[2015 RWC] Pool A: England vs. Uruguay (10/10/2015)

[msf]

Very appropriate way to end the Lancaster era - a team with four fly halves in it.

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It´s like he´s letting us know, I really was rubbish, look!

 

[Mumbles119]

Maybe some of the players requested to be selected (those players who were expected to be rested), because they don't want their last game of the RWC to be the feeling left after the knock out Australia game.
This is a really difficult selection, as I feel Lancaster may also be feeling he needs to give some players a chance to be involved and boost themselves again too.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Anyone suspect that Youngs and Joseph were not fully fit to begin with last week?

 

[Hulkster]

Sigh.

They can't even get this right.

Ok, this is probably the most meaningless game in the history of England rugby, but let's try to get SOMETHING from it.

Whatever the future of the England team looks like, it surely is nor Farrell at 12.

Ford, Slade, Joseph however is a potential midfield combo for years to come. They seem desperate at all costs to avoid any midfield combination that does not include Farrell having an opportunity to flourish.

At least give them this run out rather than utterly wasting it with Farrell at 12.

Otherwise, I agree with the approach of giving games to those who've not yet featured.

 

[woodwarj13]

I would honestly assume from this that they choose Ford at flyhalf and Farrell wanted to play so they gave him a place. Before this selection I was pro the coaches and now it proves there is obviously an issue here. Why on earth in this game would you pick Farrell at 12. Burgess could genuinely be a force in this game and exciting to watch and we now have to be subjected to more bull****. It is hard to know what to say as an English fan when coaches now feel like they are allowed to play an exciting team (bar Farrel)..why not do that from the start, I think all fans would of had less to say if a young exciting team had been beaten as the only alternatives were putting an overrated and out of position Barritt and Burgess who has played 2 games in the centre. This World Cup failure has been all about poor selection and after this team has been announced its even clearer to me than it was before.

 

[msf]

Have some balls, Lancaster! And take pity on someone you threw in at the deep end. Put Burgess in, see him make a few big hits and a couple of offloads, and claim that that vindicates your selection of him in the squad.

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Yeah, why does Farrell need a game? He already started at least one he shouldn´t have.

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Woodwarj13, really, this is what made you lose faith in the coaches?

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I´m starting to think good no. 10 got himself banned on purpose, so he could avoid us all laughing at his lame defence of Lancaster.

 

[TW27BA]

Farrell is only keeping the 12 shirt warm for Manu's return in the 6 Nations.
I can see the logic in most of SL's selection in trying to give guys who have worked hard to get in the squad get some game time. He can't please everyone and to be fair, if England cant put 40+ points on Uruguay whatever the selection we really are crap.

 

[Hulkster]

Farrell is only keeping the 12 shirt warm for Manu's return in the 6 Nations.
I can see the logic in most of SL's selection in trying to give guys who have worked hard to get in the squad get some game time. He can't please everyone and to be fair, if England cant put 40+ points on Uruguay whatever the selection we really are crap.

It's not really about beating Uruguay, call it 'English arrogance' if you like but I think it's safe to assume we will thump them whatever team we pick.

I just think the message sent out by picking Farrell at 12 is awful. It just reinforces that they really and truly just do not get it.

If they picked him at 10 ahead of Ford then I would disagree, but I would not despair in the same way I do seeing him picked at 12.

You are never going to learn much against Uruguay, but come on, at least let us see a Slade - Joseph midfield. At least then that combo wouldn't be completely untried. At worst at least put the other guy that was picked as a centre in the centre.

It just seems pig headed determination to pick Farrell no matter what.

Nb I know people will say Slade does not play 12 for his club. But neither does Farrell. And anyone who has the attributes to be equally comfortable at either 10 or 13 surely has them to play at 12. In fact he would seem to be the exact player Lancaster has described as his perfect 12.

 

[TW27BA]

^^ Oh I agree. Ford is the future of England not Farrell. Playing Farrell at 12 is just pointless.
Slade and Joseph would have been my picks too, just to see them playing together in their proper club positions.

 

[Peat]

Have some balls, Lancaster! And take pity on someone you threw in at the deep end. Put Burgess in, see him make a few big hits and a couple of offloads, and claim that that vindicates your selection of him in the squad.

This. Indecisive to the end.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

And even after all the damage he has already done, the stench of Andy Farrell still seeps through into the squad. Shameless nepotism.

 

[Tony Manx]

Ford, Slade and Joseph?

Against any tier 1 or 2 team they best hope they keep possession as any opposing centre combo would walk all over them !

Ok, you do not like defensive rugby but come on!!!!

 

[TW27BA]

Ford, Slade and Joseph?

