Who is England 12?

[MrTea_32]

Now that the 6 nations finished and burrell has had a good run out at 12 I think he's shown he definitely isn't England's answer for the 12 shirt and neither is Billy twelvetrees.

I was just wondering what everyone else thinks to one of England's still unanswered questions.

If it was me I would have Eastmond at 12, he can tackle despite what some people say I think he has a better tackle completion rate than twelvetrees and burrell this season.
He's much more of a threat in attack probably the nearest we have got to Jason Robinson with his running style, he can distribute and also kick, the little rugby league style grubbers he puts in for bath create tries.
He's a game changer and the trump card is he plays week in week out with ford and Joseph and Watson so they know how each other play which can only benefit.
It's pretty disappointing Lancaster didn't try other players like slade because this 6 nations has proven that burrell is not an international centre.

It would be interesting in the next few months if tuilagi gets back from fitness I'd try him at 12 like alot of people are saying because Joseph should be one of the first names on the team sheet and obviously let's just see how Sam burgess gets on hopefully he'll come good and be a squad player for the world cup.

It's shown how conservative and boring Lancasters selection can be as it took lots of injurys for him to pick players like Joseph, a player who should have got his shot way before.
After this world cup I'm not sure Lancaster is the man to take us to the world cup in Japan maybe a southern hemisphere coach would allow England to play more expensive rugby and make better selections without having his hand forced.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I feel pretty confident in saying that the coaches will be looking for a lump (I don't mean that negatively).
I cannot see them picking Kyle, unfortunately, unless Bath go on to win the premiership... and even then....

I think they are crossing everything they have that Manu will be fit - and to be fair, if you played Manu in the role Burrell played this tournament I think it would work quite well.
I think it could work very well if he could get his offload game going and he looked to distribute marginally more.
His fitness is a bit unclear to the general public though... I've heard mixed things about whether he'll be fit in time.

Perhaps Burgess is being groomed as a crash ball guy by Stuart as a back up to Tuilagi... it wouldn't surprise me.

I do feel though, that picking someone like Barritt would be a very noncommital choice.
Either you pick someone for some wallop or you go the other way and pick Slade or Eastmond.
Frankly I think Hill, callow as he is, would be a better choice in terms of having an identifiable gameplan than Barritt.

 

[Tony Manx]

There really is no time now to "try" people as there are just the three friendlies which are hardly competitive. Besides can Manu really be Match fit if not played this season?

Lancaster SHOULD go for Eastmond or Slade but WILL go for Barritt or Farrell. No question or argument!!!!

 

[barkinghooker]

Shame Eastmond ain't a 9. I don't think Burrell has proved he ain't our 12. Sometimes he has the blinkers on but he's a battering ram. I'd play Eastmond at 12 with farrell at 10 though . I'd stick with Burrell and have tuilagi as sub and bring him on every game.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Sometimes he has the blinkers on but he's a battering ram.

He really isn't though.

 

[Wendigo7]

Shame Eastmond ain't a 9. I don't think Burrell has proved he ain't our 12. Sometimes he has the blinkers on but he's a battering ram. I'd play Eastmond at 12 with farrell at 10 though . I'd stick with Burrell and have tuilagi as sub and bring him on every game.

Barritt looking at the defensive issues yesterday in the short term would be a decent call.

For what it's worth we're a side in transition. Moving from very defensive to very attacking has created new issues with a new style of play and it will take more games for the players to get used to it but longer term it should be for the better.

Need a bit more fitness, cut out the errors, find a 6 and don't leave the right wing so terribly exposed and we'll be one of the best teams going.

I think picking on the side now would be hilariously hypercritical. 5 games now before the world cup (USA, Barbars, 2 x France and Ireland) should be a nice warm up.

Back the lads to do well. Should win both crunch games, get out the group comfortably then all bets are off (Be positive for once)

 

[j'nuh]

I think this Six Nations was the last chance saloon for any new players to be involved in time for the WC. I don't see why the coaches would leave Slade/Hill out all tournament if they were in the coaches plans for the WC.

If Tuilagi isn't fit, then I think they will go with Barritt. I would too to be honest. Burrell didn't do much in attack and the rest of the backline still managed a fair amount of attacking rugby. Makes me think we can get away with Barritt there and still have a decent attacking game.

If Tuilagi is fit, then I don't know. Tuilagi-Joseph is too tempting going forward that you kind of have to trial it again and see how that goes, but on the other hand the backline really needs a defensive leader...

