since his injury

 

[gingergenius]

Decent first half from England. Kitchener's had a great half, as has Mike Brown, albeit against some shocking defence. Myler's kicking from hand has been very poor, plus the props need t work a lot on scrummaging. On the evidence I've seen this season, Marler's nowhere near test level yet.

Would be nice to see Gaskell & JSD get more involved.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Italys setpiece work has been great, and their 12/13 partnership (brothers, i think they said) is working very well, but their defence is poor

Twelvetrees offload for Browns try was supoib

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Kitchener for England scrumhalf!

 

[gingergenius]

certainly got a lot more vision than half the people who've played centre for us in the last 5 years.

narraway also going well, JSD's answered my request to pop up more while Gaskell remains anonymous.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Aye, Gaskell not really done anything apart from take that try - just been getting his tackles in

Christian Day has been anonymous

Twelvetrees, Robshaw and Mike Brown all played very well, and should in the England squad over Hape, Worsley and Armitage respectively

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Aye, Gaskell not really done anything apart from take that try - just been getting his tackles in

Christian Day has been anonymous

Twelvetrees, Robshaw and Mike Brown all played very well, and should in the England squad over Hape, Worsley and Armitage respectively

Add to that JSD for Bananaman.

Only saw the last twenty. Italy looked good at times, although lucky not to concede penalty try. Tuilagi has great hands, how did he play overall? Can't really comment on the overall performance but good to see Robshaw building a case.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Tuilagi had a shaky first 10mins but then really came into it
Wasn't completely standout but played well (Twelvetrees stood out more than him)
My favourite Tuilagi moment was when he ran into a tackler, who then flew a metre backwards through the air and took out the player behind him too :lol:

 

[gingergenius]

It's certainly criminal that Robshaw isn't in the EPS. With Croft out he should certainly be starting 6. Didn't see him much today but Saull not being there, when 1) Moody's injured and 2) Fourie's old & limited, plus injured, is surprising also.

From today - as I said, Marler's got some scrummaging to improve on, but looks class in the loose. Kitchener was good; Day and Gaskell anonymous (probably got through a lot of unseen work though). Narraway looks a good player for the test side as well, if there are injuries.

Backs wise, we're pretty safe at 9 since we've got 5 decent options now. Myler really doesn't look the part above GP level though, but Twelvetrees does. My first proper look at him today, and I was impressed. Tuilagi should be in the England squad after the world cup imo. And JSD should be in it now.

Were I picking a 6 nations squad of 32 it'd go:

Props: Sheridan, Cole, Wilson, Doran-Jones
Hookers: Hartley, Thompson, Mears
Locks: [strike]Lawes[/strike], Palmer, [strike]Attwood[/strike], Shaw, Skivington, Kennedy
Back row: [strike]Croft[/strike], [strike]Moody[/strike], Easter, Robshaw, Saull, Dowson, Narraway, Wood

Scrum halves: Youngs, Care, Simpson
Fly Halves: Flood, Wilkinson
Centres: Waldouck, Tindall, Twelvetrees, Allen
Back 3: Cueto, Ashton, Foden, [strike]Armitage[/strike], Simpson-Daniel, Ojo, Brown

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah, Myler didn't impress me either
For the next match I'd be tempted to try
10. Twelvetrees
12. Barritt
21. Myler

 

[Duckdee]

Croft - Robshaw - Narraway, is a tantalizing prospect, based on that performance. I was a bit worried Tuilagi was trying too hard, but he settled in well, and Twelvetrees looked natural.

Agreed that JSD needs promoting, ASAP.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

How does Ugo Monye drop down from being in de B&I Lions squad in 09 to being in the Saxons squad in 11....?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Because he's not as good as Cueto/Ashton

He's a decent player, but was just the "flavour of the 6N" in the same way that Vainikolo/Sackey were in their time
Playing him at 15 last EOYT kind of killed him off as well

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Impressed by Twelvetrees but thought Tuilagi was trying to hard, instead of just being relaxed, although his run close to start of the game where he sat down one of the Pratichetti's and the other one was sliced down because of his brother falling .

Wales need to get on board with this, frustrating as hell not having an A-Side after watching the Blues v. Ospreys game the talent is there but it needs to have a level up from Regionals that might give an indication of whether they are good enough.

 

[veux]

Twelvetree's looked very good, really liked him. Myler looks limited, just someone who ships the ball onto the other players.