Good shout,Will Lawes be fit?
Replacing Ludlam with a lock suggests that it's Hill that's the one out longer term
Lawes to start at 6, Isiekwe at lock and Launch from the bench, for me - wanna see Isiekwe play as much as possible
Good shout,Will Lawes be fit?
Thought they were saying he was doubtful and why would you risk him v Ita?Will Lawes be fit?
Replacing Ludlam with a lock suggests that it's Hill that's the one out longer term
Hamstrung by EPS rules over replacements, maybe?I find this a little odd. If Hill's injured sufficiently to need replacing, why not replace him?
BBC suggesting Ludlam will be back for the Wales game...Hamstrung by EPS rules over replacements, maybe?
You can only replace injured players, not just replace as and when you want
If they call up a replacement for Hill that's him out of the 6N, but he might be due back in a week
Whereas Ludlam is ruled out entirely so they call up a lock to cover Hills absence knowing there's plenty of other backrowers in the squad/Lawes due back soon/Isiekwe can move to the backrow from lock
Orrrrr… that just doesn’t really matter all that much. He’s got ample cover for every position. Beyond that it’s just about getting the best players in.It still doesn't change the fact that the new squad has one more lock and one fewer flanker than before and if Jones had woanted a squad with that make-up he could have picked it in the first place, then replaced Ludlam with another back rower in the event of injury.
Nothing makes sense in Eddie World.
Going to be honest here as I don't watch much LI games, who?Tom Pearson called up
Northmore injured our for the week
3rd cardiff met player
Going to be honest here as I don't watch much LI games, who?
Yeah, I had to Google cause I don't remember them having a centre called Pearson...only to see he's a backrowerGoing to be honest here as I don't watch much LI games, who?
I still have zero idea who he is? Is he tearing it up? Or just there to hold tackle bags?Yeah, I had to Google cause I don't remember them having a centre called Pearson...only to see he's a backrower
Is Dan Kelly a good carrier? Not saying he is ready to be dropped in but he does seem a good young player. I really dont know who i would want if power is what we want?I found this to be a good point by Warburton on the BBC
But former British and Irish Lions captain Warburton questioned why England rely so heavily on a player who has had numerous long injury lay-offs throughout his career. He said: "It is ridiculous. A country who has got 12 pro teams, three players per team contracted full-time who can play 12, so 36 inside centres. "Let's say six aren't English qualified. You have got 30 inside centres professionally contracted and they can't find someone to replace Manu Tuilagi. It's inexplicable."
We've talked about it on here and for me it's becoming a real concern that our answer still seems to be, hope Manu is fit.
So here are the centres in the premiership (Based off wikipedia so I might have some errors somewhere)
Bath: Will Butt, Max Clark, Jonathan Joseph, Max Ojomoh (4)
Bristol: Harry Ascherl, Sam Bedlow, Piers O'Conor (3)
Exeter: Ollie Devoto, Kian Gentry, Archie Hill, Charlie McCaig, Henry Slade, Tom Wyatt (6) (Think this includes academy)
Gloucester: Mark Atkinson, Tom Seabrook, Billy Twelvetrees (3)
Harlequins: Joe Marchant, Luke Northmore (2)
Leicester: Dan Kelly, Guy porter (2)
London Irish: Phil Cokanasiga, Matt Williams (2)
Newcastle: Luther Burrell, Pete Lucock, Max Wright (3)
Northampton: Fraser Dingwall, Piers Francis, Ethan Grayson, Tom Litchfield (4)
Sale: Joe Bedlow, Connor Doherty, Sam Hill, Luke James, Sam James, Jack Metcalf, Manu Tuilagi (7)
Saracens: Elliot Daly, Alex Lozowski, Dom Morris, (3)
Wasps: Michael Le Bourgeois, Ryan Mills, Will Simmonds, Sam Spink (4)
Worcester: Will Butler, Ollie Lawrence (2)
So I make that 45 potential centres. Now obviously not all of them are international standard and there are other issues, such as being played out of position. I also don't know off the top of my head exactly how many play at 12 and how many at 13.
Anyway I would the players in bold are either good enough or have the potential to play for England at centre. I've left out Tuilagi and Farrell as we need to move away from them. So 18 players who could potentially play for England and we need 2. In terms of replacing Tuilagi we need a power centre to get over the gainline. Slade is fine as a distributor and can create space, but against Scotland we lacked players who could take the ball into contact and make a hole in the defence.
So basically, who should EJ pick going forward? Who can help bring some power to the midfield, but is also consistent enough to play for England?
I had to Google too and the first result for ‘Tom Pearson rugby’ was this guy.Yeah, I had to Google cause I don't remember them having a centre called Pearson...only to see he's a backrower
Maybe Rohan Janse Van Rensburg will switch allegiance and we could hope he's fit instead?We've talked about it on here and for me it's becoming a real concern that our answer still seems to be, hope Manu is fit.