[2018 Six Nations] England Squad

[ratsapprentice]

You can disagree all you like, he's been objectively **** at international level.

 

[Amiga500]

Rated for hatefulness.

I'm sure my fellow Celts will disagree with some of the ratings and can adjust.

Backs

Full backs
Mike Brown (Harlequins) - 11/10 (a face you'd never tire of slapping)
Nathan Earle (Saracens)* - 5/10 (nothing personal, but he plays for Wray. Instant 5/10. His actions from here on will determine whether he accrues more)
Harry Mallinder (Northampton Saints)* - 2/10 - Saints are in trouble, he gets a reduction to his original sin due to sympathy. Must be tough given his da was heaved out too.
Jonny May (Leicester Tigers) 1/10 - You don't hate a weak link
Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks) 5/10 - This the guy did the dirty action to switch codes?
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby) - 1/10 - Inoffensive.

Inside backs
Danny Care (Harlequins) - 7/10 Falls well short of hitting the top marks on the AustinHealyMeter
Owen Farrell (Saracens) - 5/10 Five of these are for playing for Wray, 2 added for being a gurny faced ********, but reduced by two because his da is Ireland's defence coach and by all accounts both are decent spuds.
George Ford (Leicester Tigers) - 2/10 See Mallinder. Tigers are having a tough time. He even has to work with Matt O'Connor.
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby) - 3/10 - Had me worried leading into RWC2015, thankfully the Burgess experiment wrecked that.
Alex Lozowski (Saracens) - 5/10 Rated for the Wray effect. Does he have to leave after Brexit?
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) - 6/10 Tats aren't classy.
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) - 5/10 Marked up because the mejia hype installed him ahead of Steenson. At least Baxter had the wit to revert that when the team lost form.
Ben Te'o (Worcester Warriors) - 5/10 Bosh merchant. Might become more hateful if he makes a big impact.
Marcus Smith (Harlequins) * - 0/10 Good footballer, loads of potential. Operating in a pretty weak environment but showing well. Have to respect that.
** Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) - 9/10. Gurney faced, fake tanned... a senior figure in Leicester so partly responsible for their fall from grace.

Forwards

Back five
Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons)* - 0/10 If he has a middle name like George, then he could legitimately use the initials GGG.
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens) - 5/10 - The cardinal sin of playing for that shifty ****** Wray
Maro Itoje (Saracens) - 6/10 - Same Wray effect + 1 for the meeja hype.
George Kruis (Saracens) - 4/10 - Wray effect minus 1 cos I think he's decent.
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) - 8/10 - Saints are nowhere. He's a supposed leader. Overrated.
Joe Launchbury (Wasps) - 3/10 - Good worker. A man you'd like in your team. Still, plays for Wasps. In Coventry. Thats gotta be 3 points at least.
Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby)* - 0/10 - Unknown to me.
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) - 2/10 - We always back ourselves at home, eh Chris? Nice chap, hard to dislike. Still, I can try.
Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs) - 1/10 - Chiefs play good stuff. He's a part of that.
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby) - 2/10 - Aye, whatever.

Front row
Lewis Boyce (Harlequins)* - 0/10 - Gets a free pass 'cos its his first time.
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers) - 7/10 - Nearer a bus pass than free pass, a long history means quite a few points gathered over the years. Although always good for a few penalties against.
Tom Dunn (Bath Rugby)* - 0/10 - Same as Boyce.
Jamie George (Saracens) - 3/10 - 5 for playing for Wray, reduced to 3 by keeping this next ___t out of the team.
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) - 10/10 - Would get 11, only unlike the Brown rat, he's a front row forward so able to back up some of his hardman act.
Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs) * - 0/10 Uncapped Chief.
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins) - 8/10 - Classless and often clueless. Must be a nightmare to handle.
Mako Vunipola (Saracens) - 5/10 - Mako seems dead on. So nothing he has done, just his boss.
Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs) - 3/10 - Front row forwards aren't supposed to have names like Harry. Sounds too posh.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Im not looking for any..

Watson still flatters to deceive. Brown is well, Brown.

