RBS 6 Nations - France vs England - 11/03/2012, 15:00

[TRF_Olyy]

So there's Marler and K. Dickson almost guaranteed to be released.
To be honest, I'd take Stevens over Marler, who would probably end up getting carded for punching someone.
Would take Dickson numero dos over Youngs in a heartbeat though.

 

[Teh Mite]

O'Connor at Tigers is making me chuckle, particularly about his Youngs comments. It's like Andy Goode verbally fellating Harry Ellis prior to the last Lions tour.

 

[Dicey]

I have said before that there is not alot between England ,Ireland , France and Wales and all the matches between these teams have been close too date. I don't see match being any different . This should be a good battle between France's flair and the English defence. England must also have been inspired by Ireland performance in Paris.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Behind o'Connors anger at non leicester players being selected he does have a lot of tructh in what he is saying. Players like Farrell, Hodgeson and Barrett just play and kick and chase penalty game week in week out for Sarries. They are never going to be able to suddendly play in an attacking style. Thats just as bad as expecting a player to play a completely different position at interntaionl level!

At the start of the 6 nations i wanted Lancaster to stay but if he keeps A. Farrell on his coaching team i want him gone.

England can't really beat any decent teams with their current game plan.

But at the same time i wouldnt' pick youngs or flood though. It is a joke having sarries backs playing for england though, i think worcester have scored more tries than sarries

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Behind o'Connors anger at non leicester players being selected he does have a lot of tructh in what he is saying. Players like Farrell, Hodgeson and Barrett just play and kick and chase penalty game week in week out for Sarries. They are never going to be able to suddendly play in an attacking style. Thats just as bad as expecting a player to play a completely different position at interntaionl level!

At the start of the 6 nations i wanted Lancaster to stay but if he keeps A. Farrell on his coaching team i want him gone.

England can't really beat any decent teams with their current game plan.

But at the same time i wouldnt' pick youngs or flood though. It is a joke having sarries backs playing for england though, i think worcester have scored more tries than sarries

About the coaching team, if we lose both our next two games they will very likely go. If we win both, they are very likely to stay. If we win one of the two, I don't know.

In terms of the available options, a Saracens midfield makes sense. Barritt is the form 12, who incidentally, does have attacking potentially, it's the gameplan around him which is defining his play. Flood was injured, Burns not ready for EPS, so in my opinion it simply had to be farrell or hodgson. The only thing I can say I outright disagreed with was the moving barritt and farrell around in Tuilagi's absence, because in that case we were shoe-horning a player into a position in which I don't think he was best in, simply to get him into the team. I would havre preferred Trinder or Allen with Farrell on the bench. And there would have been no reason at all why a midfield of 10 Hodgson 12 Barritt 13 Trinder could not have played attractive attacking rugby. It's not as if being part of saracens inherently renders you a boring player, Hodgson and barritt are both very skillful distriubting ball-players. What was missing was the 13.

Given available options at the beginning of the tournament, I think 10 Hodgson 12 Barritt was a no-brainer; not because we are deliberately styling ourselves on Saracens but because those are the in-form/ experienced enough players for those positions.

 

[B10]

Whens the team announced? I thought we usually announce it about 10/11am on thursday?

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Whens the team announced? I thought we usually announce it about 10/11am on thursday?

Not sure why you seem to thinkwe need a team mate!

It's annoying I know. I suppose because we normally announce two days before a game; thursday for satruday, and therefore friday for sunday.

 

[mouns86]

Whens the team announced? I thought we usually announce it about 10/11am on thursday?

The team will be announced tomorrow in the morning.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

From rfu.com:
England team to face France

15 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
14 Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
13 Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
12 Brad Barritt (Saracens)
11 David Strettle (Saracens)
10 Owen Farrell (Saracens)
9 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
1 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
4 Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
5 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)
6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt)
8 Ben Morgan (Scarlets)​

Replacements

16 Rob Webber (London Wasps)
17 Matt Stevens (Saracens)
18 Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
19 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)
20 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
21 Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
22 Mike Brown (Harlequins)



The only vaguely interesting thing about it is that Ashton/Strettle have swapped wings. Malzieu is going to run right over the top of Ashton.​

 

[Teh Mite]

Took them a while to notice Ashton is a right winger tbf.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

So is Strettle, though.

 

[racingmetrofan]

Mad that we don't have a better back up hooker than Webber - and Youngs is still there

The only positives with the French selection are we don't have to worry about Parras boot initially and that Beauxis isn't the most exciting player.

THat French back line looks dangerous as well - I recon they'll take Rougerie off if he's having a mare and put TD in at 12, which imo is his better position.

ENgland to win if they can click a bit more...

 

[Feicarsinn]

Could someone explain to me why England are persisting with Mike Brown on the bench? I know he's a good player and all, but considering that he can only cover fullback he's a luxury England can't afford. Especially considering that Foden is a top class operator and shouldn't be coming off unless he's having an absolute stonker. A winger or centre who has the capability to cover another position (ala JSD) would have been a far better choice.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Could someone explain to me why England are persisting with Mike Brown on the bench? I know he's a good player and all, but considering that he can only cover fullback he's a luxury England can't afford. Especially considering that Foden is a top class operator and shouldn't be coming off unless he's having an absolute stonker. A winger or centre who has the capability to cover another position (ala JSD) would have been a far better choice.

All very good points. I would say the coaching team feel the need to recognise the great form Mike Brown has been in. He must be at a loss to know what he has to do to play for England. The problem is, as you say, that Foden is basically just too good a player to be replaced at full-back. I suspect it's a way of keeping Brown in the mix, keeping him encouraged, and also the coaching team may have harbored hopes that he would turn out to be a viable alternative on the wing. I agree with you though, JSD or Sharples would be better choices for the bench spot.

 

[Teh Mite]

I suspect if asked, Foden could do a job at 13 if they lost a winger. Tuilagi could move to he wing and Brown take 15.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Here's an idea:
Dickson gets injured, Foden moves to 9, Brown to 15.

Would be a major step up from Youngs...

 

[Feicarsinn]

I suspect if asked, Foden could do a job at 13 if they lost a winger. Tuilagi could move to he wing and Brown take 15.

Would be reluctant to move Tualagi out of the midfield in truth. He's England's most effective back, so keeping him where he can see as much ball as possible would seem like common sense. Out of interest has Foden ever played in the midfield?

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Would be reluctant to move Tualagi out of the midfield in truth. He's England's most effective back, so keeping him where he can see as much ball as possible would seem like common sense. Out of interest has Foden ever played in the midfield?

I'm sure Teh Mite will know the answer to that. To be honest if think if we have a wing problem the limite i'd go to would be to stick foden or brown on the wing.

Oh and Olly: Yes!

 

[Feicarsinn]

That Brown lad is far too slow for the wing.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Zing.

I didn't think Brown was particularly slow?
He's a good counter attacker at Quins, so could (in theory) do a job covering the wing in an emergency.