England Selection !!!!!!! Oh what FUN !!!
As you can see my Tin Hat took a few hits over the weekend having made my 'Andy Farrell' comments!! Now even more popular in the League heartlands!!!
However, I hope having read my blogs that people now realise that it was not a knee jerk reaction to one match, and it certainly was not an attempt to blame him and him alone for the massive defeat on Saturday.
The key for me is how England now move forward, and what route Ashton decides to take. Will he try and stick with the majority of the side in a show of faith and loyalty, believing that they do have the ability and all they need is more time together to gel. Or does he become slightly radical and admit that the rebuilding process is going to have to go deeper and take longer than he might have thought?
Does he bring in and keep the likes of Rees, Strettle, Tait, Easter and more?
I am not one for chopping and changing a side far from it, I look back at the man who I think changed English rugby more than anyone, Geoff Cooke, and one of his greatest strengths was his consistency of selection (and picking me as Captain, that was genius!!!!)
Seriously though, there is no point in making changes for changes sake, but serious decisions have to be made about a number of players, and that is even if they are given the time, do they have the talent and ability? I think that the likes of Chuter, Grewcock, Deacon, Corry and Worsely all have to be looked at. Some definitely had the talent, but have they still got it, and the others, well have they actually even got it?
In the backs, Farrell, Tindall and Wilkinson!!! Dare I say that!!!
It is not a midfield that strikes terror and panic into the hearts of the opposition!
We need pace somewhere!! Jonny despite all the hype is not launching the line as he should, but to be fair he needs game time. Tindall will never be the most creative, incisive centre (unlike myself!!!!), but he does have strengths. Farrell is a league legend, and quite rightly, and I believe if he had come to Union four years ago, he would have been awesome. My firm belief, even backed up by the Welsh wizard himself Ieuan, in his blog, is that he no longer has enough pace to play centre. You can have a myriad of other talents, and he does, but he is so lacking in the fundamental area of pace, that those other talents are negated!
Lewsey, Strettle and Robinson as my back three, and maybe Tait back in the middle? Or is it time for Abbott or a Smith??
Hit me with your opinions, I am sure you will, so I will put my hat back on!!!!
19 comments:
Well, I hope you don't mean "hit" as in literally!
Strettle is a must. If he plays against France and Wales in the same self assured manner as he did against Ireland then he will have a guaranteed place in the England set up.
Strettle, Lewsey and Robinson or Cueto sounds like a dream back three. Its nice that we even now have a surplus of quality runners!
Personally (being a Sarries man), I'd like to see Farrell stay for the last two games and then continue then on from the bench as an impact player.
Brian Moore had a good point in his little video-rant thingy (do you 'debate' allot with Moore by the way Will?) and boy did he have an excellent point about Grewcock. Just how many games *has* he played for England where he has not been sin binned?!
Do you think Ashton will announce his squad again early or will he just wait till next week?
Brain and I don't 'debate' that often!! Surprise I know!!!
I think Ashton will take as much time as he can on this one, and have a look at a few players this weekend! He is going to have to make some crucial calls!
By the way the podcast is tomorrow, so if you want anything in particular to be discussed, let me know!
Possibly in this order:
1. England's pack problems, lots of things to talk about from the front row to the flankers.
2. Farrell, Tindall and Wilkinson.
3. Scotland and Italy. I study in Aberdeen and was watching the game with my Scottish pals and they were all shell shocked by the 3rd Italian try. One said "I'm still waiting for the first try to sink in!"
4. Do Ireland have the hunger for a world cup?
5. Can Wales gain more than 1% of possession in any one game?
Thats what I'd want to talk about.
I would say robinson and cueto are the two to start that match, alongside lewsey at 15. He has shown that 15 is by far his most menacing position over the last number of years.
I would give strettle an early intoduction off the bench to give him some gametime. The reason I would pick cueto is that france can be exploited in the air by the big man, especially if dominici is playing. France are not too fond of the high ball if theres someone in their face while trying to catch it, but having said that giving the ball to them without pressure could lead to horrible results. If england are to use this tactic the ball must be kicked in such a way that there is a lot of pressure on whichever member of the france back 3 try to claim. Kicking it losely to that back three will lead to disaster for the english.
The chip and chase on the blindside is anthoer area where they can be exploited, especially if england can get numbers quickly to the blindside. They have been caught out twice this way by ireland and biaritz have been caught out by munster in this way too.