Against any tier 1 or 2 team they best hope they keep possession as any opposing centre combo would walk all over them !

Ok, you do not like defensive rugby but come on!!!!

For a one off game against weak opposition I don't see the problem. It seems if Ford plays 10 we have to pick a minder for him at 12 (Come in Manu)
Are you saying we can't play Slade and Ford together then?

 

[PacDuran]

Very appropriate way to end the Lancaster era - a team with four fly halves in it.

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It´s like he´s letting us know, I really was rubbish, look!

England's World Cup started with Lancaster/Farrell selecting a team with 3 blindside flankers in it and will end with a team with 4 fly halves hahahaha

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This. Indecisive to the end.

It's almost as if the Ozzies inserted Burgess in the England team to upset their preparations and to unbalance the backline hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

 

[Hulkster]

For a one off game against weak opposition I don't see the problem. It seems if Ford plays 10 we have to pick a minder for him at 12 (Come in Manu)
Are you saying we can't play Slade and Ford together then?

My heart sinks every time I hear this 'walk straight through / over them' nonsense.

So long as size remains an overriding selection criteria, we may as well give up.

I can all but guarantee a 10-12-13 of Ford, Slade, Joseph would've achieved a far better outcome against Wales, Doc Roberts and all, than the hulks selected.

We continue to focus on the percieved weakness of smaller players in defence and cheerily select oafs without worrying about their weaknesses in attack.

I did not see Wales' giant midfield running over England's much smaller one in Cardiff, though I did see England's smaller players run around their bigger Welsh counterparts.

 

[Tony Manx]

For a one off game against weak opposition I don't see the problem. It seems if Ford plays 10 we have to pick a minder for him at 12 (Come in Manu)
Are you saying we can't play Slade and Ford together then?

A one off game fine but long term?

No, I would not put both of them in the same team against the top tier teams without a Barritt there!

The English game is not ready for the "attack at all costs" demands emanating from those who like 20:20 cricket compared to Test cricket!!

NZ do not play that way!

They kick the ball from their half, they have solid defenders in the mid field, and they attack when it is the right thing to do! They also have the players throughout the team with the background, life long training and skills to run and pass and chose the right options!

Proper and organized defense is as much, if not more, a part of the game to win matches as any amount of "dancing feet".

 

[Patchey]

So many calls I don't get in this...

The main one is the madness of playing Slade at 13.

We have, in JJ and Manu, two excellent and internationally tested 13s. Then there is Burrell who I'm less sure about but has played very well at 13 for us before. We also have a number of younger and/or unproven players that may well demand some game time in the coming months and years.

We have no inside centres that haven't been found wanting internationally.

It is quite simple really. So why play Slade, a man who everyone seems to recognise by now as a phenomenal talent, at 13?

The only real excuse would be that JJ is a trying a knock and only on the bench for emergencies. But in which case they could have dropped him and called up Burrell...

Argh.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

In the context of this squad and minutes played so far that back line is fine. It is also a tacit admission that when Burgess reappears in a white shirt it will have a 6 on the back. Some good judges think Ford and Farrell might work in future, personally I'm doubtful, but it is an option. Slade would seem to have all the skills for 12, but he's barely played there. At least he's on the field.

It's up front that makes me want to scream, particularly Youngs, Cole and Parling. None make sense. Do Uruguay have an open side in their ranks - our back row will be one of the most ponderous in history and could be made to look a bit silly at the breakdown. Which would be a fitting end to the Lancaster years.

 

[ncurd]

So many calls I don't get in this...

The main one is the madness of playing Slade at 13.

We have, in JJ and Manu, two excellent and internationally tested 13s. Then there is Burrell who I'm less sure about but has played very well at 13 for us before. We also have a number of younger and/or unproven players that may well demand some game time in the coming months and years.

We have no inside centres that haven't been found wanting internationally.

It is quite simple really. So why play Slade, a man who everyone seems to recognise by now as a phenomenal talent, at 13?

The only real excuse would be that JJ is a trying a knock and only on the bench for emergencies. But in which case they could have dropped him and called up Burrell...

Argh.

Doesn't Slade play 13 a fair bit for Exeter? In fact wasn't he until the Wales selection madness kicked in mainly thought of as being in the squad as cover for JJ?

 

[Hulkster]

Doesn't Slade play 13 a fair bit for Exeter? In fact wasn't he until the Wales selection madness kicked in mainly thought of as being in the squad as cover for JJ?

He mostly plays 10 or 13, but clearly anyone who can play both 10 and 13 is also comfortably going to be able to play 12.

To me he seems the perfect fit there, especially given Lancaster has previously said his ideal would be a second distributor with a kicking game. He more than ticks those boxes, and he certainly my isn't weak defensively.