England World Cup Squad

Who should be in and who should not? Who has the form, and who has just reputation?
Is Ashton going to pick a side purley to compete in this World Cup, or will he pick a side that he thinks will be competitive, but will gain valuable experience to challenge and hopefully win in four years time??
My personal view is that he should go for the latter. There has been too much uphieval in selection in the last three years for England to be in a position to win this World Cup, and there has been too much fighting between the clubs and the RFU for the squad to have had a realistic chance of success. Not excuses, just facts.
Younger players have also been over looked for too long, as World Cup winners were givne chance after chance after chance to show that they still had it!
So let's look forward, let's be brave and plan for four and a half years time.
With that in mind, it leads to some very interesting selection choices;
Balshaw?? Forget it. He was, and I underline was, a very talented attacking player, some years ago. Not anymore, and his body and maybe even his heart has given up the ghost.
Simpson-Daniel? As above sadly. Talented but far far too injury prone.
Full Back should still be Josh Lewsey. Ashton has said he will only consider him as a wing, which basically just leaves him Morgan as full back. Well I believe Lewsey is much better than him.
On the Wings I would go with Robinson, Strettle, Cueto and Sackey.
Centres would be Tait, Tindall (as I belive he will be fit!!), Catt and Barkley.
No 10 - Wilkinson, Flood, Geraghty ( and I do think Hodgson will be fit also)
Scrum half has to be Gommersall, Richards and not Perry!
Tight Head prop - **** knows !!! But I am told Stevens and Sheridan
Loose head prop - as above with Vickery and White
Hookers - Chuter, Regan and Mears
Locks - Palmer, Corry, Shaw and Borthwick. I thinkk Shaw is a great player, and has been for a while.
Number 6 - Worsley and Moody
Number 7 - Rees and Lund
Number 8 - Now here is a selection!!! Dallaglio, Haskell, Ward-Smith and Easter?? Youth and pace, or experience and guile?? Can Lawrence really do it and International level anymore? And if so for how long in a game because it will not be a full one? Will Ward-Smith be fit??
I watched Spies run, and was so grateful that I was just watching!! The power and pace around in the NZ, Boks and French back row is awesome. Lawrence does not have that anymore. BUT, and it is a big BUT, he has belief, he has experience and could be vital to a squad, as long as there is a strong enough captain to tell him to wind his neck in when necessary and to focus him on the team and not the Lwarence Dallaglio story.
So all that said I would change my back row and go for;
Number 6 - Worlsey and Haskell
Number 7 - Rees and Lund
Number 8 - Ward-Smith and Dallaglio

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WEBSITE

Hopefully some of you will notice the massive change to the website and the ability it now has as a networking site.
There are plenty more changes on the way, such as a video wall and crucial bits of information coming your way.
It should be great and I am very hopeful that it will become the place to find old rugby team mates, as well as the place to stay in touch with existing ones.
Please pass the word out to as many mates as you can / you have!!
Obvioulsy in my case that is bugger all, hence my plea to you lot!!!
Let me know your thoughts on the site, and as it developes over the next few weeks, I would love to hear ideas of what we should include.
By the way, to the Kiwi contingent, I saw Zinny today and he was looking good and in great form (apart from the 50 0dd stitches in his head!) I told him about my great blog on poaching players and he hit me, ******* hard!! Thought you would like that !!!

NZ whingeing !!!!

Graham Henry has launched an attack on the poaching of his players by Northern Hemisphere clubs!! Shocking !!!
It's bad for NZ, bad for player development and I could not be bothered to read his other whinges!!!
Strange that NZ did not complain, and have never complained as they systematically poached the best players from Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, for years and years and years and years!!!
That of course was perfectly acceptable to the NZ RFU !!!
So now the tables have been turned on them, I suggest they shut up and get over themselves!!! Bunch of ******* whingers !!!!