I really feel their lineout is an area which we did not exploit which has weaknesses. Ibanez's throw is suspect and you often see him going for the easy option such and the flick back to the hooker from the front man or throwing over the top to an onrunning flanker. Without pelous that lineout is significantly weakened and if deacon plays he will have to have the game of his life. He has showed though for leicester that he has the ability to compete and compete well.
Really think tait deserves a start in the middle, if only for match experience at 13 with wills number one fan farrell at 12. I think he is one of the only centres is england who possesses the physical presence to shut the door on jauzion except possibly catt. But lets face it catt is not getting any younger is he? Whoever goes in that spot regardless will spend the whole day glued to him, cause if you give him an inch, you know the rest.
Jonny obviously needs more game time nuff said.
Peter, i think you are slightly too critical of ellis. He has a lot of respect over here, and many in ireland believed that he would have a much bigger impact on the game against us. He had a bad one that day, but, i think has what it takes just needs more gametime and get the master sniper dawson in to pratcise against.
I know you cringe when i say the word white, but i feel for his scrummaging ability he should start. Vickery really has to take a good look at himself in the mirror and ask himself if he has what it takes, i think its make or break time for him. Hes been there done that but look at the people he had around him.
Grewcocks disipline must improve. the old tactic was to kill the ball to prevent a try and suffer the 10 minutes, which england used to exploit very well (daligilio etc) when they had the defense to deal with the loss.
I think hill must return to the back row. his experience is essential in the short term. Corry to be given a go, but he needs to front up and bury his demons. I completely agree with you about worsley will, a man of 50 odd caps should be leading by example and inspiring the youngsters like strettle and tait, he is definately one who needs a really big game.
Would consider shaw as an option. Big and powerful, with skilful hands, probably needs a bit more time at this level.
The area where england really need to improve and the mix of lack of preparation and experience together definately told is backplay off the set piece. Where are those carving lines that we used to see lewsey running? Seems of late that the full back is not nearly as involved in play, and i ask myself is this because the midfield are not working or is it lack of inventive set play and time on the paddock to improve this? The latter it would seem to me.
I really want to see england go out and win this game and they are capable of doing it. This is not just because ireland have a chance to win the championship, but because they have to potential to be a great side and i like to watch good rugby. If england can beat france and they must, they would be right back on track.
Win and win well and who knows you might find yourselves trying to run up a record score on the last day for the championship against your little favourites!
As regards the podcast:
I wont lie, im feeding directly from peters good start ;)
1. The england forwards fronting up to the french. And giving the backs some of whom showed promise a chance to shine.
(Before i make point 2 id just like to say that wilkinson should be made captain. Hes back now and hes not going anywhere, so why not just do it now.)
2. Leadership issues,is been chopping and changing for a while now and it should settle on a player that can be looked to for the future.
3. Do ireland have what it takes to produce a performace like that against the french in paris.
Do you think there was a psycologcal blow there (hehe hardly ;))
4. Wales and a possible wooden spoon (they'll love you for that!) the return of the pikey frog.
5. Italy and momentum, if they get a sniff, there could be danger for england (its always nice to be modest)
6. Scotland and where its gone wrong. injured patterson .Scotland in big trouble
Just my thoughts.
In point 5 i meant to say Wales
Agreed, Hill is a must in my honest opinion, I remember Robinson trying out Shaw in the summer tour of Australia last year and he was a bit of a so so pick, as was Stuart Abbot in the Six Nations a couple of months previously.
However, a year of front line duty for both guys in the GP (I think Abbot has started every match for 'Quins since he signed with them) will have changed things I think.
The idea of a Tait / Farrell combination sounds interesting and might be a bit more dynamic than the one we have right now. If there is one thing that Farrell is and that is highly physical.
Chris Jones really needs a start in place of Grewcock, we need someone who can cause mayhem and if Jones can do it to the Aussies, he can do it to anyone.
I really do not like Ellis, his pass is much better than his dark old days of 2005/6 but he still takes an age to dig the ball out and against opponents like Ireland, France and the All Blacks, you simply can't wait that long. The person I would have instead would be someone like Shaun Perry, someone who has a Wilkinson-like fanaticism when it comes to training in his area. Shaun needs to start and he needs to start for the World Cup IMO. He can hack it.
Whilst I'd love to see Hill back I don't think you can put him in an international pack unless fully fit. The same goes for Sheridan, Stevens et al.
I'd be happy with a tight five that can hold their own at the moment.
