[2019 Six Nations] England Squad

[Scotty]

Why would it be a worry? He's still a better option than Shields or Hughes.

Im not sure tbh ive no love for either oc those but hes been found out to be past it and has no impact from the bench. So he would need to start which i dont think he should.

 

[Pom in Exile]

Im not sure tbh ive no love for either oc those but hes been found out to be past it and has no impact from the bench. So he would need to start which i dont think he should.

I'd readily admit to being out of the loop with what's going on domestically but I've never known Robshaw to let England down, he's been remarkably consistent for England in that he never really drops below an 85% performance level, although his ceiling is lower than some, I'm not sure that it's below the two mentioned. Hughes particularly is like a powder puff at international level.

All that being said, if everyone is fit, I'd like to see Billy, Underhill, Curry and Wilson as the starting/bench back row.
In a wider squad there's room for Robshaw IMO, same as there is for Hartley, Care and Brown. It seems silly just to jettison all of that experience. As others have mentioned, I'd also like to see Morgan back involved with England he has infinitely more to offer than Hughes.

 

[curtbob7]

If Cole learned to carry, ruck and make dominant tackles again then yes but until then no way. He was well off the pace of most international loose heads years ago. He might have upped his game but it's still a long way off an international prop these days.

It's a shame to say but he belongs in the Robshaw, Haskell, Cole retirement village.

If so, as a Tigers fan first, I'm delighted.

 

[BPM]

I'm on the fence re. Cole. A few months ago, I would have been happy to jettison him, but he absolutely deserved his recall and Williams has never impressed me for England. He looks out of his depth and doesn't seem to offer anything obvious.

Let's be clear, Cole is not someone I'd describe as an impact sub, but at the moment, neither is Williams.

 

[curtbob7]

Cant have 6 tigers in the 23 with the current state of us atm so just leave Coley out to bring it down to a more respectable 5.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Cole is a total liability. Considering his experience, he's one of the least intelligent players I've seen - a total penalty machine who doesn't learn from his mistakes. Plus as said above, he can't carry, make dominant tackles, or effectively jackle anymore.
He peaked very early - his best rugby played before 2013 IIRC. His own worth would be if he was a very dominant scrummager. He's not that at all.

 

[BPM]

He's certainly been guilty of some dumb penalties in the past and I'd absolutely agree that his carrying has always been poor. However, in the past few months he's been very good - notably in European games. A couple of good turnovers included so he can still jackal a bit.

Williams has done nothing so far and hasn't really shown any signs of doing so. He's just completely anonymous or worse - a couple of times I've seen him stand at first receiver when the rest of the pack are in a maul!

If I had my way, we'd be picking Henry Thomas, but he doesn't seem to be in favour despite being in good form.

 

[Every Time Ref]

He's certainly been guilty of some dumb penalties in the past and I'd absolutely agree that his carrying has always been poor. However, in the past few months he's been very good - notably in European games. A couple of good turnovers included so he can still jackal a bit.

Williams has done nothing so far and hasn't really shown any signs of doing so. He's just completely anonymous or worse - a couple of times I've seen him stand at first receiver when the rest of the pack are in a maul!

If I had my way, we'd be picking Henry Thomas, but he doesn't seem to be in favour despite being in good form.

Whatever happened to the Bath mafia eh?

Thomas has been pretty good I agree, think he suits EJ's idea of a prop with rounded skillset too, not as dynamic as Sincks or Mako but a bit of carrying, does his defensive work and handy in the breakdown.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Whatever happened to the Bath mafia eh?

Thomas has been pretty good I agree, think he suits EJ's idea of a prop with rounded skillset too, not as dynamic as Sincks or Mako but a bit of carrying, does his defensive work and handy in the breakdown.

It was always the scrummaging with Thomas. In other respects he was almost ahead of his time. Surprised that he's only 27 though, feels like he's been around for ever.

 

[RedruthRFC]

I'd readily admit to being out of the loop with what's going on domestically but I've never known Robshaw to let England down, he's been remarkably consistent for England in that he never really drops below an 85% performance level, although his ceiling is lower than some, I'm not sure that it's below the two mentioned. Hughes particularly is like a powder puff at international level.

All that being said, if everyone is fit, I'd like to see Billy, Underhill, Curry and Wilson as the starting/bench back row.
In a wider squad there's room for Robshaw IMO, same as there is for Hartley, Care and Brown. It seems silly just to jettison all of that experience. As others have mentioned, I'd also like to see Morgan back involved with England he has infinitely more to offer than Hughes.

Last week and was brought to you by the number 20-32 and the phrase "dominant tackle"! That would be my misgiving with Robshaw - is he capable of bringing the level of physicality that we saw last weekend? Couldn't agree more re: Hughes.

 

[Every Time Ref]

It was always the scrummaging with Thomas. In other respects he was almost ahead of his time. Surprised that he's only 27 though, feels like he's been around for ever.

He's spent quite a long time injured as well. 27 ain't bad, for a prop that's a lot of career left

 

[Nudger]

Cole and moon been retained
Didnt see that coming

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Cole and moon been retained
Didnt see that coming

Why's Genge been dropped? He was only on the pitch for 5 minutes, surely he can't have done anything bad enough in that time to warrant being left out.

 

[Nudger]

Why's Genge been dropped? He was only on the pitch for 5 minutes, surely he can't have done anything bad enough in that time to warrant being left out.

Genge and williams not in position for Ireland's second try me thinks

 

[Bada-Bing!]

What's happened to Paul Hill?

 

[Jashay]

Genge and williams not in position for Ireland's second try me thinks

Williams, sure; he kept moving to his right and got disconnected from Cowan-Dickie. Genge was further down the line; Williams and Cowan-Dickie should have covered the breakdown, Wilson was the next closest on that side... Really nothing Genge could have contributed there.

If I had to guess I'd say that since France did not look convincing at the scrum despite the massive weight advantage he's bringing in the better scrummagers to turn the screw in that department.

 

[Reiser99]

I agree, I think it's more to do with securing the scrum.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Genge and williams not in position for Ireland's second try me thinks

It was LCD who was mostly at fault in that situation.

 

[Which Tyler]

Yup.
There's definitely a valid argument to be made for starting the strongest scrimmages, and keeping Mako and Kyle for impact off the bench. Besides, their co parative immobility is not likely to get exposed by the French props!

I prefer the argument that unnecessary changes should be kept to an absolute minimum after a performance like last week - and favour that argument where I would have made different selections decisions anyway. I think we're currently selecting from a position of strength in almost all positions, and the differences are less than the gains to be made with consistency at this point.

After an extra week of training ahead of the Wales match is the time to make any changes for the sake of tinkering, rather than injuries (for the starters at least, bench is always a little more malleable)

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Not massively surprised to see Cole in there but very surprised to see Moon.
Moon definitely took his chances in the Autumn but I thought they'd be trying to get Genge as much game time as possible before the world cup.

Must be worried about the scrum, but I find that a little strange as the French front rowers, despite their size, aren't particularly world class scrummagers.
Unless that's the point and they want to turn the screw in the 2nd half after running them around a lot.