Jerry Guscott

Big debate as to whether Tait is big enough, strong enough, powerful enough to play centre at International level. I personally thought he did a great job in SA, and believe with the right balance of players around him, that he could be very effective. It got me thinking whether Jerry Guscott would be strong enough to play and be effective in todays game?? I think the honest answer is that he has only recently developed anough bulk to make the grade !!!

SA Lessons learnt

I see Jake White has already come out and claimed the psychological high ground after the Test series that the Boks have just easily won. I find that quite interesting, as well as being absolute bollocks!
Firstly why bother going on about the psychological edge so quickly after the series has finished, unless you are worried about it??! Reverse psychology and all that.
If the Boks believe they have now dealt a mortal blow to England, and now have supreme confidence regarding the World Cup, why bother saying anything? Certainly such a long way out from the crucial game?
Bizarely I think old Jake is just a little shook up!!! i know that might sound crazy, but I honestly think the second Test shocked the Boks. I know that at the end that ran away with it and scored 7 tries etc etc, but it was the nature of the fifty minutes that England competed in that shocked them.
Come the World Cup in France there will be no altitude, no virus ( I hope) and a pool of an extra forty odd players to pick from. That worries old Jake, I can tell!
The crucial bit for me was that England's defence in the second Test looked highly effective for those fifty minutes. They had worked out the Boks attack channels, and they had closed them down fairly comfortably, with the fourth team!
There is no getting away from the score line, and I am not trying to, but sometimes you have to look far deeper than that, and in this instance i do think England will take more out of this test series than Jakie boy!
They got to play against the Boks World Cup side for starters, the coaches got to see their patterns, got to see their behaviour, the metal and their weaknesses. The Boks, and old Jake got to look and experience England's third / fourth team. They got no insight into the England pack and their line out drills, their scrum strength, or their defensive alignments and re-organisation. They got to look and experience none of that, but at the same time they had to declare their own hand in all those areas.
That is needling our Jake!
Because when all is said and done, his Boks did not look hugely inventive, subtle or intelligent. Being brutally honest they relied on England running out of energy, and they relied on just battering them!
I do not believe that will be a winning formula against England's first team, and little old Jake knows that!
Don't get me wrong, the Boks will improve massively over the Tri-Nations, and I do think they are a good bet for the World Cup. But at this moment in time it has amused me that Jake is blowing his psychological trumpet so early!! Someone should have told him only worried men blow too soon!!!

Zulu or England V South Africa!!??

I have just noticed, that you can either watch Zulu, on Sky movies classic, or England V South Africa on Sky sports!!!
Think I might just flick between the two !!!

The task facing England

Rourke's Drift !!??
Not sure if it entirely appropriate, but it will be fairly close!!
A few problems though, firstly it was a Welsh regiment!! And secondly this will be against South Africa, not the Zulus!! But apart from that!!!
I would think the feeling within the England changing room will be fairly similar!! Wave after wave of first choice, fresh, fit, virus free Boks coming at them for eighty minutes!! Heaven !!!
Let's see who fronts up. The prize will be a World Cup spot, and I think Tait, Easter, Wilkinson and even Gomersall might have bagged one each. Today they need to do the same, and Flood, Lund and Alex Brown could do the same.
It should be interesting if uncomfortable viewing.
I do remember (and sadly yes this is one of those, back in my day stories!!) playing against the Boks at Loftus. We had been having a shocking tour, we had lost our three Saturday matches, had received the most arrogant and condescending 'bad luck' speech from Francois Pienaar in our own changing room the week before, and we the Loftus crowd were expecting us to be massacred!!
Mandella was there, it was awesome to meet him, my greatest rugby memory, and we then went to stuff them, with Tim Rodber having an incredible game. One of the most vivid memories is watching the stands emptying twenty minutes before the end, and the stunned silence in the ground.
Oh to hear that again today!!

