England Post-WC discussion

[TRF_Olyy]

We've got opensides coming out of our ears. 3 playing for English clubs. He's probably pretty safe from our dirty little poaching hands.....

Three welsh 7s in the prem?!
Who are they?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Tigers have an academy 7 who was In the Ospreys and captain there East side (or something like that) a Wales U16 player last season he is now in our U18 academy team.

 

[Which Tyler]

Moriarty (Glos); McCusker (LIrish); Bennett (Saints); Young (Wasps); Lewis (Wuss); Waters (LWelsh).

Thanks to Wiki btw - I do not know all that.

 

[j'nuh]

Moriarty's more of a 6.

Dan Thomas is the Welsh 7 at Glos (in the academy). Although he plays across the backrow tbf.

Glos would be very stupid if they haven't already offered him a contract for when he's finished uni. I imagine Moriarty will be off soon, a Kvesic/Underhill could be awesome.

tbh, the Glos backrow could lose players and be fine. Not that I don't want Underhill back, just that we have a conveyor belt of players coming through in that particular area.

Moriarty / Kalamafoni / Kvesic / Rowan / Morgan / Gareth Evans / Dan Thomas / Ludlow / Will Safe / Joe Batley / Savage (more of a second row, but also an option)

 

[ratsapprentice]

Underhill looks really, really, really good though.

You would have to be happy to have him replace any of those flankers aside from Kvesic.

Is Batley seen as a 6 or 8 at senior level?

If it's 8 i think you might struggle to keep him, unless he looks like eclipsing Evans or Morgan, which seems unlikely...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Just thinking of teams that need a 7.

In the top 6:
Saints should look at him IMO.
Exeter (Salvi is getting younger)

 

[j'nuh]

I haven't seen Underhill play tbf.

I'm not sure Batley has played for Glos seniors yet, only 19. I would suspect 6, it's probably our more vulnerable position. Some pretty mad stats on him for his age though - 6'7 and 18st3 according to Glos website. If you believe it.

I've been really impressed with Ludlow this season. Stood in at 8 a few times because Morgan and Evans are both injured, looks quite physical. If Moriarty moves on, Ludlow would be an ideal replacement.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Exeter (Salvi is getting younger)

Benjamin Button?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Some pretty mad stats on him for his age though - 6'7 and 18st3 according to Glos website. If you believe it.

I do - he looked huge for the U20's.

 

[dullonien]

Three welsh 7s in the prem?!
Who are they?

They've all been named now. But I was thinking of Tomas Young (Wasps), Sam Lewis (Worcester), and Dan Thomas (Gloucester). All three had/have a lot of potential, and if it weren't for the strength we have there atm, they could have been potential international players.

I was always impressed with Sam Lewis when he was with the O's, and Dan Thomas was great at U20 level, but never got much of a shot at the Scarlets. Young left the Blues before really getting going, but he looked good, and has put in some good performances for Wasps from what I've heard.

Anyway, enough off topic. I haven't seen the Ospreys v Leinster game yet, so i'll have to keep an eye out for Underhill when I watch it tomorrow. He's got a good mentor in Tipuric that's for sure.

 

[FLOBALOB]

Right, time for my first stab at a XXIII I'd pick to start the 6N.
a

09. Simpson
10. Ford - I know Farrell's in better form, but Ford's still the better player; his problems seem mostly mental/confidence; and any coach worth his salt should back himself to sort that.
11. Watson
12. Devoto - Closest like-for-like to Slade we have, and time has simply run out on Manu's fitness; has the advantage of not being Barritt/Burgess/Burrell/Billy. Ford/Eastmond just about works at Prem level, I'm still loathe to try them together in a test; Kyle also still goes missing too often. Were we not starting Scotland => Italy then I'd probably play safer; but we are.
13. Daly
14. Rokoduguni
15. Brown

.

Im not sure a back line made up almost entirely from 2 out of form teams ,would give many people any confidence going into 6N.

