England v Wales

[An Tarbh]

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England v Wales

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England go into this season's championship with all the momentum following their runner-up finish at the World Cup. England will be hoping to continue on in the form that saw them overcome their tricky pool oponents before dispatching Australia in Marseille and the hosts in Paris.

With the form of the English sides in Europe confidence will certainly be high going into this opener against the Welsh who haven't won at Twickenham for 20 years now. Having said that the same can be said of the Welsh who will take huge confidence, not that they ever need it!!!, from the performance of the Ospreys and Cardiff in reaching the knockout stages. Add to that the confidence gained from the appointment of a world class coach in Gatland and the scene is set for a humdinger of a battle on Saturday.

Gatland has done all the right things so far in his short tenure, no moreso than persuading Martyn Williams out of retirement.

Debate rumbles on over who Ashton should pick for this opening encounter. So who should he pick but more importantly who do you think he'll pick?

As for Gatland expectations are high and the pressure is on so can he deliver or will Wales be waiting another 2 years for a Twickenham victory?

 

[stormmaster1]

Come on England!!!!!!



I don't care about the selection or playing style, just the result. A poor perfromance in game one makes the entire campaign tough.

 

[Cymro]

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne (Ospreys), 14 Mark Jones (Scarlets), 13 Sonny Parker (Ospreys), 12 Gavin Henson (Ospreys), 11 Shane Williams (Ospreys), 10 James Hook (Ospreys), 9 Mike Phillips (Ospreys), 8 Ryan Jones © (Ospreys), 7 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), 6 Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), 5 Ian Gough (Ospreys), 4 Alun Wyn-Jones (Ospreys), 3 Duncan Jones (Ospreys), 2 Huw Bennett (Ospreys), 1 Adam Jones (Ospreys).
Replacements: M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), I Evans (Ospreys), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets), G Cooper (Gloucester), S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).

A joke side really! I dont care what Gatlan has decided! On the radio they said that they picked a bulk Osprey side because they play the rush defence, and thats the way they want Wales to play. Im sorry but that is a f***in joke! Sorry but Gethin Jenkins and Tom Shanklin should be very upset with this, Gatlan has made a mistake by not picking them!

Wales to lose to England by 20 points!

 

[dullonien]

I can kinda understand the inclusion of Parker instead of Shanks. Gatland has had a very limited time to implement anything, and the fact remains that Wales' defense under GJ was woeful, whereas the Ospreys have one of the best in Europe at the moment. They will be using the O's defensive tactics until they have time to implement something different.

I can't understand the inclusion of Duncan Jones instead of Gethin Jenkins though. Gethin looks to be back on form, unless they are gonna use him as tight head replacemt, coming in fresh off the bench instead of switching him half way through when he's already tiring.

Hope it works out.

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

As a Englishman I can tell you I'm delighted to see Shanklin only on the bench. I can see Tait (assuming he plays 13) getting the better of Parker for pace.

I'm also not particularly worried about Lee Byrne, as I think defensively he has a lot of weaknesses. I would expect to see Jonny (who I expect to start) testing him early on with a number of high balls for England's quick wingers to chase.

 

[An Tarbh]

England: I Balshaw (Gloucester); P Sackey (Wasps), M Tindall (Gloucester), T Flood (Newcastle), D Strettle (Harlequins); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), A Gomarsall (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Regan (Bristol), P Vickery (Wasps, capt), S Shaw (Wasps), S Borthwick (Bath), J Haskell (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), L Narraway (Gloucester).
Replacements: L Mears (Bath), M Stevens (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), T Rees (Wasps), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), D Cipriani (Wasps), L Vainikolo (Gloucester).

 

[shazbooger]

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne (Ospreys), 14 Mark Jones (Scarlets), 13 Sonny Parker (Ospreys), 12 Gavin Henson (Ospreys), 11 Shane Williams (Ospreys), 10 James Hook (Ospreys), 9 Mike Phillips (Ospreys), 8 Ryan Jones © (Ospreys), 7 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), 6 Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), 5 Ian Gough (Ospreys), 4 Alun Wyn-Jones (Ospreys), 3 Duncan Jones (Ospreys), 2 Huw Bennett (Ospreys), 1 Adam Jones (Ospreys).[/b]

Am I right in saying that there are 13 ospreys in that starting 15? Could be a master stroke, but just doesnt seem right does it?

Oh ...................... England to win, but not too impressively.

 

[dullonien]

Fair play to Lee Burne, his defense has improved drastically since moving to the O's, he's extremely solid in that aspect, especially under the high ball, I wouldn't mind if Jonny tests him. The one thing I'm not a fan of is his up 'n unders, hope he's been told by Gatland not to do so many!

That's a good point about Tait doing Parker on the outside, mind Parkers best attributes are in defense. It'll be interesting to see.