England's Tour

England's tour hotel must be more like this hospital ward than anything else!
I have to admire Ashton, who remains positive, cheereful and honest despite the task he has been handed. I also hear that Francis Baron is in South Africa! he must be a popular visitor to the team ward!! Amazing that he has not been struck down by the bug?? But then again he must be eating in slightly different restaurants to the team!!
Anyway enough of that jeuvenille whingeing!!
What sort of team can we cobble together for Saturday?? Is it important?
Saturday is all about playing for the pride in wearing the shirt people keep telling me. Easy to say from up here, and usually from a comfortable chair!
Who bloody put the shirt on this tour? Who bloody allowed the shirt, and caps for that matter, to be given to guys who were two teams down from the Test team??
I do not decry the effort put in by these guys, and in some cases I am full of admiration. But the Englan shirt, and an England cap should be the pinacle of your rugby aspiration as an Englishman. And as such, those who run the game should always ensure that when it is worn and given, it is only done so to the best available players. Not as in this case, to only those who were left.
It is tragic when the pinacle of your sporting life is devalued. And I am not blaming the players who have held their hands up and worn the shirt on this tour and been awarded the caps. It is not their fault.
But I am bloody livid with the idiots who have put them out there, and in the process devalued a shirt that the likes of Beaumont, Cotton, Duckham, Andrew, teague, Winterbottom, Richards, Guscott, Halliday, Johnson, Back, Hill, Greenwood etc gave everything to build up.

International matches

Is the International game as appealing, as special as eagerly anticipated now as it was ten years ago, or has the increased number of Test matches diluted the hunger?
I am not just talking about the summer tours, which in all honestly are a complete balls up in every aspect. The teams are hugely weakened, the crowds are heavily down and the benefits to either side are hard to imagine.Not great.
But even the November Test matches in the UK are losing their appeal. We are seeing the sides too often. Playing one Test against the Boks, one against the Aussies and then maybe one against Argentina gets a little pointless after a few years.
My solution would be the following.
New Zealand, South Africa and Australia only play England every three years. That is that each side comes up and plays a series of three Tests, every three years. So the tests themselevs have relevance, one could be played in the North each year to attract a new audience, and the touring team could then play mid week matches at the top three club sides as an incentive to them.
It would mean that we only see the All Blacks every three years, and the same with the other sides. That I think would bring back the interest, as would a three test series, so that there is genuine relevance, and edge to the games.
Just a thought in the modern age, where we just seem to be pilling games on games and none of them are very appealing and few of them even feature full sides.

Zinny

I know Chris has mentioned it, and yes Zinny has had a bad accident out in Spain.
He has had an operation to relieve the blood around his brain last night, and the doctors are delighted with his progress. His wife is with him, and he has come around this afternoon and apparently he is joking and all his bits and pieces are working.
So fingers crossed for a full and speedy recovery and thanks for the thoughts, I shall definitely pass them on.

