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England squad

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Bullitt

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FORWARDS (16)
Steve Borthwick (Bath Rugby) - Has been nothing short of average every time he has put on the shirt in recent times, but he plays for bath so gets the nod. God help us.
George Chuter (Leicester Tigers) - Meh.
Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers) - He simply cannot perform at international level and is officially the least successful, therefore worst, leader the national side has ever had.
Lawrence Dallaglio (London Wasps) - It was inevitable. But he is the most important player in the history of the world, so how could he be left out? Horrible Italian c***.
Nick Easter (Harlequins) - Absolutely no problem with his inclusion. Now, he MUST be played every game.
Perry Freshwater (Perpignan) - A great backup prop, could even do the business as a starter.
Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers) - Why? Oh yeah, because he's previously won a world cup so must be worthy, even though Deacon at Leicester always outplays him...
Lee Mears (Bath Rugby) - We may have a shortage of Hookers ATM, but the only one in England worse then him is Regan.
Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers) - And a 14 man England loose yet another game because of a late penalty given away.
Tom Rees (London Wasps) - That's more like it.
Mark Regan (Bristol Rugby) - Gets regularly out shoved in the scrum, cannot through a lineout to save his life and, as so perfectly described by Barnes', could irritate a Buddhist monk.
Simon Shaw (London Wasps) - Has looked good in recent weeks, fair play to him.
Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks) - Is presently looking good, so is bound to get injured.
Matt Stevens (Bath Rugby) - A player from Bath that's worthy of a call up on merit rather then which club he plays for.
Phil Vickery © (London Wasps) - Old, past it, not very good, squandered a golden opportunity to win against France. Of course he deserves a call up.
Joe Worsley (London Wasps) - Doesn't even need ridicule. Simply shouldn't be there, especially in place of Haskell.

BACKS (14)
Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby) - Can kick, can't play. BAD BAD selection. Flood misses out because of Bath nepotism. <_<
Mike Catt (London Irish) - Has proven he's presently the best 12 who's been considered, being as Gloucester players aren't allowed, therefore Allen will never get his chance.
Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks) - Hasn't done f-all for a couple of years now, not a good start. Will probably be played at 15 instead of on the wing, which is another stupid move.
Andy Farrell (Saracens) - Why?
Andy Gomarsall (Harlequins) - Better then Perry at least, should still have been Paul Hodgson who took the shirt.
Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers) - Hurrah! An intelligent selection! So, expect him to bench warm for Noon in the crunch games... <_<
Josh Lewsey (London Wasps) - A spent force, at least he's not Varndell.
Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons) - Great in defence, although he's not much use in attack. In an ideal world he'll be a last 10 minutes impact sub to close out a game, but he'll probably be a first choice 13.
Shaun Perry (Bristol Rugby) - Why exactly are people banging on about him so much?
Peter Richards (Gloucester Rugby) - Presently England's best 9, so expect him to be 3rd choice.
Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks) - Can still get the job done, was never in doubt that he'd go, let us prey he plays at full back.
Paul Sackey (London Wasps) - A highly intelligent selection, I expect him to have a fantastic game against the USA before getting dropped for no reason.
Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons) - Meh. Alright if there's a mid-week 7s tournament.
Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons) - Was never in doubt, not half the player he once was, but please lord! Don't get him injured, we only have Ollie "useless c***" Barkley remaining otherwise! :eek:

CUT (8)
Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby) - Had a great game against France, possibly deserved a chance. A shame for him and possibly England. Ironic Baths' player in the training squad gets cut however...
Danny Cipriani (London Wasps) - Maybe too young? Should be the 1st choice by the time New Zealand 2011 comes along.
Toby Flood (Newcastle Falcons) - STUPID, STUPID, STUPID BATH NEPOTISM. F*** OFF ASHTON.
James Haskell (London Wasps) - You drop this man, who does all the work in Wasps' back row and wins them games, for his Italian club mate glory boy? Riiiight...
Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks) - Couldn't care.
Tom Palmer (London Wasps) - So we missed out on the best lock in the country so we could play a Bath player...
Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby) - Looked good in recent months before his broken leg, but probably couldn't hack it any more at the top level.
Kevin Yates (Saracens) - Erm... Who?


So, out of that lot, what sort of team could be strong?

