England tour to RSA
-
I thought this was worthy of a thread of its own and also would ensure we do not derail the Exodus thread purely due to Brad Shields.
There are some interesting decisions made. Cipriani to tour is one. To my mind (and previously Eddie's), if he's in the squad, then he's a starter. No point picking him to hold tackle bags. Another interesting point is that he is one of six (yes 6) Fly Halves in the squad, albeit that Farrell, Lowzoski and Slade also play centre and Redpath is likely there for experience only. Redpath is the son of former Scotland Scrum Half and captain Bryan Redpath so that selection may raise some eyebrows north of the wall.
Only one full back but Cipriani has played there, though not for some time. Open side flanker is going to be an interesting pick, as always, with no nailed on 7 in the squad (Tom Curry the nearest to a genuine 7). It might raise the interesting idea of the Exeter No8 Sam Simmonds playing at 7, he has many attributes of a 7 but a big ask to paly at international level.
The touring party is as follows:-
England squad to tour South Africa:
Backs: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Cipriani (Wasps), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Nathan Earle (Saracens), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Cameron Redpath (Sale Sharks), Dan Robson (Wasps), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks), Ben Spencer (Saracens), Ben Te'o (Worcester Warriors), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Forwards: Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Jamie George (Saracens), Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Brad Shields (Hurricanes/Wasps), Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Jack Willis (Wasps), Mark Wilson (Newcastle)
*Uncapped
Not considered for selection (either because of injury or being rested):
Backs: Danny Care (Harlequins), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Harry Mallinder (Northampton Saints), Joe Marchant (Harlequins), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Forwards: Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby), Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Wasps), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), George Kruis (Saracens), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Will Spencer (Worcester Warriors), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby)
-
@catogrande Aha....I thought I was being blind but then figured it appears that when you "bracket" anything with an asterisk it just changes the font to italic
-
-
I remember the indignation from some here when I suggested Luke Whitelock or any fringe New Zeland backrower could walk into the England team and here we are. This selection without even waiting for him to land in England cannot be good for the English game but thats what you get for hiring a mercenary coach.
-
@dmx Thats a little harsh on Eddie I think. He's had a huge amount of success coaching so is in demand. The England rugby coach is arguably the biggest job in world rugby - which coach worth their salt wouldn't want it?
Gatland, Schmidt, Cotter all mercenaries?
-
@majorrage said in England tour to RSA:
@dmx Thats a little harsh on Eddie I think. He's had a huge amount of success coaching so is in demand. The England rugby coach is arguably the biggest job in world rugby - which coach worth their salt wouldn't want it?
Gatland, Schmidt, Cotter all mercenaries?
You could add Henry and Hansen to that list based on their coaching a foreign country.
-
@crucial said in England tour to RSA:
So, from this squad, what has Eddie done to remedy England's biggest issue
this season, for years, speed to the breakdown?
Still looks to be a team suited to one-off ball crashing, set-piece plays and the occasional loose play from the back.Fixed your slight error there. But to answer the question, Tom Curry and Sam Simmonds have some speed about them and not just overall speed they have that "quick" about them too. Eddie though has shown reluctance to experiment in the back row and has used a trio of big bashers most of the time. It remains to be seen if he will try something a bit different and lets face it, it couldn't go much worse than the 6N this year.
-
Fair point, though I was really taking a shot at Eddie in particular for his extremely short term approach. You would think it would be reasonable given the player numbers in England to build a culture and have players at least play domestically for some period of time before being selected. You would think it would be good for the long term integrity and culture of the game not just his win/loss column.
-
-
Seems to me this tour could be a real banana skin for Eddie.
After a great start to his English Coaching, a couple of losses in the 6N meant the sheen came off. Losing 2 or 3 games overseas means there is really only one home season before the RWC, and then if you don't know your top team or how you're going to play, the wheels could really come off in the leadup.
There's loads riding on this - I'm looking forward to it. Go you Saffers!
-
@nzzp plus SA seem to be getting things moving in the right direction with plenty of talent coming through in time for the RWC and playing some attractive rugby with their usual upfront aggression.
-
@taniwharugby said in England tour to RSA:
@nzzp plus SA seem to be getting things moving in the right direction with plenty of talent coming through in time for the RWC and playing some attractive rugby with their usual upfront aggression.
I agree. They will be a real handful.
also, anyone know where Handre Pollard is? He started in 2015 in the Semi, but haven't seen him since. Wikipedia says he missed 2016 with a knee injury. Is he still in SA, or moved to Europe? He was some player pre-injury, very good and a real threat with ball in hand and off the tee
-
@nzzp said in England tour to RSA:
Seems to me this tour could be a real banana skin for Eddie.
After a great start to his English Coaching, a couple of losses in the 6N meant the sheen came off. Losing 2 or 3 games overseas means there is really only one home season before the RWC, and then if you don't know your top team or how you're going to play, the wheels could really come off in the leadup.
There's loads riding on this - I'm looking forward to it. Go you Saffers!
Thinking in the press here seems along the lines of 'England cannot afford to lose this series'
-
-
-
@nzzp said in England tour to RSA:
OK, cool. How's he going? Knee injuries are horrific, hate to see them happen to classy players (or anyone for that matter)
I've only seen the Bulls play once, live against the Chiefs. Pollard played very well in that game. Ran the team well, scored a try and kicked 4 conversions.
-
-
@majorrage said in England tour to RSA:
REad an article this morning from the DAily Mail where Shields was described as "Chris Robshaw, with better hands".
Fark me, Robshaw's hands must be appalling!!!
Robshaw gets a lot of unwarranted stick but this is the first time I've seen that as a criticism.
