England Six Nations thread

[IRISH RUGBY MAN]

I expect/hope he will get a start vs Scotland . I think he will overtake Farrell as number 1 before the RWC

Are there questions over his goal kicking ability? i think he could spark the england back line into a bit more life and give it more creativity. Really impressed with the back line in the first half for bath. Joseph looks good, is he Saxons? I think it's going to be interesting to see the battle for the wing position. With Brown more or less nailed down at 15, the winger is the most interesting part of the England team. Watson? May? Nowell? Ashton? I doubt he will look past Ashton but I think it would benefit England if they did. I'd start may and Watson but that's just me, most attacking back three in a while

 

[TRF_Olyy]

He has his off days at the tee but no more than Farrell.

 

[McTallshort]

Lets not get carried away. Bath were playing a 2nd 15 tonight.

 

[IRISH RUGBY MAN]

Aye that's true. But bath put them to the sword. I'd pick Eastmond at 12 for England, so much more creative than Barritt and although billy is quite a good player, was disappointed with his performance against Munster. But I haven't watched enough to make a proper suggestion

 

[Maverick1987]

Are there questions over his goal kicking ability? i think he could spark the england back line into a bit more life and give it more creativity. Really impressed with the back line in the first half for bath. Joseph looks good, is he Saxons? I think it's going to be interesting to see the battle for the wing position. With Brown more or less nailed down at 15, the winger is the most interesting part of the England team. Watson? May? Nowell? Ashton? I doubt he will look past Ashton but I think it would benefit England if they did. I'd start may and Watson but that's just me, most attacking back three in a while

I went for May and Watson on the wings in my team with Nowell covering the 23 shirt

 

[Maverick1987]

Lets not get carried away. Bath were playing a 2nd 15 tonight.

Been doing it all season though and in ****ty weather . Looking forward to spring hopefully see them playing on some hard ground

 

[ratsapprentice]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/16/england-saxons-semesa-rokodugundi

Rokodugundi in the Saxons.

I can see him overtaking everyone else tbh.

 

[IRISH RUGBY MAN]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/16/england-saxons-semesa-rokodugundi

Rokodugundi in the Saxons.

I can see him overtaking everyone else tbh.

Get Ashton out!

 

[Peat]

He has his off days at the tee but no more than Farrell.

Much as I'd love to agree, I can't, Farrell is a predominantly very good kicker (albeit short ranged) with off days, George Ford is a predominantly indifferent kicker.

Farrell's not a kicker to hang your hat on in the way that Halfpenny or Steyn are - but he is a distinct difference away from his rivals.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/16/england-saxons-semesa-rokodugundi

Rokodugundi in the Saxons.

I can see him overtaking everyone else tbh.

Didn't realise he was still in the army, to be honest.
Very very good player, I imagine there will be grumbles about "poaching" but if he's willing to put his life on the line in the British army and wants to/is qualified to play rugby for England then the detractors can swivel.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Yep still in the Army - extremely good marketing for them - they do it with a fair few olympians too.
More than that though... if things didn't work out with Bath then it would have been very difficult to "slot back in" to his military career if he had left.
I don't know whether you've had any experience with military admin, but it can be quite long winded!
Bear in mind that his opportunity with Bath came from representing the Army team.

 

[Big Ewis]

so how about them Northampton Saints ?

 

[ratsapprentice]

What about them?

 

[Peat]

Didn't realise he was still in the army, to be honest.
Very very good player, I imagine there will be grumbles about "poaching" but if he's willing to put his life on the line in the British army and wants to/is qualified to play rugby for England then the detractors can swivel.

I've got to say, if anyone has earned the right to play for England, it's him... but, eh, I kinda wish he wasn't, there's been so many guys brought in on residency and qualifications recently. Oh well. He wants to do it, he's earned it, he's good enough and hopefully long term its another nail in Ashton's coffin.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The way I see it, it's fine.
I don't think we've ever waited for a player to be eligible in the way that Scotland/Ireland do. If someone's good enough, and qualified, we'll pick them. Rokoduguni has been in the country since '07, but only been a pro rugby player for Bath since...last season? So he was eligible for England for 2-3 years before he was even a pro.

 

[Peat]

The way I see it, it's fine.
I don't think we've ever waited for a player to be eligible in the way that Scotland/Ireland do. If someone's good enough, and qualified, we'll pick them. Rokoduguni has been in the country since '07, but only been a pro rugby player for Bath since...last season? So he was eligible for England for 2-3 years before he was even a pro.

The individual case is fine but the cumulative impact is not something I like. It makes me feel less interested in the team when I consider the whole thing; less that this is representative. Nevertheless, good luck to him, I hope he becomes a success.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I agree Peat.

I just hope we don't see any more Hape's, Waldrom's or Flutey's.

 

[Peat]

Seen no discussion of this

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...g-players-are-absolutely-hanging-9056754.html

"As a result England will treat the eight-week duration of the Six Nations as a rest period, with the squad given four days off in some weeks instead of training to work on their shortcomings."

Grim news on a number of levels.

 

[Patchey]

Seen no discussion of this

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...g-players-are-absolutely-hanging-9056754.html

"As a result England will treat the eight-week duration of the Six Nations as a rest period, with the squad given four days off in some weeks instead of training to work on their shortcomings."

Grim news on a number of levels.

Having to use the biggest non-RWC event as a rest period? Not even the French aren't having to do that!

I guess there are more players injured than usual and there is no denying that the domestic schedule is stuffed to bursting. However considering that there weren't that many English Lions tourists, certainly not test team players, and that most senior non-tourists didn't go to Argentina I am surprised by this. Can the Premiership and HEC really have that big an impact upon players fitness? I don't doubt that what Lancaster says is true but I am a little confused by it.

From a Six Nations point of view this is, of course, very bad for us. If we were a well drilled, clinical and consistently excellent team I wouldn't be so worried. But we're not. We've got plenty of deficiencies we need to work on an two days training (presumably one of those will be the captain's run) is not enough to do that work.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Blaming overload on most of those injuries doesn't seem right to me.

Corbisiero's injury does, in fact seem to be chronic.
Croft has a long history of severe injuries.
Wade's was an acute injury.
Care's was an acute injury.

Yarde's was an acute injury (I think, not 100%)

Manu's is difficult to call, it was a bit of a freak injury. It's entirely possible that it was due to lack of rest.
Parling's was probably due do poor rest.
Wilson's may have been due to overplaying.

At least half of the current EPS injuries I think you could argue have nothing to do with lack of rest.


Saxons team announced: http://www.rfu.com/news/2014/january/news-articles/170114_saxons_to_play_wolfhounds

Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby)
Calum Clark (Northampton Saints)
Will Collier (Harlequins)
Sam Dickinson (Northampton Saints)
Dave Ewers (Exeter Chiefs)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Jamie Gibson (Leicester Tigers)
Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)
Luke Wallace (Harlequins)
Alex Waller (Northampton Saints)
Dave Ward (Harlequins)
Scott Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)
[h=3]Backs (10)[/h] Miles Benjamin (Leicester Tigers)
Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby)
Elliot Daly (London Wasps)
Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Dave Lewis (Exeter Chiefs)
Joe Simpson (London Wasps)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby)
Mathew Tait (Leicester Tigers)
Tom Varndell (London Wasps