1. Sheridan
2. Chuter
3. Stevens
4. Shaw
5. Kay
6. Corry (This squad is very light on back row players)
7. Rees
8. Easter
9. Richards
10. Wilkinson
11. Lewsey
12. Catt ©
13. Hipkiss
14. Sackey
15. Robinson

16. Mears
17. Freshwater
18. Borthwick
19. Corry
20. Gommersall
21. Noon
22. Cueto


God help us.
 
I disagree with you on Dallaglio. As a South African, I'd be more worried if he was in the starting line-up for the RWC group game. Also like the look of Easter.

Playing Corry at flank is a joke. Can Easter or Dallaglio play flank?
 
Playing Corry full stop ius a joke, but needs be what one must. Horrible Italian C*** can play 7 and Easter can play 6, but moving big Nick to the flank would leave a huge hole in the back row with nowhere near enough talent to fill the gaps.

A problem easily solved if Haskell had gone to France in place of Corry or Moody... <_<
 
Excuse my ignorance, but what happened to Geraghty? Is he injured or did he get dropped ages ago? He looked very good in the game vs France last year. What happened to him?
 
I see a few players who "can" play fullback but I don't see any actual fullbacks.

Square pegs and round holes. Brian Ashton could do a job swap with Steve McClaren. You wouldn't notice the difference.


Hello by the way, new to the board. B)
 
I hope england got saver return tickets for the eurostar...mind you with all the O.A.Ps in the team ye probably got a group discount...heh heh heh.
 
Good news for Samoa then. I wan't Samoa to beat England, just because i think it'd give England a kick up the ass.
 
Words simply cannot describe the sheer disappointment and frustration at this selection. Seeing players consistently under perform and cause Ashton serious stress related problems, only to see them continue onto the final thirty. At the same time to see talented guys such as Flood & Cipriani lose out is nothing short of criminal.

Ashton has put his money on age and (alleged) experience rather than on form. Unless Tom Rees can recover in time for the next warm up game in five days we will have problems against France. If Ashton opts to play Dallaglio from the start instead of Easter and Dallaglio fades like he did in the match just gone, we will have serious problems.

At the end of the day, the squad has been picked and with this we can make bangers and mash. There is no point in being overly mean and nasty but if Ashton had given us guys like Geraghty, Cipriani and Jon Clarke (Northampton) then we could have made something like an Italian risotto with fresh tiger prawns for a Michilan Star restaurant.
 
Perry is the man at 9. Gomersall is smart. Richards is an ego driven possession waster. Guess it depends on the style of play you prefer.

The pack is very powerful, but needs smart players to start in the backrow.

Everything hinges on the centers. Don't forget Noone went over the line twice against an AB team in stunning form - is De Villiers a better defender than Nonu? But Catt & Hipkiss look like the crowd pleasers.

It's only SA you have to beat - push them off their own scrum like you did the French, and they'll die of embarassment.
 
Again, why are people so far up Perry's backside? Did I miss this wonderful game he had for England?

All I've seen is a fat welder roll around at the bottom of a ruck for 80 minutes.
 
Leaving out Haskell is an utter shocker. Not taking at least one of Abendanon or Cipriani is also a huge mistake.

Not suprised in the least though. The decision of the final squad has totally quashed any sense of hope that may have been lingering.
 
I think we'll have to admit that we don't have any decent scrum halfs out of Ellis, Perry, Richards or Gomersall. After watching Perry closely in the last two matches, I've noticed that while he has at least an eye for the gap, he hasn't the pace to do anything about it. Also, he seems to have slowed down a fair bit and he only barely beats Ellis at the time it takes to dig the ball out. And I'm talking 25 seconds against 30.

Richards isn't any better, his pass is flawed and he just doesn't seem as sharp or sly as someone we need. Gomersall is just plain past it, he is good enough to keep in touch with today's standard of scrum half but is just plain mediocre.

In all, not one of England's officially selected four scrum half candidates pass muster today in my opinion. I think it is time to cast the net wider and start the search for a new youngster.
 
I'd disagree about Ben Kay. He's been gathering form steadily at Leicester after a naff 3 years, and Deacon simply didn't step up for England in the 6N like he does for Tigers.
 
Why with Wilko's injury history did we not take a 3rd FH?? :rolleyes:
Why oh why didn't Flood go? Ironically called up now as replacement for Noon. Too little too late!
 

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