The England Thread

[Fiery]

Getting soft in your old age. Actually with a name like Lawrence Bruno Nero Dallaglio he probably sounds one of the least English players ever.

Anyway, Paul Weaver in The Guardian lists a "possible" (meaning he's probably heard something from someone) England 30. Linky.

Possible squad

Forwards

Andrew Sheridan
Kevin Yates
Phil Vickery
Matt Stevens
George Chuter
Lee Mears
Mark Regan
Steve Borthwick
Martin Corry
Ben Kay
Tom Palmer
Lewis Moody
Joe Worsley
Lawrence Dallaglio
Dan Ward-Smith
Tom Rees

Backs

Nick Abendanon
Andy Gomarsall
Peter Richards
Shaun Perry
Jonny Wilkinson
Charlie Hodgson
Toby Flood
Mike Catt
Mathew Tait
Mike Tindall or Jamie Noon
Jason Robinson
Mark Cueto
David Strettle
Paul Sackey

No Lewsey the obvious shock. No quite sure how Abendanon is preferred to either him or Cipriani myself, but there you go. Be interesting to see how close he gets.

What about Iain Balshaw?...never rated him much but thought he would be in the squad

 

[BoyBrumby]

What about Iain Balshaw?...never rated him much but thought he would be in the squad

More or less constantly injured; think Ashton's given him up as a lost cause cos he wasn't even in the original squad of 47.

 

[Fiery]

More or less constantly injured; think Ashton's given him up as a lost cause cos he wasn't even in the original squad of 47.

His sulky behaviour on Lions tours probably didn't help either

 

[BoyBrumby]

England XXII for Wales

Thanks to the Beeb.

England: Mark Cueto; David Strettle, Dan Hipkiss, Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson; Jonny Wilkinson, Shaun Perry; Andrew Sheridan, Mark Regan, Phil Vickery (captain), Simon Shaw, Steve Borthwick, Martin Corry, Joe Worsley, Nick Easter.
Replacements: George Chuter, Matt Stevens, Lewis Moody, Lawrence Dallaglio, Peter Richards, Toby Flood, Mathew Tait

Hmmm.

Well it's a predictable mix of the first choice with the fringe. Ashton has given at least four players (Hipkiss, Farrell, Shaw & Easter) who might not be on the plane (or Eurostar) as of now to play themselves into or out of contention.

Back-row looks like a back-row a backs coach would pick too. Corry (who played v Wales & France at lock) is at blindside, Worsley (very much a 6) is at openside & Nick Easter (who'd you'd think would be behind Dallaglio & Ward-Smith) starts at 8.

The halves & the back-line are probably our current first choices tho. The absences of Abendanon, Cipriani & Lewsey might mean they miss out this time round.

 

[DCC_legend]

I still don't really know about Shaun Perry, decent player but doesn't do it for me. I'd rather have Richards or Ellis (where is he for that matter?) in the 9 slot.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I still don't really know about Shaun Perry, decent player but doesn't do it for me. I'd rather have Richards or Ellis (where is he for that matter?) in the 9 slot.

Knackered his knee or he'd be our first choice, no doubt. Anterior cruciate I think, so won't be back much before Xmas.

Sadly we're not overburdened with choice at scrum-half since Matt the mouth gave it away. I prefer Perry to Richards tho on the grounds that Perry has the better distribution.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just back from watching England fairly rip yer Welsh a new one @ Twickers. 62-5! My Wales look average. Admittedly it wasn't there strongest line-up, but to conceed a record score was a bit disappointing. Our pack was very impressive but (weird to say despite the score) our backs aren't gelling yet. Until the very end all our tries came from the forwards or Perry, who played as an adjunct to the pack today.

Think we'll find out more against the French (which I haven't got ticket for ) next week.

 

[steds]

Perry was so gun. Centres still look ****, mind.

What was Brew sin binned for, btw? Are you not allowed to tackle in union?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Perry was so gun. Centres still look ****, mind.

What was Brew sin binned for, btw? Are you not allowed to tackle in union?

Not without using your arms, no. Pretty cynical IMHO.

Farrell just doesn't seem to have the legs for it anymore; still has a good Rugby brain, but that will only take you so far.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Strettle breaks metatarsal

Nadgers. England's bogie-bone strikes again. From The Beeb.

Looks like the young fella might miss out this time.

 

[springbox suck]

not full potencial

wilkinson is not at the same potential he had in 2003 so england are going to have to focus more on kicking

 

[BoyBrumby]

The England squad for the world cup

From the BBC.

Backs (14): M Cueto (Sale Sharks); J Lewsey (Wasps), J Robinson (Sale Sharks), P Sackey (Wasps); D Hipkiss (Leicester), J Noon (Newcastle), M Tait (Newcastle); M Catt (London Irish), A Farrell (Saracens); O Barkley (Bath), J Wilkinson (Newcastle); A Gomarsall (Harlequins), S Perry (Bristol), P Richards (London Irish).

Forwards (16): G Chuter (Leicester), L Mears (Bath), M Regan (Bristol); P Freshwater (Perpignan), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Stevens (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps); S Borthwick (Bath), M Corry (Leicester), B Kay (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps); L Dallaglio (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Moody (Leicester), T Rees (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps).

No real huge surprises. Tom Plamer might feel slightly miffed, having gone from starting lock in our last 6 Nations game to missing out altogether, but Shaw, Kay & Borthwick have all performed creditably in the warm-ups & Corry also provides cover in the back row. Barkley may be the luckiest man on the plane as I can only think his superior goal-kicking got him the nod over Flood because I thought his option taking versus France was rather ordinary.

 

[Stefano]

Yesterday I was watching the 1991 RWC semifinal, when a doubt came to my mind... Is the Calcutta Cup at stake during the RWC matches between England and Scotland?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yesterday I was watching the 1991 RWC semifinal, when a doubt came to my mind... Is the Calcutta Cup at stake during the RWC matches between England and Scotland?

Good question. I don't know! As it happens we already held it in 91 & beat yer sweaties in said semi () so it's a moot point, but had we lost.....?

 

[ohtani's jacket]

The Calcutta Cup is only contested during the Six Nations tournament.

 

[Stefano]

Yesterday, I wrote an e-mail to the Rugby Football Union and the Scottish Rugby Union. Today, I received the answer: the Calcutta Cup is only contested during the Six Nations.

 

[Matteh]

Should have just got the answer from Wikipedia. Tells you pretty much everything about the Calcutta Cup itself.

 

[Stefano]

Should have just got the answer from Wikipedia. Tells you pretty much everything about the Calcutta Cup itself.

Wikipedia is not 100% reliable, although English Wikipedia is not that bad. Italian Wikipedia is awful: for example, the article about cricket has been written by a person who has never watched a cricket game in his / her life.

 

[DDRickyDD]

Can't wait til Saturday when England will give the US a lesson in sport.

 

[Perm]

Can't wait til Saturday when England will give the US a lesson in sport.

It won't prove much, England will still be crap.