The England team. I think !!!!!
I might have got Catt right (because I have my finger on the pulse and I am genuinely very intelligent!!) but I thought five changes max, not ten!!!
Delighted Streetle is still there, and that Lewsey is in his best position.
Catt at 12 and Captain! Interesting! He will certainly add a little creativity, I just hope he does not go overboard with his big miss passes. Farrell is out through injury......... REALLY!!!!
Jonny out and Flood in. Well from a decision making view point and a style of play view point I am going to be interested to see how he does, it is the responsibility of kicking that worries me. I just hope his first goes over and that he relaxes after that.
The forwards are just unrecognisable! Vickery out, which is a shame, but then huge pressure on White to prove he is the destructive scrummager Leicester tell us he is! There can be no better time to show us, and I just bloody hope that he does.
Corry in the second row...........!!! I did get a wee bit of flak in November for saying he is just too slow off the base of the scrum these days, but having met him and watched him, I have huge admiration for him and hope that he delivers from the second row.
The backrow looks raw, but exciting, and I think it is about time we went down that route. Who knows it could be a disaster, but I would prefer to take that risk than just plod on down the road we were going.
So a hell of a shock to see all the changes I must admit, but once you look over the team, and you ask what alternatives are there, I hope like me you just think well it is worth giving some of the new faces a go.
Fingers crossed that they show some fire, passion, steel, and that we can be proud of them at the end of the game.
6 comments:
The promotion of Catt to captain is stunning, does this mean that Ashton feels that none of the other players have leadership potential?
I didn't think Vickery looked fit enough for 80 mins of international rugby so at the moment White looks the best option.
I can't understand Corry in the second row though? I know he played there in the past but there must be full-time practioners ahead of him, or is just to find a spot to fit his experience in?
Very pleased, very pleased indeed. In the centre/fly-half combo there is a good balance that I spoke about earlier between pace, flair and power.
I am worried how Flood will handle Betsen though. I remember him being all over Wilko like a rash when they dueled and battled up to 2003 and Betsen has to be one of the most claustrophobic players France have.
I think the Corry decision is based around his experience, tenacity and work rate. He does not have the pace for backrow at this level, but at the moment I think he is a very useful leader/ influence for some of the younger forwards.
As for Betsen, Flood will need protection from his backrow and forwards. If he is given a free run, then Flood needs to get his elbows up! I hope the likes of Rees and Easter manage to block his runs, and that he is caught at the bottom of a few rucks early on. At least Flood will have Catt outside him to offload to if Betsen gets the line on him.
Fingers crossed!
Now that i've had a few hours to get used to the team, i actually think Ashton has picked a decent side from the available players in the squad. Centre pairing still looks low on pace and is unlikely to threaten Jauzion and Marty. I can understand playing Catt at 12 to shepherd Flood, plus he has a very good kicking game out of hand which i feel we are going to need. But Ashton could have gone for broke and given the 13 shirt to Tait to at least inject some pace into the midfield. Back three look very threatening but could be reduced to defending for most of the game.
Up front we actually look better, the back row looks good and Corry and Palmer in the second row means we have good ball carriers from 4-8 which we've lacked. Bit concerned over discipline as Corry keeps getting pinged for taking out the jumper in the air in a kickable position and Julian White is a liability, still at least Grewcock isn't there to complete the trinity! Bench looks a little light on impact if all goes wrong...
Will,
In theory Catt should be wise to Betsen's ways, him, Greenwood and Wilko worked together really well to neuter the French flanker. So hopefully, Catt will probably spend time with Flood and fill him in on how Betsen is going to come at him.
Mark,
Yeah, there is still some dead wood which I'm not impressed about, Corry for instance. Hopefully he will slowly come back into form having been released from the soul destroying captaincy job.
Hallelujah! Grewcock and Moody arn't on the team! I loved Brian Moores thing on Telegraph TV when he went into a total rant addressed to Danny "Danny, if you're going to play for England, think you can stay on the pitch for a whole 80 minutes? Think you can do that?" I don't really agree with Moore most of the time but that was certifiable genius (unlike his beard thing which makes him look like a Village People extra).
So, just who does Brian Ashton think he is with all this "rotation" nonsense so close to a World Cup? Graham Henry?
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