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[RWC19 Warm-Up] - England vs. Italy

England team vs Italy
Anthony Watson; Ruaridh McConnochie, Joe Marchant, Piers Francis, Jonny May' Owen Farrell, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Jamie George, Dan Cole; Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes; Tom Curry, Mark Wilson, Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler, Charlie Ewels, Matt Kvesic, Willi Heinz, George Ford, Joe Cokanasiga.
 
Surprised hes risking george curry and billy and not playing ludlam and singleton...injury? Dont they need gametime? But not surpriced to see marchant, kvesic, ewels in there as EJ knows the 31 he is taking so good for the extras to get gametime

Overall happy with the team just worried for few players, hope Mcc gets a game
 
Been away a while, now I'm back :)

Keeping the players on standby familiar with the team which is sensible in case they get a call up. Billy is fine, better with games and he will come off for Kvesic anyway. I'm excited to see Kvesic even if he isn't in the 31.

The back 3 look proper rapid.

The only surprise is Ludlam and Singleton but they have still appeared in 2 out of the 4 games in these warm ups, so not really seeing a problem.
 
Curry at 6 and Wilson at 7?

I hate Jones....just play a 7 at 7 you idiot!!!
It is just numbers but tbh Wilson will not ever be a 7 in the WC as we have underhill curry and ludlam with kvesic as bsck up. We arnt short of 7s so i agree i dont get this and i wanted wilson with 80 min as our 8.
 
Difficult to see the value in this game. I too have concerns around injuries to top players, although EJ seems to have removed many of them this time round. Will be nice for McConnochie to get a run out, but won't really tell us much about his ability given the quality of the opposition. I hate to run Italy down, but they really haven't improved much for years and I would say have actually got a little worse of late. This game feels a bit like a big kid picking on a little kid to make themselves feel better before an event.

The most useful thing I thinks we will get out of this is trying Marler as a tighthead, and Watson being 15 for a full match and settling him into that role a little. But again, against one of the worst tactical kicking sides in world rugby, it's hardly going to be a challenge.

All that being said Italy will probably have the game of their lives now

Anyway hope for dry weather and some good to watch running rugby on a Friday evening.

Huzzah!
 
I see value in the back up players getting a run out as well as Francis getting time outside Farrell.

Watson needs another run out. Billy likes to keep fit in games, and tbh has spent the best part of the last few years out, so game time is important for him. I'd maybe have started JJ but like I said, there is value and even our squad players will have played 2/4 warm up games..
 
If it's just numbers then why doesn't Jones pick the correct ones? Almost like he messes with stuff just to be a dick.
 
If it's just numbers then why doesn't Jones pick the correct ones? Almost like he messes with stuff just to be a dick.
I think it's priorities.
Billy is first choice 8, and always plays better after a run a games (I wouldn't have played him this week, but, the logic is there).
Curry is 2nd choice BSF, so needs game time there.
Wilson needs game time, but it doesn't really matter where, the 7 shirt is free, so he gets that.

It's a warm-up against Italy, it really doesn't matter all that much
 
Decent enough side, but really shows how pointless this game is when we're bringing in multiple players who aren't even in the RWC squad.

Why is Binny starting though?
If he's set on these players for this game it should be:
6. Kvesic, 7. Curry, 8. Wilson, 20. Binny


Edit: Also didn't realise this was on Friday, not Saturday, so I'll likely be watching IT Chapter 2 while it's on anyway
 
JJ might be injured, which explains Marchant getting a start.

Would be a shame to lose JJ, but I'm also a fan of Marchant...
 
Losing both Slade and JJ would be a shitter, especially considering how fragile Manu is
 
Billy at 8? Again?!

And what's the point in Singleton being in the squad if his role in the squad is apparently just to play 2 minutes off the bench at 7.
 
So it's important 5th choice lock Ewels gets some game time but not a 3rd choice SH or TH?

Given his track record, the risk of Binny getting hurt vs the possible micro benefit of him getting a little more game time is just bonkers.

George, Faz, May, Watson, Youngs and Curry are all likely first choices too. Some of those are crucial, why aren't they wrapped in cotton wool? They all need to be properly fit in a month and I'd think most would also be expecting some time maybe off the bench vs US and Tonga so that they don't hit the bigger matches cold.

Where's Ludlam? He had to rest vs Ire, but I thought he was available for this? Don't mind seeing Kvesic involved, but if Ludlam's to be anything other than a passenger then he needs time. Ditto Singleton.
 

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