SA Verdict

I know when you look at the score line it produces a sharp intake of breath, BUT , there were a number of positives for England, and I think that is all Ashton honestly expected. I believe his view of this tour would have been, if I can find two or three players who either show up or confirm their class and steel to me, then I will be happy.
I think in Tait and Easter he had two who fronted up and Tait in particular seems to be confirming all the hype I have heard about him. To show the pace, awareness and vision that he did against a side as powerful and physical is some effort, especially at 6000 feet behind a beaten pack and at the end of a long season. Very impressive stuff, and not just the running, his defence, his physical impact at contact were also excellent.
Easter showed maturity aswell as guts on Saturday, and again I was very impressed with his attitude and ability to fight until the end.
I do not want to make excuses, or look for get out clauses for England, but at the same time I think it is only right that we put the game in context.
The last thing Ashton, or the players needed was a tour at the end of this season with the World Cup starting in September, because the effect is that basically the guys will not have a break until May 2008. Eighteen months of solid rugby. Bloody stupid. Also the last thing Ashton needed was this tour with over thirty players unavailable. Suicide.
And then just to have a real laugh, a significant number of his already massively depleated squad come down with a virus!! Unbelievable!
Despite all this, Reagn, Tait, Easter, Flood and Brown managed to concentrate and take to the pitch in the right frame of mind, and left the pitch with their pride intact. That I find very impressive.
There is no getting away from the score line however, and the last 13 minutes were poor. Players were shattered, and as a result the tackling was weak, the cover non existent, and some of the players even looked as though they were being ill on the pitch.
Not the end of a game that you want to see as an England supporter.
A massive test awaits this squad on Saturday, both mentall and physical. Hopefully a number of players will be fit after their virus to boost the ranks. Balshaw, or Balsawood as he has been termed has again broken down, but that is no great surprise. Wilkinson should be fit, but if not Flood is on a huge learning curve and one that he is handling very well.
As long as our forwards take the field in the right frame of mind, and we maintain our pride and unity, hopefully we will be able to close the scoreline slightly.
It could go either way, but I hope the guys who fronted up this time, maintain their form, and I hope the likes of Farrell, Strettle and Richards are strong enough to stand with them.
Not sure if I will go for a prediction again, seeing as I have my finger so firmly on the pulse!!!

SA Game

So Strettle has a dodgy stomach !
I have a bloody dodgy stomach and I am not even playing. Thinking about it, I did go to a South African restaurant last night, and they did have a strange waitress working there!
Only joking if any Yarpies read this. Sorry, if this is read to any of you!!!
Anyway back to Strettle. Shame as I think the guy has nerve and he loves to have a go.
It will be fascinating to see if the old boys in the England pack can produce any ball and any fight. I am sure the challenge will appeal to Regan, he will love the physical intensity, but rest assured any mental issues will certainly pass him by as he is not the sharpest!!
he first played right at the end of my captaincy!! That long ago, and I remember needing a whole afternoon to explain why the boys had decided to call him Ronnie, when he kept explaining to me that his name was really Mark!! Not sure if he understand it even to this day!!
It certainly is a chance for a few faces to push for World Cup inclusion,the likes of the two Browns, Easter and Richards must all be grateful for the chance. It will be a time to show that you can front up, as the pressure will definitely be on and England are likely to play most of the game on the back foot. But Ashton will be watching to see who will dig in, who will take responsibility and encourage, applaud, help and care for his team mates. We will need strong characters that is for sure.
People keep asking for a prediction; will we get stuffed etc.
it is very hard when you are not close to the camp and when you are not hearing any of the news and being able to get a feel for the attitude and state of mind of the team.
However, I am an optimist as I keep saying, and an England fan so that colours my judgement, but I will say that we will do better than many think. I hope we cause them problems, and we will if our forwards win any ball and compete at every breakdown. Shame as I said that Strettle will not be there as I think he could have proved to be a handful.
So I am going to say we will lose, but only by 13-15. Brave or what !!

Heineken Cup Final result!

There you go!
I have my finger on the pulse, as always!!!
Waffle on, pretending to be intelligent about the crucial confrontations.......!! Copy a few ideas from other pundits, and then make the big prediction!!!
Leicester will win a close game!!!
Brilliant!!!!
I tell you, I have always been able to read rugby, like the back of my hand!!!!!

Heineken Cup Final

Two great mates !!!
No love lost here at all!! And the battle between these two should be great to watch.
The two back rows are very very good, and whoever can find an edge here will be able to dictate the match. As always back rows depend on their front fives, and I think the battle will be pretty even. Shaw has a point to prove, as does Vickery who will want to remind everyone that he deserves his England place and the Captaincy.
So a lot of pressure on Murphy at 9 for Leicester, filling in for the form scrum half in the country. Will he handle it or bottle it?? Personally I do not know him well enough to make the call.
I see Wasps have gone for King at 10, not the young kid Cipriani. Interesting! They have stuck him back at 15 instead??! I am sure they hope King can run the game, command field position and calmly deal with the hype. I would not be surprised to see Lewsey move into the 10 channel in defence though to cover Tuilagi.
Stopping him would go a huge way to curbing Leicester's chances, as I suspect after the weekend they might fall into the trap of believing if they get the ball to him it is game over. The All Blacks made the same mistake in the World Cup Final in 1995,and once the Springbok stopped Jona they all looked completely shocked.
It should be a great game, a very physical game and I expect Wasps will cause Leicester all sorts of problems. However, I think Leicester look strong, mentally as well as physically and they seem to have peaked at exactly the right time. So i will go with them to complete an historic hat trick.