 

[Wendigo7]

I think this Six Nations was the last chance saloon for any new players to be involved in time for the WC. I don't see why the coaches would leave Slade/Hill out all tournament if they were in the coaches plans for the WC.

If Tuilagi isn't fit, then I think they will go with Barritt. I would too to be honest. Burrell didn't do much in attack and the rest of the backline still managed a fair amount of attacking rugby. Makes me think we can get away with Barritt there and still have a decent attacking game.

If Tuilagi is fit, then I don't know. Tuilagi-Joseph is too tempting going forward that you kind of have to trial it again and see how that goes, but on the other hand the backline really needs a defensive leader...

Joseph runs the England defence I believe now.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I'd be ok with Barritt to get us through the world cup. Burrell didn't offer much crash ball, didn't offer much distribution, had poor handling and wasn't that great in defense. With Barritt we can at least get the solid defense and I don't think we will really lose anything in attack, the normal criticism of him, because our 12s have been so **** poor in attack recently.

12trees has looked good coming on as an impact sub and I'm tempted to let him stay on the pitch longer, possibly 20-30 minutes to see if he can maintain his form longer. If only he wasn't so damn inconsistant...

 

[barkinghooker]

No, he's not a battering ram 'tuilagi' like but that's how he's being played right ?

 

[McTallshort]

Not Burell anymore

 

[ratsapprentice]

No, he's not a battering ram 'tuilagi' like but that's how he's being played right ?

If they put Jordan Crane in at first receiver to play as a distributor, it wouldn't make him a good distributor.

Now, clearly that's an exaggeration, but Burrell isn't powerful enough to be described as a "battering ram" - he's a reasonably physical 12 who is fairly easily handled at international level.

 

[MrTea_32]

Burrell certainly isn't a battering ram though he should be the size of him.
I can't see to many changes to the squad as they've had a good run of games together and a good performance against France minor a few things to work on.
Yeah Barrett would be a safe choice and if Lancaster won't go with eastmond or slade and manu isn't back then he would be my choice for the wc.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Burrell is a passenger.
I prefer 12 trees over burrell and I really like the new wiggler they are playing this young lad Joseph.

 

[Peat]

Burrell or Twelvetrees might be the short term answer come the WC. A burst of decent form and they'd be decent options. I wouldn't rule them out.

Tuilagi and Joseph is the possible dream partnership. Barritt is, for me, the emergency break glass option.

 

[Aristodemus]

Burrell has been extremely annoying to watch this 6N, I would have played Eastmond myself, but I would have 36 ahead of Burrell also. People are touting Manu at 12 but that is a giant unknown. If Lancaster has this pair in mind then he has to play them in all 3 warm up games.

 

[yaboyjj]

36 played pretty well when he came on, and certainly does the distributing part well. Eastmond is just too small, he makes tackles, but England can't have another Ford type player in defence (ceding ground). Hill is a long shot, Tuilagi is a probable, I'm not sure Slade is big enough of physical enough either to effectively lead the blitz defence and put in dominant hits (which is quite important for an English IC), 36 can still come good and is still the most rounded 12 we have (defence, distribution and kicking game)..

 

[MrTea_32]

Burrell or Twelvetrees might be the short term answer come the WC. A burst of decent form and they'd be decent options. I wouldn't rule them out.

Tuilagi and Joseph is the possible dream partnership. Barritt is, for me, the emergency break glass option.

Probably the best description I've heard as to what barritt is to England

 

[msf]

I think we'll see Tuilagi-Joseph, or if that really doesn't work Barritt-Tuilagi. I really don't think we have a world class 12 available atm, so Burrell and Barritt are probably the best of a bad bunch. Eastmond is the only real attacking threat, but as someone else said, playing him and Ford against a team like South Africa or Wales would probably end in disaster. After the world cup, I would expect Atkinson to come into the equation - he's the closest thing we have to a Greenwood. I don't think Slade is big enough to defend aggressively/make hard yards at 12, but if we played him with Tuilagi they could switch roles in defence as Slade and Hill have been doing, since Slade looks solid defending at 13. The key thing is balance - Ford, Eastmond and Joseph would be great to watch, but I really don't think it's balanced enough to beat the big teams.

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Oops, I should have read Yaboyjj's post first...have to disagree about 12trees though, if he still doesn't look convincing at this age, he will never will in my opinion. He's another of those mixed players - some very good, some very bad, some indifferent. Just like Danny Care or Owen Farrell.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It's crazy seeing Sausage Legs touted as an international.
The switch from 10 to 12 really did him the world of good.