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England World Cup Squad

If Faz is out I presume we go Ford/Manu/Slade - JJ bench
If May is out, and so is Nowell then....... Daly, Joe, Watson?


Tell you who I forgot was at the world cup: Piers Francis. Presumably he'd be on the bench with JJ if Farrell/May/Nowell are all unavailable - EJ seems to like two centres on the bench, though I'd rather a back 3 (McConnochie?)

This is all really worst case scenario though. I think Faz will definitely be there - May probably too (not seen any reports on any injury to him)
 
To be completely fair to Jones regarding McConochie/Spencer, I saw someone go through the numbers (in every Irish world cup squad) regarding the amount of time third choice scrumhalves get at world cups and the only conclusion was that taking one was a complete waste of a spot. It's entirely possible to get through a tournament without playing them at all (although you could say the same about McConochie). They're realistically only there as break glass move if two other players get injured, despite the obvious disadvantages of calling players up from outside the squad there's very little you're getting from having them with you that you aren't also getting if they're playing for their club (at least this way Spencer is flying out having played some amount of rugby).

As for McConochie, that's obviously a selection with Jack Nowell in mind. It's pretty clear that he was desperate to have Nowell in the squad despite the potential for him to miss most of the tournament. The way England's squad shaped up it basically left Eddie Jones with a free spot and he basically used it to make sure he had five back three players available for the pool stage (which is probably needed). It looks silly now because now you have three wingers not in the 23 but I can understand the reasoning behind it.
 
I understand the logic of McConnochie WRT to Nowells injury, but McConnochie was injured for almost as long as Nowell - think he was available for only one game before Nowell was fit again

That said: there really wasn't much behind him. Thorley (also on zero caps, but McConnochie has Olympics/big game experience), Ashton (ruled himself out due to his pregnant wife), Solomona (ruled out through injury) and Mike Brown (on the naughty step for scrapping or whatever)
 
I understand the logic of McConnochie WRT to Nowells injury, but McConnochie was injured for almost as long as Nowell - think he was available for only one game before Nowell was fit again

That said: there really wasn't much behind him. Thorley (also on zero caps, but McConnochie has Olympics/big game experience), Ashton (ruled himself out due to his pregnant wife), Solomona (ruled out through injury) and Mike Brown (on the naughty step for scrapping or whatever)
I could easily be wrong, but wasn't he injured the week before the squad was announced, missed 2 warm up matches, had a set-back before the 3rd, and played the 4th, and been fit since?

I'd also add that the other controversial selection (Francis) was there in much the same way - to cover the existing injury to Slade.

As it pans out Slade recovered in around the time expected - was terrible on his return, and okay in his second - so just about in contention for the final.
Has Nowell been fit yet? Surely he was the one who should have been left at home.

I'd also point out, that we've been incredibly lucky with injuries. The only player who's picked up an injury and had to miss a match during the RWC is Heinz. All our other injury considerations have been minor enough to play through (May) or injuries we took out with us.

Despite all of this, I still say, that we should have left Francis and Nowell/McConnochie back home, and taken Spencer and Williams out there. Those guys were only there as squad filler to play the USA, or in case of 2 injuries in the same position - leaving us no cover on case of 1 injury in key positions - however little game time 3rd choice SHs tend to get in RWCs (I strongly suspect 5th choice wingers and 4th choice centres get equally little gametime - there's a maximum of 1 match where you'd want to play them; otherwise, they're sitting there waiting for an injury to even have a shot at the bench)
 
Yep, and picking McConnochie and Francis you know they weren't going to kick up a fuss as they wouldn't expect to play. Spencer, being a European Championship and Premiership winning number 9 would be more peeved to be out there not playing than not being picked. He should've been there anyway as one of our two SHs. Anyway, I would've deffo taken 3 SHs but EJ has constantly said its hard in training with 3 SHs and 3 FHs as there is always someone sitting out.

It is what it is, Spencer to score a fantastic breakaway try in the final 10 to put the result beyond SA :)
 
Even after Nowell was injured after Argentina game The 23 shirt went to Joseph not Mcconnichie or Cockanasinga which begs the question about them.
 
Nice to see Gatland using one of his last ever press conferences as the Wales head coach to have a pop at the English

Even nicer to see EJ shoot him right down


Warren Gatland: "We have seen in previous World Cups that teams sometimes play their final in the semi-finals. It will be interesting to see how England are."

Eddie Jones: "Can you just send my best wishes to Warren to make sure he enjoys the third and fourth place play-off?"
https://twitter.com/AlexMLowe/status/1188730065623764992?s=19
 
Why have a pot shot at us? I mean why waste your breath....
 
Nice to see Gatland using one of his last ever press conferences as the Wales head coach to have a pop at the English

Even nicer to see EJ shoot him right down



https://twitter.com/AlexMLowe/status/1188730065623764992?s=19
73301246_208074300188752_2520707239346438144_n.jpg

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When did May pick his up? His failure to beat Barrett and score was pretty early in the game IIRC.

I thought him getting caught by Barrett was due to his hamstring problem. Dont remember him getting a dead leg later on .
He did have an ice pack on his hamstring after he was taken off so it might just be that.
 
May was struggling in the first half, and right at the start of the second he got a knock and was limping back into the defensive line (I think around the times Youngs did the grubber thru, a hectic moment of play). Came off straight after that.
 

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