Well at least I'll be confident in their defensive capabilities now. Problem is, we've lost a bit in attack by leaving Shanklin on the bench.

Edit. Ah well it's Tindall not Tait, all is ok then.

There's actually more Welsh ospreys that actually start for the O's themselves. Considering Tiatia, Holah and Walker are first team starters, that leaves 12. Does that mean the Ospreys have a better team than Wales?

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

I despair sometimes I really do. Tait has been one of the few players to perform consistently well over the last 12 months, yet he gets dropped for Ian f***ing Balshite!?!?

I can see the logic in bulking up the midfield with Tindall, but how can you possibly pick that injury prone spanner at fullback? f***ing 'tards.

 

[An Tarbh]

So is any coach going to get selection right this week, we've had 3 so far and there's some absolute clangers involved. :wacko:

 

[Prestwick]

Why wasn't Josh Lewsey selected again? :huh:

EDIT: Oh...dear god....dear mother of God NO!

We are officially f***ed. Seriously, Gatland could select the same XV that played England in the warm up last Summer and they'd cake walk this! Okay, overreaction maybe but we have Balshaw at 15, an untested Luke Narraway at 8 and two players who are still very much maybes on account of recent injuries: Shaw and Tindall. Also, we haven't got a guy who has recently played at full back to replace Balshaw for when he cocks up and costs us three tries...

 

[loratadine]

lmaoooooo mike tindall lol

 

[shazbooger]

I swear I spat out my tea laughing when I saw Balshaw was selected.

 

[dullonien]

I find the inclusion of Balshaw funnier, I know he's playing reasonably well, but he can't defend for ****.

Edit. Poor old Balshaw, getting raped on here lol

 

[Cymro]

Replacements
16. Matthew Rees
17. Gethin Jenkins
18. Ian Evans
19. Alix Popham
20. Gareth Cooper
21. Stephen Jones
22. Tom Shanklin

I have to admit the WRU website is poor!

 

[Prestwick]

lmaoooooo mike tindall lol [/b]

Wrong player Lora!

Jesus, we could have selected Eddie the Eagle or the skeleton of Prince Obilensky in bold type and you'd still say something like "Andrew Sheridan, lol!"

As for Balshaw, I'm going to blame Ashton's Bath connection for this. Its all Bath's fault, I say we disband the club and split all the player assets between us!

England team in full:

15 Iain Balshaw

14 Paul Sackey

13 Mike Tindall

12 Toby Flood

11 David Strettle

10 Jonny Wilkinson

9 Andy Gomarsall

1 Andrew Sheridan

2 Mark Regan

3 Phil Vickery

4 Simon Shaw

5 Steve Borthwick

6 James Haskell

7 Lewis Moody

8 Luke Narraway

REPLACEMENTS

16 Lee Mears

17 Matt Stevens

18 Ben Kay

19 Tom Rees

20 Richard Wigglesworth

21 Daniel Cipriani

22 Lesley Vainikolo

 

[nam97]

<div class='quotemain'> lmaoooooo mike tindall lol [/b]

Wrong player Lora!

Jesus, we could have selected Eddie the Eagle or the skeleton of Prince Obilensky in bold type and you'd still say something like "Andrew Sheridan, lol!"
[/b][/quote]

Play nice Prestwick. Balshaw is a god, just wait 'til he tears up that ***** Welsh back line. And by *****, I mean a Sonny Parker incorporated back line. Balshie will work well running into the line from the back and beating everyone for pure, blistering and oh so crisp pace.

Just wait.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Yea Balshaw seems a baffling choice, hes past it, actually he never really had it. But in general thats a decent if lightweight backline, with the exception of Tindall. Against a strong defense like the French i doubt he would pick that backline as afterall Wales do ship alot of points. England by 10-15

 

[loratadine]

im very confident after seeing england joke of a side!!

i think we can more than compete in every department. im going for wales by 20

 

[Prestwick]

Play nice Prestwick.[/b]

Believe me Red Cullen*, I am being nice. You haven't seen whats happened in the past.

Balshaw is a god, just wait 'til he tears up that ***** Welsh back line. And by *****, I mean a Sonny Parker incorporated back line. Balshie will work well running into the line from the back and beating everyone for pure, blistering and oh so crisp pace.

Just wait.
[/b]

Look, I know you're trying to be a comforting friend in this time of dire peril and crisis but...haven't you seen Balshaw play since...erm...1999 at all?

To be honest, I think Wales will be much tighter than they have been. I'll bet that Messrs Gatland and Edwards have binned the Welsh Way for now and have just been working on the scrum, the line out and defense. I think solving the habitual Welsh habit of hemorrhaging points will be the number one priority of this new Welsh coaching team and they'll be wanting to put it to the test against England.

(* Red Cullen is a rather nice Scottish Real ale which goes well with your name and the colour of the team you support!)