England v Samoa

[Duckdee]

Why are we always last to start a thread?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Well you know us English, we don't like to show off


I'd like to see a few changes made to the team, just to try out some other players. Nothing drastic, keep the squad mainly the same but put Attwood back on the bench, and bring him on at halftime (as someone, maybe gingergenius, mentioned in another thread)
Give a different winger a go over Cueto (is Simpson-Daniel still in the squad? - him if so. If not, then i suppose Strettle, though I'd rather not)
Waldouck at centre (though if they want to go mad then 12. Waldouck, 13. Banahan could be interesting)
Either Dowson or Wood on the bench over Fourie
Maybe start Hodgson with Flood on the bench
Maybe start Armitage with Foden on the bench in case he plays like **** again
Maybe start Care with Youngs on the bench (after the nock Youngs picked up against Australia it'd be best to use him sparingly in the run up to the SA game)


I'd expect England to win, but Samoa will be no walkovers. England by 12 or less

 

[Teh Mite]

I think for this one, Lawes, Hartley, Ashton and Foden should all be dropped as they're clearly not good enough and need more time to proove they're good enough with their clubs. And for that matter, they shouldn't call up Dowson or Wood either...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Aren't you playing Sale this weekend?
You hardly need those guys back :lol:

 

[Teh Mite]

Ah, but they'd need a weeks re-programming ahead of Irish next week!

 

[munstermuffin]

Personally I can't see Johnson making to much changes as he will try keep momentum going and Samoa are a tough nut to crack

 

[GunnerAsh]

Underestimate Samoa at your peril. I hope England don't take them too lightly, we'll still need to play at our best to get a win. I'm expecting a close game, but if we play like we did on Saturday we should really cruise.

 

[munstermuffin]

England are on way back but have to be careful like if they think they're back on top and in a false sense of security they could fall back to ways of past few seasons

 

[Peat]

I'd like to see about 3/4 changes on the pitch and that many again on the subs bench as a maximum. A very maximum. I think consistency is the most important thing here and most of the subs haven't put their hands up.

Attwood on the bench to get some serious time from it.

Take this game to look at back ups to Moody and Easter. Say, Fourie starting and Dowson on the bench.

If youngs is injured, Care starts with Simpson on the bench.

Tinker with the centres. For the love of god tinker with the centres. I almost don't care who.

Armitage hasn't done a great deal when coming on but be a prat, give his place to JSD. Presuming no alarming predictions about Banahan in the 22 with Armitage at 13 come true.

 

[munstermuffin]

Banahan would be much better option at 13 and I thought Alex Goode would be close

Saracens build him up so much like

 

[Amobokoboko]

Going to see the game live and I hope Samoa will do a stunt.

 

[mohamed_ali12]

Meehan said in the Bath Chronicle he expected Banahan to play 13 for England, and I hope he does, I still have faith in the man.

Would like to see:

1. Sheridan
2. Hartley
3. Doran-Jones
4. Lawes
5. Shaw
6. Croft
7. Moody
8. Haskell
9. Hodgson
10. Hodgson
11. Ashton
12. Hape
13. Banahan
14. Strettle
15. Armitage

16. Thompson (on at 65)
17. Marler (65)
18. Attwood (50)
19. Wood (65)
20. Care (60)
21. Flood (65)
22. Waldouck (60)

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I've never been a massive fan of Banahan, but i'm liking him a lot more since his move to 13, think he suits there a lot more than the wing

I wouldn't be adverse to seeing that side at all. I completely forgot Haskell was in the squad, and thinking about it, i'll be very surprised if he's not at least on the bench for the next match
When they first named Marler I hoped he'd get some game time over the series, and against Samoa is probably the best bet as I doubt they'd debut him again the Boks. Johnson gave Golding and Cole game time last year (and, I think, matt Mullan), so hopefully he'll follow suit with Marler.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Payne start at 1 though (we all know Johnson has a man-crush on him, so i'd expect him to feature somewhere throughout the test series)

I didn't realise until now just how lucky we are prop-wise
Cole, Golding, Marler, Wilson, Doran-Jones, Corbisiero and Mullan are all in their early to mid twenties, then you've got older players like Sheridan, Flatman and Bell who have still got a bit of life left in them yet

 

[gingergenius]

i think i might kill martin johnson if banahan starts at centre for england before waldouck.