Maybe not, but you lost it nonetheless
But in seriousness, Goode does have the ingredients to be a good international but is hindered by the fact that he is soooooo.....unbearably......slooooooooooow
Plus there's what someone on here(rats maybe) brilliantly coined the treacle dance which he does when trying to step.

Daly could have been a 15 but I think that sad little ship has sailed. Maybe it's for the best, but I can't help but think that we need good fullbacks more than we need good wingers right now, and Daly is probably the most talented back in the england squad.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Im not looking for any..

Watson still flatters to deceive. Brown is well, Brown.

Maybe not, but you lost it nonetheless
But in seriousness, Goode does have the ingredients to be a good international but is hindered by the fact that he is soooooo.....unbearably......slooooooooooow
Plus there's what someone on here(rats maybe) brilliantly coined the treacle dance which he infuriatingly does when running the ball back and trying to step.

Daly could have been a 15 but I think that sad little ship has sailed. Maybe it's for the best, but I can't help but think that we need good fullbacks more than we need good wingers right now, and Daly is probably the most talented back in the england squad, including Watson. Yes, I'm biased, fight me.

 

[Nudger]

Enlands starting 15 is very close to eddys first choice
Mako Hartley Cole
Launchbury itojo
Lawes robshaw Simmonds
Youngs Ford
Watson Farrell JJ may
Brown
Bench prop ? George sinckler
Kruz Mercer slade care

 

[Nudger]

Enlands starting 15 is very close to eddys first choice
Mako Hartley Cole
Launchbury itojo
Lawes robshaw Simmonds
Youngs Ford
Watson Farrell JJ may
Brown
Bench prop ? George sinckler
Kruz Mercer slade care

Wtf slade out

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Mostly scrums I believe. Tbh whilst not dominant, I don't feel our scrum is our main concern. We need to focus on the breakdown because we are just **** at that aspect of the game. You may have 5-10 scrums a game but far far more breakdowns.

I agree, but don't underestimate the scrum. Every time you get beaten in the scrum it's a guaranteed pen, which is territory at best or points. Not to mention the possibility of a game changing yellow.

Over the last few weeks i've noticed an uptick in dominant scrumnaging. Whether that's just the games I've seen or part of a wider trend I don't know, but I'd be happier if we were stronger in the tight.

Hartley looks like he's trimmed down too much and similarly Cole. Both look more athletic to the naked eye but they both, esp Hartley, seem underpowered in loose and tight. There were issues over front row conditioning at the last RWC - hope history won't repeat itself. Mako at least looks like a prop, but is erratic at best in the scrum - Cole did a number on him the other week. Marler seems to have got rid of his boring reputation, but isn't much more than solid and none of Cole's rivals would have the Georgians quaking. Our second rows tend to be more athletic than powerful.

Will be interesting to see how we fare in the 6N.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I agree, but don't underestimate the scrum. Every time you get beaten in the scrum it's a guaranteed pen, which is territory at best or points. Not to mention the possibility of a game changing yellow.

Over the last few weeks i've noticed an uptick in dominant scrumnaging. Whether that's just the games I've seen or part of a wider trend I don't know, but I'd be happier if we were stronger in the tight.

Hartley looks like he's trimmed down too much and similarly Cole. Both look more athletic to the naked eye but they both, esp Hartley, seem underpowered in loose and tight. There were issues over front row conditioning at the last RWC - hope history won't repeat itself. Mako at least looks like a prop, but is erratic at best in the scrum - Cole did a number on him the other week. Marler seems to have got rid of his boring reputation, but isn't much more than solid and none of Cole's rivals would have the Georgians quaking. Our second rows tend to be more athletic than powerful.

Will be interesting to see how we fare in the 6N.

The thing is refs will try to avoid giving pens at scrums now, preferring to instead say use it, even when a scrum is moving forwards. This has quite significantly reduced the impact it has on the game. We aren't going to get to a position where we can reliably shove a team off the ball or back on our own ball before being told to use it. I'd bet we concede far more penalties from the breakdown than we could ever get from scrums.

 

[BPM]

Reading an article with comments from jones in the guardian yesterday jones states Boyce has had a tough background life. Eddie has a chubby for players who have had a few struggles in life.

