In fairness...
Kvesic, Clark, neither getting near a real 23. Cipriani, clearly also the same.
Getting shot of Ashton? That's money, son, that's money.
edit: I've read my post back and I'm not even fooling me.
If clark wasn't a Leeds player when he first started he wouldn't be anywhere near the EPS
i was going to post a joke EPS squad, but i couldn't think of anything that would actually be funnier than Clark and Myler getting selected.
Dingdingdingdingdingding!
Ha! Yeah I don't really buy the 'but they probably wouldn't play' line either.
You always, always, need back up options who are both good enough to step up in the event of an injury, will push the incumbent to play better or lose their shirt and who can offer different approaches to different oppositions. Nothing about Clarke > Kvesic or Myler > Cips fits that.
I'd agree with you but argue that the evidence shows that Lancaster is quite agnostic on that front, particularly the idea of different approaches to different oppositions.
Agreed. I just don't get why a pretty thoughtful guys like Lamcaster can be so stubborn about certain aspects of selection.
Over the past year n a bit? Easily.Is Fraiser really better an Ceviche?
Kvesic is (almost definitely - Daily Mail is rarely wrong in these situations) not in the squad.I'm interested to see how Kvesic goes at no.7 for England. 7 has been a bugbear for England since Neil Back left the scene.
Englad a have a very similar problem to Saffrica. They want to play monsters right through the forward pack instead of fielding a specialist sniffer at 7 like Aussie and the AB's do.
I think it hurts both teams in the long run. You pitch more turnover ball with a sniffer.
Robshaw plays out of his skin when he puts that England jersey on but he is not a no.7, he is a natural no.6.