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[2021 Six Nations] England Squad

O2 have been our shirt sponsor for how long? Like I'm fairly certain it hasn't changed since BTCellnet became O2. That's just a pointer in how fundamentally flawed that joke is....
 
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klitarris said:
For the next game I'd normally have only wanted to change maximum 2 of the 8, 9, 10 axis and I'd have had Ford on for Farrell and Willis on for Vunipola with Wilson moving to 8.

However, it is Italy so I'd maybe do one or two additional ones. Here is the starting 15 I'd like to see (given the squad):
Genge, LCD, Stuart
Itoje (c), Hill
Curry, Willis, Wilson
Robson, Ford
Lawrence, Slade
May, Watson/Daly, Malins

Ideally I'd have Watson but he doesn't look quite right at the moment so I'd move Daly to the wing, where I think he should be anyway, and give Watson a break. Malins and Robson deserve a decent chance, Ford deserves a chance without Farrell there. For all the chat about how effective or not Hill was, he deserves a sustained run.

As it is, we'll probably see the same team except Ford replacing Lawrence and Farrell moving to 12. Very uninspiring.
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Good calls, apart from Wilson instead of Billy at 8.

Maybe have Billy on the bench and give him 20 mins to show what he can do, with a short blast.

I also think that Farrell should be given one more go with a flea in his ear that he must listen to his backline and they must be told that they can give him a bo**oc**ng if he doesn't.
Malins will be a big help as his vision from the back will be like Goode for Saracens.
 
Time for team
Genge, LCD, Sinckler or Stuart
Itoje, Hill
Willis, Wilson, Curry
Robson, Farrell
Lawrence, Slade
Daly, Malins, Watson
 
TRF_heineken said:
Haha,

Must be pretty demoralising to wear a jersey that shows their record in World Cup finals against South Africa...
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It actually stands for 0 games in 2 seasons,
or the amount of games South Africa has won

It must be pretty demoralising having to take a joke the Kiwis made up and twist it to your means ;)
 
ncurd said:
O2 have been our shirt sponsor for how long? Like I'm fairly certain it hasn't changed since BTCellnet became O2. That's just a pointer in how fundamentally flawed that joke is....
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Cause I'm sad I just looked up BTCellnet became O2 in 2002 before we'd even played a final against SA in a World Cup
 
We need a new 8, 9, 10 for the rest of this 6 nations. The more I think about this the more I think we should go

Wilson, Robson, Ford, Lawrence, Slade.
See how that works. Billy looked like a fat midlands 3 level prop, Young's has been poor since 2015 (I joke slightly) and Farrell needs a trip to spec savers to get some vision.

Still seething after Jones' rubbish tactics and out of form players.
 
living sacrifice said:
We need a new 8, 9, 10 for the rest of this 6 nations. The more I think about this the more I think we should go

Wilson, Robson, Ford, Lawrence, Slade.
See how that works. Billy looked like a fat midlands 3 level prop, Young's has been poor since 2015 (I joke slightly) and Farrell needs a trip to spec savers to get some vision.

Still seething after Jones' rubbish tactics and out of form players.
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Someone mentioned that Jones is being compared to Eriksson in football with the England team. One of my biggest issues with Eriksson was there always seemed to be few undroppable players and it felt like they knew they didn't have to give it their all as they were assured a place. If I remember correctly Rio Ferdinand had one of his best games after eventually being dropped and then coming back. Jones is doing exactly the same by not dropping players out of form.

Competition for places pushes players to be their best. Without that competition players consciously or unconsciously don't give it their all, because they don't have that threat of being dropped for another player. Even if Jones does know his starting team, he should still show that they can be dropped to motivate them and to keep pushing themselves. Jones really is building a rod for his own back and he's going to have to take responsibility sooner or later.
 
Reiser99 said:
Someone mentioned that Jones is being compared to Eriksson in football with the England team. One of my biggest issues with Eriksson was there always seemed to be few undroppable players and it felt like they knew they didn't have to give it their all as they were assured a place. If I remember correctly Rio Ferdinand had one of his best games after eventually being dropped and then coming back. Jones is doing exactly the same by not dropping players out of form.

Competition for places pushes players to be their best. Without that competition players consciously or unconsciously don't give it their all, because they don't have that threat of being dropped for another player. Even if Jones does know his starting team, he should still show that they can be dropped to motivate them and to keep pushing themselves. Jones really is building a rod for his own back and he's going to have to take responsibility sooner or later.
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This. I'm no professional sportsman but I know I'm actually most productive at work when I have a little bit of stress. When it's all relaxed and easy I know my productivity definitely drops. I'd imagine for a player, being undroppable is similar to have no deadlines at work.

I've also never liked the idea of Billy v playing himself into fitness, he's a professional sportsman and no other player is allowed to do that so why should we have to lug him around until he decides to get his act together? His fitness should be on point by the first game, not the last.

It just be demoralising for the rest of the team to know the favourites get different treatment. All those players who have been rejected by jones for not being fit enough yet I bet they were all fitter than Billy v by quite a bit. Jones' initial success was built off the back of being ruthless about the state of the team. Once favourites start appearing who are treated differently and held to a different standard, that is when morale slumps and you lose the changing room, especially when the guy leading the players is one of those favourites.

In my experience a person who is ruthless but fair is generally much more respected than someone who is less ruthless but arbitrary.
 
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Has anyone noted that the 2 best FH in the Prem are younger than all around them. Maybe having older heads around to support their decisions helps them
 
Im a Falcon and thus a huge Wilson fan...but i just think we need to go for more pace and explosiveness.

6 Curry
7 WIllis
8 Earl

Take it to the Italians...get Curry and Willis winning the ball, Willis carrying hard and get Earl on the front foot smashing the gaps and opening space.
 
Reiser99 said:
If Mako comes back in and we actually have more Sarries in the team then god help us.
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Yeah, it's inevitable he's going to go right into the 23 despite not having played for months, and also being injured during that time so hasn't been training fully either
 

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