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England EPS 2017/18 edition.

Not sure the exact number that will be selected but taking into account injuries I've come up with:

Hartley, George, Cowan-Dickie

Vunipola, Harrison, Obano (No Genge, Marler to come in later, don't rate Mullan)

Cole, Sinckler, Williams

Launchbury, Itoje, Lawes, Isiekwe, Ewels (Kruis has stalled and others improved)

Robshaw, Underhill, Ewers, Armand, Simmonds, Hughes

Care, Youngs -Robson as cover

Ford, Farrell, Lozowski

Teo, Tuilagi, Slade, Joseph

May, Brown, Goode, Nowell, Watson, Daly -Cokanasiga as a power option. Included Goode as not convinced by anyone else other than Brown at 15.
Mullan is injured anyway and so is Hughes
 
Is Teo still broken?
He was on a mobility scooter last time I saw, but that was before Christmas
 
My Prediction for Thursday:
1: Mako, Obano, Harrison
2: Hartley, George, Dunn
3: Cole, Sinckler, Williams
4/5: Itoje, Launchbury, Ewels, Kruis, Iseikwe
6/7/8: Lawes, Robshaw, Simmonds, Underhill, Ewers
9: Care, Youngs
10: Ford, Francis
12/13: Farrell, Joseph, Slade, Tuilagi
11/14: Watson, May, Daly, Solomona
15: Brown (Watson as cover)

Mercer and Smith as usual

That makes a 34 man squad, which is what I would expect the size to be
 
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My Prediction for Thursday:
1: Mako, Obano, Harrison
2: Hartley, George, Dunn
3: Cole, Sinckler, Williams
4/5: Itoje, Launchbury, Ewels, Kruis, Iseikwe
6/7/8: Lawes, Robshaw, Simmonds, Underhill, Ewers
9: Care, Youngs
10: Ford, Francis
12/13: Farrell, Joseph, Slade, Tuilagi
11/14: Watson, May, Earle, Solomona
15: Brown (Watson as cover)

Mercer and Smith as usual

That makes a 34 man squad, which is what I would expect the size to be

Are Nowell and Daly injured?
 
Daly is, I haven't managed to watch a huge amount of the cheifs, but I was under the impression that Nowell's form has plummeted
He had a decent game before his injury but he hasnt played for a few weeks because of his ankle. Not long term he will be fit before 6N i believe
 
Apparently Vellacott has turned down an invitiation from Stuey T.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For the squad list-alphabetising sleuths out there, it&#39;s my understanding Ben Vellacott was approached by the Scotland camp (as you&#39;d expect). But, as reported <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCSportScot?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@BBCSportScot</a>, he&#39;s now pursuing England honours - and is pretty close to attaining them. <a href="https://t.co/SnsCaIYu4f">pic.twitter.com/SnsCaIYu4f</a></p>&mdash; Jamie Lyall (@JLyall93) <a href="https://twitter.com/JLyall93/status/953259806034481152?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">January 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Sam Moore turned down a spot in the Wales squad, as well. Would rather play for England u20s
 
Right so here's my 6 Nations Squad; there's gonna be a lot of uncapped players having to be brought in so really what EJ will do is anyone's guess.

Last year the make-up was 6 props, 3 hookers, 11 loose fives, 2 scrum halves, 6 midfielders and 6 back three players so using that template:
Props - Vunipola, Obano, Harrison, Cole, Sinckler, Williams
Hookers - Hartley, George, LCD
Loose Five - Itoje, Launchbury, Ewels, Lawes, Isiekwe, Robshaw, Armand, Underhill, Curry (Ben), Ewers, Simmonds
Scrum Halves - Youngs, Care
Midfielders - Ford, Farrell, Lozowski, Joseph, Slade, Tuilagi
Back Three - May, Woodburn, Earle, Watson, Nowell, Brown
 
Right so here's my 6 Nations Squad; there's gonna be a lot of uncapped players having to be brought in so really what EJ will do is anyone's guess.

Last year the make-up was 6 props, 3 hookers, 11 loose fives, 2 scrum halves, 6 midfielders and 6 back three players so using that template:
Props - Vunipola, Obano, Harrison, Cole, Sinckler, Williams
Hookers - Hartley, George, LCD
Loose Five - Itoje, Launchbury, Ewels, Lawes, Isiekwe, Robshaw, Armand, Underhill, Curry (Ben), Ewers, Simmonds
Scrum Halves - Youngs, Care
Midfielders - Ford, Farrell, Lozowski, Joseph, Slade, Tuilagi
Back Three - May, Woodburn, Earle, Watson, Nowell, Brown
Good shout
 
Right so here's my 6 Nations Squad; there's gonna be a lot of uncapped players having to be brought in so really what EJ will do is anyone's guess.

Last year the make-up was 6 props, 3 hookers, 11 loose fives, 2 scrum halves, 6 midfielders and 6 back three players so using that template:
Props - Vunipola, Obano, Harrison, Cole, Sinckler, Williams
Hookers - Hartley, George, LCD
Loose Five - Itoje, Launchbury, Ewels, Lawes, Isiekwe, Robshaw, Armand, Underhill, Curry (Ben), Ewers, Simmonds
Scrum Halves - Youngs, Care
Midfielders - Ford, Farrell, Lozowski, Joseph, Slade, Tuilagi
Back Three - May, Woodburn, Earle, Watson, Nowell, Brown

Agree on every count except EJ will choose dunn over LCD unfortunatly
 
Right so here's my 6 Nations Squad; there's gonna be a lot of uncapped players having to be brought in so really what EJ will do is anyone's guess.

Last year the make-up was 6 props, 3 hookers, 11 loose fives, 2 scrum halves, 6 midfielders and 6 back three players so using that template:
Props - Vunipola, Obano, Harrison, Cole, Sinckler, Williams
Hookers - Hartley, George, LCD
Loose Five - Itoje, Launchbury, Ewels, Lawes, Isiekwe, Robshaw, Armand, Underhill, Curry (Ben), Ewers, Simmonds
Scrum Halves - Youngs, Care
Midfielders - Ford, Farrell, Lozowski, Joseph, Slade, Tuilagi
Back Three - May, Woodburn, Earle, Watson, Nowell, Brown

With a load of injuries and suspensions and a large squad, there's still no room for a single player from teams currently overachieving in 4th and 6th in the AP?
 
Who would you expect to be in there from Gloucester or Newcastle?
Polledri would be in mine if he hadn't chosen Italy. Vellacott would be in with a shout if we were going for 3 9s but with last year's template we aren't doing that. Really not sure who else is in with a shout other than maybe Wilson from Newcastle.
 
Who would you expect to be in there from Gloucester or Newcastle?
Just asking if we're missing a trick somewhere.

Don't really see much of the Falcons, are any of their pack worth considering apart from Graham who's obviously caught Eddie's eye? Toby mentioned Wilson, guess he's the obvious one. Any others?

If Morgan can't get in a 34 without Binny and Hughes then Glos really has been a graveyard. Woodward's fit but doesn't seem to be flavour of the month any more. VRR might have been an option but he's another injured LH.
 
Falcons props aren't English, we're not hurting for second rows, and their 8 isn't English.
There's definitely an argument to be made for Wilson, though it's tough to get into the back-row with all of our locks being able to play 6 and Wilson not being the kind of 8 that England want.
Graham was in the training squad but I don't rate him as being up there with Simmonds/Underhill/Curry - I'd take Kvesic over him as well.


Gloucester in a similar position in that their best players are either not English or not in positions we need filling.
Only exception being Morgan but I've no idea what kind of form he's in or anything. If he's in good form then I'd start him, though.
 
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