Spring Tour: South Africa - England - 1st Test (09/06/2012, 16:00 GMT)

[Harlequin - Red]

Interesting to see Foden play on the wing, but otherwise a good team choice

 

[TRF_heineken]

Barrit up against Frans Steyn...

and a debutant at prop...

This is gonna be good!

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Barritt playing in Durban again. Awesome! That's reason enough for it to be a special day.

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[Saintjay]

I hope Marler can hold his own in the scrum and both he and Hartley can keep cool. I will assume the Corbs is still not fully fit.
I can't see the wings or full back getting much ball from 10,12,13. Then again Brown will probably see a decent amount as is drops from the heavens. I still just want to see England as more of an attacking force.
A tad sorry for Dickson who has not done much wrong and good to see Joseph make the bench. A little Catt bias maybe

.
Overall I am happy just unsure of Flood not starting.

 

[Harlequin - Red]

If Marler plays as well as he has been in the last few games, then he will be fine. If Boks adopt their 'kick & chase' tactic then Foden & Ashton may get a fair amount of ball. If Joseph gets on he will add some creativity to England's midfield

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Ballsy is the word! I'm uneasy about Foden on the wing, Lancaster's leavign himself pretty open to criticism if it doesn't go well - people will (fairly enough) point to the fact taht we have some perfectly good wingers who could have been used so we coudl keep Foden at 15. Pressures on Brown, which I'm actually even more uncomfortable about. His nerve will really be tested.

It's an exciting team, even if I wouldn't have picked it myself. Marler is quality though, and if he scrummages like he has been in recent weeks he'll more than hold his own. With Cole, this could be a really strong partnership.

WAIT: just noticed Joseph crept into the 22! That's some result. Losing Strettle and gaining Joseph for the 22 is an awesome result, even if the positions got jumbled in the process!

Overall this is certainly Lancasters most 'ballsy' selection so far. I have to admit I never expected Jospeh Marler or Johnson to make a Test 22 so quickly. We've definitely prepared ourself well for counter attacking though, just hope the guys deliver on that front.

 

[eot345]

EOT - Johnson is certainly more physical than Dowson, beyond doubt.

Sry don't know why u gig got about him

 

[Harlequin - Red]

Ashton speaking about Habana

http://www.rfu.com/News/2012/June/NewsArticles/070612_Ashton_on_Habana.aspx

 

[Sker]

Eze, how have the Sharks' frontrow been holding up this season? I haven't been paying close attention to them.

Edit: Foden at 11? Is he good on the wing or better at fullback or equally good at both? I've never heard of that fullback you have there either. Is he good?

Am I also the only one thinking that Coenie Oosthuizen is going to be played as a supersub untill his scrummaging gets better, then he'll start? (he's a great poacher and carrier)

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Since Beast returned it has been better but Jannie is a liability. Concedes too many scrum penalties. I prefer Herbst over him.

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[TRF_stormer2010]

Am I the only one wondering what Pat Cilliers has to do to crack the nod as 1st choice tight head?

I think he is the best 3 in the country by some distance; a bit better than Jannie in the scrums and a hell of a lot more useful in general if not quite as good around the park as WP Nel but then much more solid in the scrum than Nel. Gets through a hell of a lot of tackles as well but then again the Lions have to do a lot of defensive work.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Eze, how have the Sharks' frontrow been holding up this season? I haven't been paying close attention to them.

Edit: Foden at 11? Is he good on the wing or better at fullback or equally good at both? I've never heard of that fullback you have there either. Is he good?

QUOTE]

I dont' know about others but I've not seen him play there. He's only being moved there because Strettle is out and Brown(in at 15) has been in good form for Harlequins. Foden is a superb 15 and I wouldn't really want him anywhere else, but if being played at 11 helps him get into the game abit more, then fair enough.

EDIT: Reading an article on rugbyweek.com, there was no mention of Strettle still being injured - just said 'with strettle missing out'. SO perhaps Lancaster has lost faith in Strettle.

 

[Peat]

I think Kruger is better than bekker or at least has been during this year. Bekker has struggled with his lower back right throughout this year though and hasn't been the Bekker of 2010/2011 so i suspect his chronic back troubles have something to do with it.

That's a shame - and anyway, the Bulls don't let fools run their lineouts.

Anyway - I'm really happy about this team, there's a couple of gambles but I'm happy to see them made. Only ****le is imo Flood should have started or Youngs should have benched, seems a better use of combinations, but that's it.

Game f**king on.

 

[TRF_heineken]

That's a shame - and anyway, the Bulls don't let fools run their lineouts.

Anyway - I'm really happy about this team, there's a couple of gambles but I'm happy to see them made. Only ****le is imo Flood should have started or Youngs should have benched, seems a better use of combinations, but that's it.

Game f**king on.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I also just can't wait a minute longer.... I'm seriously considering taking sleeping pills to get me through tomorrow.

Let the home team win.

 

[Teh Mite]

Brown being shoehorned in, a selection with Catt written all over it.

Not convinced by the pack, be nice to be proven wrong for my pesimism.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

I also just can't wait a minute longer.... I'm seriously considering taking sleeping pills to get me through tomorrow.

Let the home team win.

You must have been so bored by England games back in 2009 when you were putting 50 on us (though I suppose winning well never gets boring!) . At least you'll get a game now!

Teh Mite, I'm not convinced by the pack per se, but it could work. Botha is a player who has never convinced me fully but always just about played well enough to deserve another chance.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

The 50+ points matches against England were in '07

Best win against England however was in 2008 at Twickenham... 6-42


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[Patchey]

I have a feeling we are really going to miss Croft. Credit to Johnson, he deserves the cap but during the 6N and pre-injury in the Premiership Croft seemed to have hit form big time. Also not so sure how Mahler will hold up, he's got a bit of a temper and I can imagine the 'Boks may well try to rile him.

As for the backs, I'm not too shocked about the fact that Foden and Brown are starting. Pretty obvious that the 'Boks are going to be putting snow on the ball and having two fullbacks playing is probably quite smart. I can also imagine that they might switch position throughout the game with Foden dropping back into 15 on the attack to keep South Africa on their toes. Either way neither of them can do worse on the wing that Strettle. Very excited to see Joseph get some time, he looked pretty handy against the Barbarians (although by the time he came on England had already won the game) and two tries in your first international game is not to be sniffed at no matter who the opposition is. I haven't seen much of London Irish play this year but from what I've heard he is a bit of a creative player too? This can only be a good thing...

 

[SomeOke]

More so than how England handle the kicks, I'm interested to see how they handle our massive ball carriers. I'm talking about Bismarck, Etzebeth, Coetzee and Willem here.
If the England line is scrambling backwards from the forward momentum it makes the kick-and chases all the more difficult to handle calmly.