England Saxons to tour South Africa in June

[johnmac99]

Bloody hell, Ashton must have really upset Eddie, as he's not in the Saxons squad either.

 

[Which Tyler]

Bloody hell, Ashton must have really upset Eddie, as he's not in the Saxons squad either.

...


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[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Sarries fans will be salting their chips ATM.

 

[Which Tyler]

They'll need a lot of salt - have you seen the size of their shoulder chips?

Mind, at least there aren't many of them; so maybe there is enough.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

They'll need a lot of salt - have you seen the size of their shoulder chips?

Mind, at least there aren't many of them; so maybe there is enough.

Meanwhile Saracens enjoy a club record attendance.

 

[Hulkster]

Does anyone know if these games will be televised?

 

[brokenoses]

On current form, the pack should be

1. Hepburn
2. Taylor
3. Brookes
4. Lees
5. Attwood
6. Ewers
7. Kvesic
8. Armand

Seems a bit lumpy in second row and even though Armand is a lineout demon, I cant imagine Kvesic is (could be wrong) and lifting Dave Ewers is a bit of a feat... who would be the lineout caller? scrum would move forward well enough though

 

[ratsapprentice]

Does anyone know if these games will be televised?

I'd imagine so.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

you could have Thacker jumping and Taylor would make it work FFS.

 

[g6mcg]

Perhaps, but that's usually well publicised, and I couldn't find anything about him having a grandparent.

99% certain two of his grandparents are/were English, although can't find a source.

Edit: 99% certain that I've heard that, no primary research here!

 

[ratsapprentice]

I'm fairly confident that a very large percentage of white Zimbabweans would be EQP.

 

[j'nuh]

I wish we had a possibles vs probables so Ewers and Kvesic could put Robshaw and Haskell in their stupid places.

 

[McTallshort]

So Ashton pulled out of the Saxons tour then.

 

[FLOBALOB]

I think its safe to say that's the end of Ashtons England career.
What a ****.
.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/36363077

 

[Every Time Ref]

I think its safe to say that's the end of Ashtons England career.
What a ****.
.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/36363077

Any more info on why? I'm as keen as anyone to jump on the guy's back and call him every name under the sun but maybe he has a good reason we don't know about ...

 

[FLOBALOB]

Any more info on why? I'm as keen as anyone to jump on the guy's back and call him every name under the sun but maybe he has a good reason we don't know about ...

His ego ?

- - - Updated - - -

It made me spit last night. On Rugby tonight, when Kay and especially Healey, were mortified at Ashtons non inclusion of aussie squad, they couldn't believe it. For a moment I thought they were talking about Jonah Lomu. I cant under stand why they ,and a lot of press, have such an inflated regard for Ashton. I do find it very strange.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

At one point if looked like he was right up in Eddies thoughts. Then he copped a ban which he probably feels was a big harsh. Then Jones publicly says he has bits of his game to fix and leaves him out of the senior squad in favour of Yarde who hasn't torn up a single tree in about 6 years.

He's 29 now and if he's interpreted that as the end of his internal career I can totally understand why he'd prefer a break and a good preseason with his club where he's appreciated than trolling around SA with the stiffs for no obvious gain. Saxons selection is more a kick in the teeth than an honour when you've got 40 odd caps.

He's become a pantomime villain - plenty of others swallow dive over the line, but only he got vilified for it. Sure he's got evident flaws, but sometimes in all this we overlook just how good a player he is. Saracens haven't got much wrong recently and they seem to value him.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I'm pretty sure the matches will be televised. Unfortunately our local Sports broadcaster only shows it's televised schedule 2 weeks in advance, so I can't see the broadcasts for the matches yet.

What has been confirmed so far are the venues and the times of the matches:

June 10: Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein, 19:10 CAT
June 17: Outeniqua Stadium, George, 19:10 CAT

 

[tsof]

Any more info on why? I'm as keen as anyone to jump on the guy's back and call him every name under the sun but maybe he has a good reason we don't know about ...

His wife is expecting during the tour apparently.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Ashton was mismanaged after Johnson IMO.

But oh well, Eddie is the sort of guy who doesn't care about media pressure to pick a player.

Ashton to France then?