England's New Kit

I know I am old fashioned, but this new kit is shite!
What is it meant to be? a symbolic nose bleed swirling around the shirt!!??

It looks more like someone has tipped paint all down one side, and could not be bothered to do anything else, finish it off, or even think about it!!

The socks are now also white, with a little red, so gone are the traditional dark blue and white socks. There are certain things that are important to me, and the basic colours of our kit are one of them. I hate to keep using them as an example, but you don't see the All Blacks messing around with their shirts do you?! They don't even have some crap logo stuck all over the front. The shirt is almost still 'pure', and as a result of that I think it retains a huge amount of its magic and mystery.
England on the other hand are throwing it all out the window. And I for one am sad that we seem to be surrendering the essence of the very shirt in the hunt for money. Some things are more important than the shilling, and in my old fashioned book, the shirt is certainly top of the list.
A sad day

Harry Ellis

I feel for Harry Ellis, I must say, missing the World Cup when he has been playing so well. When he first made the England side I was not keen, I thought he was too hot headed, too aggressive at all the wrong times and with the wrong outcome! He has calmed down massively, matured immensely without losing his competitive instincts.
Very sad for him, a huge blow for England and Brian Ashton. he was one of the few players that Ashton could look at and think he was an ink in on the team sheet. He also protected the young number 10's that appeared in an England shirt at the end of the Six Nations brilliantly. Now he is gone.
The replacements start to look very thin on the ground. Richards must be favourite, but Perry has fallen away so badly it is shocking. He was the big hope 18 months ago, and sadly since his taste of International rugby his confidence seems to be shot. I hope it is not that he thought he had made it, he had worn the shirt and that was enough. Because that is just the start.
So Ellis is going to be very hard to replace, and at this moment in time, it does not look too encouraging. Maybe the tour to SA will throw up some serious contenders, because it will be one of the hottest possible cauldrons from which to appear! If one of them is successful down there, then fair play to them because I suspect they will be operating behind a retreating pack!!

Super 14 !!

Off the rails, car crash or just a blip???
Not sure what I think yet about the All Blacks and the whole debate about their conditioning and the impact it has had!
Safe to say that the South Africans confidence heading into the World Cup has just gone through the roof! And whatever public face Graham Henry puts on it, he must be far more uneasy now than he was four months ago.
The most worrying factor for me was that both the Crusaders and Blues packs were obliterated. If the Boks manage to do that to the AB's, then goodnight to yet another World Cup.
I am an AB fan, and I just hope that this has come at just the right time on two counts. One a bloody good kick up the arse to all their players and a reminder how hard they will have to work and play to win in France, and secondly time to look at the issues and correct them in time.
Certainly a few sphincters that have been very relaxed for months will be twitching somewhat after the semi finals!! Nice thought that isn't it!!!!!!!!

Gloucester Defence!!

To be fair it is not often that you can say this, but Gloucester's defence was pathetic, spineless, embarrassing. Yes there were a few big boys running at them, but this is rugby, so what a bloody surprise!! I had heard that Lamb was special, well I hope he is finding it hard to look himself in the mirror today. It will be a real test of him. Does he cower away, sulk and blame everyone and everything but himself?? Or does he have a hard summer training and thinking, and finding some steel, some edge, and come back next season and blow us all away!!
I hope the latter.