England Six Nations Squad 2025

[ShropshireAllBlack]

Six Nations 2025: Danny Care backs England to 'shock' Ireland in opener

England can "shock" Ireland and set themselves up for a run at the Six Nations ***le, says three-time winner Danny Care.

www.bbc.co.uk

That's up there with Gats' comment a few days ago about Wales being a bolter for the championship. Everyone is talking up their own team. It's all Kabuki theatre to sell tickets and generate interest.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

It's gonna be interesting to see the side picked for next week,

Tom Curry had his best England game since 2022, feel like he's nailed on
Earl anonymous and subbed - I'd start Willis
Ben did well - don't think any of the doom and gloom pre-game came true, there'll be talk of lineouts but LCD and Dan were erratic

Speaking of: it's so annoying we've not been putting game time into Langdon - LCD wasn't good today but the only realistic alternative is Dan, who is worse. I'd have Langdon on the bench next week, he needs to be out starter by the AIs

CCS added impact but I don't think I'd start him, Chessum did too and I'd be tempted to put him at 6 but then who covers lock off the bench? I don't think you can have someone covering lock from the pitch, and no one else, at international level - especially against the French


I think we'll go 6:2 again next week, at most we'll reshuffle between bench and starters, but I don't think we should
I'd start Roebuck and have Murley in the 23 shirt

Neither 9 was much cop, Quirke will come into the 23 if his hamstring has healed


Bit annoyed I'm otherwise engaged and gonna miss the game, but watching on Sunday, already knowing the score, will remove the stress of it I guess

 

[Rugbyfan564]

Dan has a long term central contract. That will play its part.

 

[Rugbyfan564]

I have a feeling both Smith's might start with Marcus at Full Back.

 

[Scotty]

Stuart Lancaster departs Racing 92 after difficult run

Racing 92 announce the departure of head coach Stuart Lancaster with immediate effect to end a difficult time in Paris for the former England boss.

www.bbc.co.uk

So now you want Lancaster on the Wing instead of Murley

 

[AlRums]

So now you want Lancaster on the Wing instead of Murley

No, you now have a suitable manager available

 

[Scotty]

No, you now have a suitable manager available

I'm hoping that was a joke

 

[Reiser99]

Like most games we started well and then fell off. The two tries are the end were consolation and not deserved based on the second half performance.

Defence as a whole seemed better, but still too many individual errors.
Attack is still underwhelming. Some early kicks worked well, but we still look toothless going forward and when we do make breaks we struggle to back it up.
Discipline was poor. I get some people saying the ref got it wrong, but reality is that the ref is in charge and you have to adapt to him, not the other way round. It's been a huge problem of England's for years and two penalties for pushing in a row is stupid. First one, ok it's annoying, but that's what the ref has decided. Don't then do it again.

Front row for me were pretty anonymous. Don't remember any of them doing something majorly impactful.
Itoje and Martin were okay, but the lineout wasn't perfect and we barely pressured theirs.
Curry brothers were very good and did well to disrupt the Irish breakdown.
Earl has definitely run his lot and Willis needs a chance.
Mitchell was okay, but not at his best. He couldn't change the tempo when England were struggling to get possession.
Smith had a few good moments, but like Mitchell he couldn't help England get the territory and possession they needed.
Slade was anonymous for me outside of his kick for the first try.
Lawrence was very good both in attack and defence.
Murley took his try well, but two very basic errors cost us. I feel like the first one he may have touched the ball so it couldn't roll dead. The second was idiotic.
Freeman again didn't have the impact needed and you just need to watch IFW in an England shirt to see the difference.
Steward competed well in the air and got us some possession. Not his worst game, but still not good enough in defence.

Overall it felt like England don't know what to do when plan A isn't working and they don't have the players capable of leading and doing things differently.

 

[Abraxaz]

If we are going to be actually honest with ourselves, England are just not good enough. We don't have the world class players like other countries.

Honestly what players bar maybe a inform it one would get into a world 15, and that's a doubt.

