Yes. Call me optimistic but if next year's 6N were to be played right now, I reckon we'd have a good chance of a grand slam, especially with Wales and Ireland at home.
Obviously Ireland are the best team atm, and France and Wales are competitive, but there's not that much difference between the 'big 4'... all potentially decent sides; ireland are the ones who know how to win best but none are anwywhere near the level required to lord it over the SH teams.
Yet again, we have a 6N that says little for the standard of NH rugby, aside from physicality.
On the subject of Thom Evans... for a Scottish wing he's revolutionary in that he is noticably quicker than the forwards. But were he English (which he basically is anyway!), he'd be far down on a list of wingers I'd pick. And he's better than Lamont...
England can certainly build on this.
Sheridan is hyped up to unbeleivable levels, which means that when he inevitably doesn't reach them he looks crap. I think he's a solid prop, certainly of international quality, a good scrummager and good in the loose, even if he isn't amazing. Vicekry and White are both getting on, and I think it's high time we found another young tighthead to fill their boots.
Obviously you have the likes of Tarbh and Mite who decide they don't like players and criticise their every move, but if you look at it with 2 eyes you'll see that Lee Mears is a very good hooker. He doesn't carry the ball like a bull, but he's got good hands, gets around the field, throws in well and I'd pick him for the Lions. So hooker's sorted for the near future.
At lock.. hmmm. If you ignore Shaw who's going to be pensioned off soon, then we have no locks who will make yards with sheer bulk. We can pick Borthwick and Kennedy to rule the lineout, but I don't see any locks that will really be a presence in open play. This should be our biggest priority.
Back row should be fine. We suffered this 6N because Rees was injured, but with him back we can have a proper 7 in the side. At 6 both Croft and Haskell are fine players, I wouldn't car eif you picked one or the other. And at 8... f*** Easter, it's time to give Crane and Narraway a proper shot. Either way, a back row of Croft/ Haskell, Rees, Crane/ Narraway is capable of ccompeting with any in the world.
At scrum half, I'd again hope people would ignore the pre-determined spite from Tarbh and Mite and recognise that Ellis is a very competent 9. Otherwise, Care is a quality player, so this position doesn't short change us.
10. Goode can gtfo. Flood played very well towards the end of this 6N, and with any luck Cipriani will rediscover last year's form and grow into the world class 10 he's capable of being. So in theory this position has good competition but it needs work.
Centres - Flutey has proved that, behind ap competitive pack, he's a classy 12. He makes things happen, which is exactly what you need. Tindall is a decent stop-gap but will soon be well past it. It's time we put Tait in, or if they want more physicality, someone like Jon Clarke or Hipkiss who are both good players. Turner-Hall is also waiting in the wings.
Wing. Cueto is a solid player with great defence and he scores tries. I'm happy with him on one wing, and then the other wing is reserved for any one of 5 speedsters - Sackey, Monye, Ojo, Simpson-Daniel, Strettle are all lighting quick and I wouldn't mind which of them was picked because they haven't let us down defensively and they score tries, which is the measure of a good winger.
Armitage has proved himself the 2nd best fullback in Britain, and only Kearney blarney would disagree. Otherwise, Foden, Morgan and Abendanon are all (flaky) options.
So in summary, England have, essentially a decent team capable of causing trouble for any side in the world. We must find a lock and outside centre, but otherwise it is evident we have the makings of a half decent side.
it staggers belief that people were calling for Care to be dropped for his card in Dublin given what was starting ahead of him and yesterday was proof perfect of the difference you get with Care and Ellis.
