On the articles calling for players to be dropped because for being too old, rather than being less good at playing rugby...
Marler is still our best Loosehead, and props can go long into their 30s. If Marler's not there, it'll be because he's made himself unavailable, not because he's too old.
George might find himself on the bench more with LCD really kicking on - but he's still plenty effective, and there's no-one else snapping at his heels.
Launch and Lawes are still 2 of our 3 best locks, with the next generation currently looking to be a step down.
Wilson - pity he was "discovered" late, but there's plenty of competition, and he's had a decent innings despite that.
JJ is still a useful player, but we've got plenty of 13s, and his personal form doesn't justify selection, regardless of age.
May is too good to be discarded on age alone - but he does need to find some (club) form to justify selection.
The other thing I'd say with the older players, and this is me as a fan, I'd probably disagree with myself were I coach - the older established players like the above... you're not going to learn anything new about them by playing them again now; but you may just speed up the introduction of the next generation by leaving them out. You could always spend a year without those old heads, safe in the knowledge that they can come back in if the youngsters fail to take their chances.
I'd keep the older 1st choice players in the squad, and drop the older backups; but tend to put the older starters on the bench (except Marler)
BillyV...
We know he has difficulty motivating himself in training, so I'd imagine that 18 months of playing meaningless rugby will take it's toll on his fitness and he'll take some time to get back up there performance wise. Performance wise, he hasn't justifying his place since RWC2019. He must have used all of his credit in the bank by now. But we know he's got the talent - he just needs to show it, for club, and then we can talk about selecting him for country. Zach may have chosen precisely the wrong year to move to France, as, if Eddie agrees, he's taken himself out of contention at just the moment he may have pushed his case.
Further with Billy, I think we're going to be looking at what we want from our 8, and how we balance the back row and back 5, given the players around them.
We saw some promise (poorly executed as yet) that we're looking for a faster game-plan, moving the point of attack and requiring insanely high fitness / mobility levels from out back 5 - which... isn't really Billy's forte; but could play into the hands of 8s like Mercer, Donbrandt or Willis. If we couple that with Ford and Smith at FH pulling the shots and making the decisions based on that - hopefully allowing Youngs (
) to play on instinct, rather than over-thinking things - and TBF, when he does that, he can be brilliant.
IF we do that, and find a way around the road-block in the 12 shirt (sod it, let's play Barbeary and Simmonds there, it'd still be a step up) then it looks very exciting for England; but not really a game-plan suited to Billy (though it may bring Simmonds closer - depending on balance 4-7).
I'd also say that Slade really needs to prove his worth at this level. He's got 38 caps, and still plays like he's in his second international window - inconsistent and insecure. With Lawrence and Marchant snapping at his heels - I'd be tempted to play both of them alongside each other, and leave Slade on the bench!
1. Marler, 2. LCD, 3. Sinckler
4. Itoje, 5. Iseikwe
6. Curry, 7. Underhill, 8. Donbrandt
9. Youngs (
), 10. Ford
12. Lawrence, 13. Slade
11. Watson, 14. Radwan, 15. Malins
16. George, 17. Mako/Genge, 18. Stuart, 17. Launchbury, 18. Willis
19. FlavourOfTheMonth, 20. Smith, 21. May