The premiership has been shown up in the euros, the two best teams in the Gallagher got knocked out.

The French will easily beat us next week and the game with Scotland is another game where we enter expecting to lose.

Borthwick now has a win percentage of less than 50%, I can't se that being improve this tournament bar maybe beating Italy (not a given) and wales.

Then we have a summer tour to a very strong Argentina team…


It's going to be more years of dross until we start doing anything, and I suspect that's after Borthwick is let go.

I don't think we will have a good six nations for a very long time as we become more like wales

 

[Rugbyfan564]

I think one issue league is too big. Do we need 4-6 super teams instead?

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I think one issue league is too big. Do we need 4-6 super teams instead?

That's a silly comment, solves no problems and creates a load of others.

 

[Saintjay]

I think one issue league is too big. Do we need 4-6 super teams instead?

Never stopped us winning things before now.

 

[Abraxaz]

I think one issue league is too big. Do we need 4-6 super teams instead?

It's not a case of too many clubs, it's a case of these clubs hiring in foreign born players for key roles instead of bringing up academy prospects.

Name a good 12 in the premiership that's England qualified?

We are in for a couple of painful years of **** poor results

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Honestly what players bar maybe a inform it one would get into a world 15

Always thought this was a silly line of thought, there's only room for one player in each position on these hypotheticals

The French will easily beat us next week and the game with Scotland is another game where we enter expecting to lose.

France will beat us, but I think they're the best team in the world and would beat anyone atm

I feel more confident after today for the Scotland game than before

I think there was some, not all, to be happy about with today's performance - it's certainly a better starting point that I expected, and we've got players to come back into the side/that can challenge the poor performances of today. As ever the only glaring worry is 12 - Slade had a decent first half but dropped in the second and kept dropping - he looked slow and isn't a powerful player, if you're not quick you've gotta bang and he wasn't doing either.

I'm as doom and gloom about SB/England as anyone, but today's not our low point - a LBP away in Dublin is more than most would get

 

[Crash Hamster]

It does seem to be the same old problems; the players themselves are more than talented enough for England to perform better than we do. Something seems to be lacking in coaching/tactics/selection, meaning the team is less than the sum of its parts.

I think there is probably a golden generation coming through (some of the U20s look like they may be the real deal) and we may be able to produce a monster pack in a few years' time. If this does happen, it will suddenly become easier for talented backs to perform...

Still need to be coached well though...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Name a good 12 in the premiership that's England qualified?

Hartley, Ojomoh, Atkinson
Anyanwu looked good early in the season
Will Butt looks better every time I see him


Think when someone last said this we went through and checked and something like 6/10 starting 12s are English, and 3 of the other 4 are England produced but capped by someone else - and then most backup 12s are English
Borthwick's selections aren't an accurate representation of the state of the league

 

[Crash Hamster]

Hartley, Ojomoh, Atkinson
Anyanwu looked good early in the season


Think when someone last said this we went through and checked and something like 6/10 starting 12s are English, and 3 of the other 4 are England produced but capped by someone else

Anyanwu seems to have improved greatly from last season and could be one for a few years' time; Hartley should surely be getting game time in white (presumably in the summer)?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Anyanwu seems to have improved greatly from last season and could be one for a few years' time; Hartley should surely be getting game time in white (presumably in the summer)?

Yeah, really hope the (strong) rumours of Anyanwu going to France turn out to be false

Very interested to see who players 12 in the A game that's coming up - hope it's not wasted on Dingwall again

 

[Crash Hamster]

Yeah, really hope the (strong) rumours of Anyanwu going to France turn out to be false

Very interested to see who players 12 in the A game that's coming up - hope it's not wasted on Dingwall again

Agreed. I really like Dingwall, he seems to do a lot of the unflashy stuff at Saints, which enables the others to flourish around him, but I think we have to look a few years younger for someone with a higher ceiling.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I mean Dingwall ****** all over Slade and would be some much needed glue in the team but yeah let's look for some inconsistent kid who's not earned anything yet.