I read that too. It's this sort of crap that really irritates me about Eddie. He makes up what he likes/doesn't like all the time and it's never consistent.

Being from a white farming family in Mugabe-era Zimbabwe can't have been too easy, but that's not doing Don Armand Amy favours.

With the Curry twins' public schooling I'm amazed they ever got a call-up.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Rated for hatefulness.

I'm sure my fellow Celts will disagree with some of the ratings and can adjust.

Jesus wept, you don't want to slap Mallinder's face into jelly?

 

[Scotty]

Jesus wept, you don't want to slap Mallinder's face into jelly?

Someone put a picture up to show why everyone else does!

 

[Amiga500]

Jesus wept, you don't want to slap Mallinder's face into jelly?

With a face like that he has enough problems.

 

[curtbob7]

 

[Which Tyler]

I watched the Sarries Saints match yesterday afternoon, and he really stood out. We've known for a while that he has those moments where he just lacks bottle, and I'd seen enough this season to label him an actual coward (by the standards of a professional rugby player).
There were just so many of those moments in that match that I actually started watching his performance specifically after the 2nd I mention here (there was a third too, but I couldn't remember what or when)...

13m 55s hides behind the post to leave 2 Saints to defend 4-5 Sarries as Mako scores.
16m 33s he literally steps back away from the pass to himself to avoid being hit.
27m 14s he actually "tries" to tackle Barritt, but terrible body position means he gives up about 3m (it's only that little as Pisi makes his tackles for him, Mallinder himself just gets bounced back) - Ford gets criticised for this sort of thing, Harry's got 8 inches and 3.5 stone less of excuse (I initially put 6" and 3st, and thought I was exaggerating, and checked).
33m 34s this one might be harsh, but he looks pretty good for a charge down, but sits back on his heels with his arms in the air as a pretence.
34m 31s doesn't want to be tackled by Farrell, so just gives him the ball instead.

 

[ElRoach]

Right, the safe me says that EJ should pick pretty much the standard team and just add in the replacements for injuries. This gives them the Italy game to get some momentum. In all honesty, I don't really want this to happen, but I feel it will.

What I would like to see, is trying some other options out:

J George at 2
Someone other than Robshaw at 6
Farrell at 10
Slade at 12 and JJ 13 or Slade 13 with Lozowski at 12.
Earle on a wing
Watson at 15

What do you think?

 

[Scotty]

Just seen this on BBC Sport

England's injury list
Forwards: Tom Curry, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Nathan Hughes, Matt Mullan, Beno Obano, Will Spencer, Billy Vunipola.
Backs: Elliot Daly, Piers Francis, Semesa Rokoduguni, Henry Slade. (Ben Te'o is returning to fitness with England but has not played since October)

 

[curtbob7]

Just seen this on BBC Sport

England's injury list
Forwards: Tom Curry, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Nathan Hughes, Matt Mullan, Beno Obano, Will Spencer, Billy Vunipola.
Backs: Elliot Daly, Piers Francis, Semesa Rokoduguni, Henry Slade. (Ben Te'o is returning to fitness with England but has not played since October)

With everyone fit the ones in bold are the only ones who'd make the matchday 23 anyway. Eddie probably still has Marler ahead of Genge because his playing address is TW2.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sinckler injured, Henry Thomas called up.
Oh dear.
Let's hope Harry Williams has a stormer...


Also, according to the press release, Sinckler arrived in Portugal yesterday already injured, and was sent back to Quins today. Can't imagine all that travel has done much for his recovery.

Also Slade is injured, so I guess that's him off the bench.
Bench of Care, Lozowski, Earle?
Actually, is Nowell is fit, then I guess it's one of Nowell/May on the bench, other starting.

 

[Scotty]

So if above is true,

Mako yes
Genge no
Marler no
Obano no
Hepburn yes
Boyce yes

Sinkler no
Cole yes
Williams yes
Thomas yes

So prob be

Mako hepburn
Cole Williams

God i know mako doesn't break himself...get him wrapped in cotton wool!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Nice to see Spenny on there.