I'd like:

1. Sheridan
2. Thompson
3. Cole (Wilson at ht)
4. Lawes (Attwood at ht)
5. Palmer
6. Robshaw (up from Saxons when I've killed Worsley)
7. Wood
8. Dowson
9. Care
10. Flood
11. Armitage
12. Waldouck
13. Tindall
14. Ashton
15. Foden

16. Hartley
17. Wilson
18. Attwood
19. Croft
20. Youngs
21. don't care
22. Simpson-Daniel from the Saxons, or else don't care so long as it's not Banahan.

While it's obvously important not to underestimate Samoa, this team should be more than good enough to beat them.

It's also a fair point that we don't want to lose too much continuity. So, the only people I want to see start who didn't last week are guys who either need a chance, or players to fill for guys who need resting.

I just really don't want Strettle, Banahan or Fourie involved in the England team. They're not good enough.

 

[veux]

Would love to see Banahan starting at 13.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

i think i might kill martin johnson if banahan starts at centre for england before waldouck.

I hear you on that, Waldouck has been overlooked for years, for absolutely no reason.
He's the new Ben Foden.

However, as I said above, i've been impressed with Banahan so far this season, and works better at 13 than 11/14, so it's not the end of the world if he is included in the squad

 

[Peat]

England's problems in the centre come from having two somewhat slow paced centres without great ball skills and slight defensive frailities due to speed on the turn/inexperience in the position who are basically there to run straight and hard, try and offload and tackle anything stupid enough to come close.

There is now a chance to try someone new at 13.

Should we
a) Pick one of the many promising young centres possessed of real ball skills, real pace and a nice step and see if their lack of size counts too much against them when confronted with traffic, both going forwards and in defence

b) Roughly the same as what we've already got, but a bit bigger, a bit faster, but rawer in the defensive qualities of the position?

Here's a hint. B is not the right answer.

This political broadcast was brought to you by the Alliance against Lumps.


If Banahan wants to go away and put in serious time in that position and show the full range of skills there consistently I will reconsider.

Until this point, the following is a list of English players I would play ahead of Matt Banahan at outside centre.

Waldouck
Allen
Clarke
Lowe
Joseph
Trinder
Trindall
Twelvetrees
JSD
Armitage
May
Promising kid at Bath who's actually a centre
Noo... ok, that possibly went too far.

Thats just out of guys who are fit at the moment.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Thing is though, only Waldouck, Tindall and Armitage are in the EPS.

If we're going to switch one of the centres for the next match, then of course Waldouck is the obvious choice to put in, I don't think you'd find anyone who would say otherwise.
Armitage can play 13, but he's a Fullback, and should be played as such really.
Banahan is simply the other option of switching players.
As far as I'm aware Flutey is still injured so we've got:
12. Hape/Waldouck (Flood, at a push)
13. Tindall/Banahan (Armitage, at a push)
If Hape isn't switched for Waldouck then Tindall being swapped for Banahan is just the other option of trying out a different midfield

 

[Peat]

Allen's been called up as injury cover.

If we need any more injury cover, I'll bung ginger genius a couple hundred to account for a centre as well as Worsley.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Thought he got released back now that Waldouck's better? I'd have him ahead of Banahan as well, in that case


Edit:
Just read that Allen was called back in today as Waldouck injured himself on the weekend playing for Wasps.
Would definately have him in there then, I really rate him, hopefully he's not been called in for no reason. We'll find out tomorrow I suppose!