England vs Barbarians [28/05/2017]

[Ragey Erasmus]

Curry is the real deal and his brother is of the same mould(no pun intended), different styles slightly but cpuld we get to the point of the curry twins at 6 and 7? Missed first 20 how did underhill get on? Should hask, robshaw and clifford start to be worried about their place for 2019?

So given 23 players here;
15 missing from lions
A number missing from the prem finals and saints games, anyone know how many were missing?

Funny the pack has about 60 amd robshaw is 55 of them and we still put in a winning performance the depth of english rugby is amazing.iseikwe is behind maro kruise launch lawes ewels and still putting in a strong show. Who ever takes over from post 2019 will have a young developing premiership to choose from great to see.

Underhill had his moments but didn't compare so well to Curry. To be fair to him though, he was playing during the period where England were just not in the game at all. He put in some pretty solid hits. The most worrying thing for me from all the young players is how they seem to be so easily caught out by a step before the tackle. The tackling really was dire in points and the Argies could punish us for that if they play well. The main thing is this English team was incredibly young and inexperienced and yet beat a Barbarians team with tons more experience. The Barbarians in the past have beaten full strength Welsh side, English and South African so it's not a bad achievement, especially considering how little time this English team have been together. Tons of errors but at the same time definite signs from some players of solid future foundations with England.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Useful experience for some of the youngsters, but otherwise you can't read too much into it. Scratch team against scratch team.

Shame Underhill didn't last longer, he put in some big hits and was making a nuisance of himself at the breakdown.

 

[Big_Grumper]

I'd echo everything that's been said. The big positives for me were the performances of Curry and Nathan Earle.

If I'm being hyper-critical I was underwhelmed by George Ford: I thought his decision making and 'game management' was questionable. To his credit his defence was better than expected.

 

[BPM]

Think it was 36 unavailable

Yeah - I heard Sky Sports say that too. I'm not sure how they figure it out though?

Do they only count capped players or players that have been caled-up under Eddie? It's hard to second guess as Eddie isn't a predictable selector.

Theoretically, players like Armand, Devoto and Woodburn from Exeter or Symons and Thompson from Wasps are eligible and possibly on the selection radar but wouldn't have been available to Eddie.

Also what about long term injuries like Sam Jones or Henry Thomas?

I would have said the actual number is probably higher than 36.

 

[Goodey]

You could easily run up a massive list if you're including players like Devoto and Wade who it seems weren't getting picked anyway.

For me you can only really look at the players missing due to the Lions tour and the initial England squad picked last month.

So that count is

Initial Lions players: 16 (M Vunipola, Marler, George, Cole, Sinckler, Itoje, Kruis, Lawes, B Vunipola, Youngs, Farrell, Te'o, Joseph, Daly, Nowell, Watson)

Playing in finals/playoffs/SR: 13 (Cowan-Dickie, Hartley, Haskell, Hill, Hughes, Launchbury, Mullan, Williams, Wood, Francis, Mallinder, Maunder, Slade)

Injured: 4 (Hill, Marchant, Cokanasiga, Solomona)

So 33 by my count.

If you want to go bananas there's these ineligible England players (26)

Foden, Burrell, Waller, Brooks, Day, T Harrison, Dickson, Haywood, Gibson, Wade, Bassett, Cipriani, Robson, Taylor, Swainston, Symonds, Whitten, Devoto, Woodburn, Steenson, Townsend; Moon, Dennis, Parling, Horstmann, Armand, Waldrom.

 

[BPM]

That's not really what I meant but the truth is, we don't really know who might have been called-up but for the play-offs. I doubt Heinz or Wigglesworth would have joined the training camp and had the likes of Robson or Townsend been available.

Anyway, I believe a new squad is announced later today so we'll find out soon enough.

 

[TobyTeague2015]

So it seems that Hill, Wood, Haskell, Marchant and Solomona may all need replacing.
I'd like to see:
Ford-Robinson for Hill
Wilson and Armand for Wood and Haskell
Devoto for Marchant
Haley for Solomona

 

[Which Tyler]

I'd agree with all of that TBH

 

[BPM]

So it seems that Hill, Wood, Haskell, Marchant and Solomona may all need replacing.
I'd like to see:
Ford-Robinson for Hill
Wilson and Armand for Wood and Haskell
Devoto for Marchant
Haley for Solomona

Yeah. Any word on Maunder or Cokanasiga's injuries? If they're out then I'd have thought Townsend and Woodburn will be in the mix?

 

[TobyTeague2015]

Yeah. Any word on Maunder or Cokanasiga's injuries? If they're out then I'd have thought Townsend and Woodburn will be in the mix?

Both have been included in the squad so I assume they're fit. Maunder was walking around fine on Saturday so fingers crossed. Should Maunder drop out I'd be expecting Robson or Spencer to be selected over him but I'd love to see Townsend get a chance. Would also expect Haley over Woodburn.