Ellis plays his best at Leicester when he has Jennings and Moody supporting him. This was the lineup that so unhinged Stringer and Ogara for Munster. I know ones Irish and the other is injured but there must be other back-rows with pace? Rees and ANOther?
The French mid-field unstitched Ireland to score the final try so I think this is another reason to need a fast back-row, to try and cut off the supply of ball.
Tait looks better at outside center, but who to have inside, it needs to be someone who actually presents a try scoring threat to hold up the French defence.
Back three Strettle, Lewsey, Robinson
As for captain, who would be a coach...
Leinsterfan, I must say you are being very well behaved!!!
I don't agree about Wilkinson and captaincy. I think he has enough on his plate, and I am not sure he is the right character to captain, I think he is too insular.
As for the podcast tomorrow, I was thinking;
a little bit about me.
Then a bit more about me.
Followed by even more about me, and then maybe some rugby!!
But if that does not grab you, how about;
England selection - what should Ashton do and who should he pick.
Ireland - can they do that consistently or only when they are pissed off?
How great an occaision was that, and how impressive were Ireland on and off the pitch.
Wales ............?? Will Jenkins get the bullet if they win the wooden spoon?
Italy. Great win!
Scotland - what the **** were they doing !!
Need plenty of humour in there. So any good quotes etc, send them through
Perhaps when there is no International on this thread would make an interesting subject for a Podcast.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A20248517
You forgot to talk about yourself!
Don't forget to congratulate Ieuan and Wales for not leaking points like the Titanic leaked water against France last weekend.
Apart from that, the list looks pretty good!
Haha.
Your point about ireland is fair. They need to win against the big guns more consistantly. I know its been milked for all its worth at this stage but there was honestly a tear in my eye when the anthems were played.
One thing id say about jenkins is that i remember watching his interview before the ireland game and when asked the question who do you think will win the match he replied: I think ireland will win. I have to say i was shocked with that, for a manager to say that a few days before the game. Very odd indeed. thought he would at least say that we have players missing for various reasons but we have a game plan and are going out to win. Especially in cardiff!! Dont think he'll get the bullet tho, in fairness they have their injuries and had a decent game against the french
A good humourous quote thats going around ireland at the minute which ill understand is not in everyones best tastes is:
gerry adams to lay a wreath in croke park after the slaughter of 15 englishmen!
Re Podcast
Perhaps a little about the Carling captaincy, how you inspired and led?
Ask Zinzan who should play No8 for England, is there a rampaging ball carrying white orc on steroids out there?
See if you can get Ieuan to actually give straight answer about anything.
Congratulate the Italians, the boys did brilliant.
I heard another good one;
A body was found in Dublin canal, dressed in England rugby kit.
The Irish police sympathetically removed the kit to save the family embarrasment !!!
shocking!!
Did you hear about the English forward rampaging around Croke Park...
Me neither
Heres another good one i got emailed today.
The english get a new chariot driver :
http://www.digirob.org/Main/rugbypic.html
Another couple of suggested topics for the podcast.
1) How frightened are the All Blacks after Ireland's latest Croke Park display? Remember, they won't get away scot-free with spear-tackling the opposition's star player again! They are likely to face Ireland in either the 1/4 final (if Ireland come unstuck against France) or the final (assuming Dominici doesn't stuff them the way he did in 1999).
2) Laporte's "rotation" policy seems to be working just fine so far. So, how much rotation would be needed for England to have a chance? Does Laporte need to start pirouetting like a ballerina to give England a sniff of victory?
2 things well 3 actually
Ireland must be kicking themselves senseless at their loss to France. The ability to win at all costs is the mark of a great team and whilst I think the Irish are a good team they are not great and I think will be disappointed come world cup time.
Secondly, what are we Scots to do? I feel for Hadden and co. They are a pretty average team which has been hit by some key injuries. Is it just me or does it seem as if the SRU are putting pressure on them to play "attractive" rugby to sell tickets and draw the crowds. Surely the SRU would do better to look at the grass root issues and let Hadden and the boys concentrate on trying to play proper test rugby.
Finally I never thought I would say this but...Will I really enjoy your podcast. Thanks from an anonymous and embarrassed jock
Dear anonymous Jock!
don't worry your secret is safe with us! Even David Sole lets me into his house without having to wear a balaclava anymore! How timeschange!!
We have just done the latest podcast, so let me know what you al think!
Campo does a great nakes rant! Quite a surprise!!!
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