 

[HenryChinaski]

They've all been named now. But I was thinking of Tomas Young (Wasps), Sam Lewis (Worcester), and Dan Thomas (Gloucester). All three had/have a lot of potential, and if it weren't for the strength we have there atm, they could have been potential international players.

I was always impressed with Sam Lewis when he was with the O's, and Dan Thomas was great at U20 level, but never got much of a shot at the Scarlets. Young left the Blues before really getting going, but he looked good, and has put in some good performances for Wasps from what I've heard.

Anyway, enough off topic. I haven't seen the Ospreys v Leinster game yet, so i'll have to keep an eye out for Underhill when I watch it tomorrow. He's got a good mentor in Tipuric that's for sure.

Young us a really impressive, well rounded player. The only concern is his size. If we play Young at 7 we need big physicality at 6 and 8 to balance it properly. Luckily we've got Haskell and Hughes but when those two are unavailable it creates a balance issue. To be fair though only a real issue against larger back rows but at international level it could be obvious.

 

[Maverick1987]

My 23 would be

1. Mako
2. George
3. PDP
4. Launchbury
5. Kruis
6. Itoje
7. Kvesic
8. Vunipola
9. Youngs
10. Farrell
11. Nowell
12. Barritt
13. JJ
14. Rokoduguni
15. Watson

16. Hartley
17. Marler
18. Cole
19. Beaumont
20. Clifford
21. Care
22. Cipriani
23. Daly

Still not overly pleased with Barritt but he's the best of what we have left and will run the defence as usual

Numbers 19 and 20 I'm unsure on but I'm thinking to add momentum late in the game Josh and Jack can do a serious job

 

[TommiG88]

1. Vunipola
2. George
3. Cole
4. Launchbury
5. Kruis/ Itoje
6. Robshaw
7. Kvesic
8. Billy

9. Youngs
10. Farrell
11. Nowell
12. Eastmond
13. Joseph
14. Ashton
15. Brown

Subs; Hartley, auterac, Wilson, Itoje / Kruis, Clifford, Care, cipriani, Watson

 

[dullonien]

My thought on Underhill from last night. Had a good game, physical and excellent tackling. Not sure that he's an out and out 7 though. Looked more like a destructive blindside to me. However it wasn't really a night for running link play. He didn't appear to to jackal much, so that may be an element of his game to work on if he wants to be an openside.

Overall though, he stood toe to toe with Leinster's (and likely Ireland's) backrow, so very promising player. England could do worse than getting him involved with the Saxons, thus giving him experience and tying him to England for the future. England's EPS structure may prevent that from happening for the time being though.

 

[HenryChinaski]

I presume Hill is injured since everyone is talking about Baritt?

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I presume Hill is injured since everyone is talking about Baritt?

I'd rather have Farrell than barritt. At least Farrell can pass, run and not be completely useless.

 

[Crapspray]

I though I'd post this here (ESPN, originating in The Times):

http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/14513054/england-reportedly-halt-search-attack-coach

Key points:

- No attack coach for the Six Nations; Jones will do it in the mean time.

- Peel only contracted for eight days during the Six Nations, and won't be present on matchdays (so one day a week for scrum practise -- just what the doctor ordered).

So I'm not sure where this leaves England, and has Jones been lumped with trying to make an all-English backroom? I can't see why he'd only chase English coaches for attack and scrum. If he wanted a scrum coach short-notice surely his first choice would have been dal Maso? For attack coach couldn't he seduce an Aussie or Kiwi northwards?

Is this calm, long-term planning? Or is it a scurryfunged mess? From where I'm standing, it looks like he's waiting to get someone released from their club during the summer, with the Six Nations being bodged in the short-term.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

IMO it is just short term fixes which TBF is reasonable.

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

Maso's health hasn't allowed him to continue coaching, if I remember correctly. Maybe in the future, but he's fighting Parkinson's.

Being made to pick an all England back room set up is exactly the kind of petty condition the RFU would hang on to after being made to pick a non English head coach.