England vs Barbarians

[Teh Mite]

I'd love to know where this myth about Dickson being crap is coming from. With Young, Care and Simpson you have 3 players who always look to do one thing - Sniping runs. Their first instinct is to run alone and invariably get turned over. When it works they deservedly get praise lavished upon them, however when they cock it up it seems to be forgotten. Dickson however (and to a certain extent, Hodgson) tends to be more interested in delivering quick ball to his backs and barking commands at his pack. An integral and reliable cog in a much larger machine instead of a spinning Catherine wheel. Thet need someone like that as a foil to Youngs or Care. Players who change a game and make a difference when it's required in vital positions rather then making like-for-like replacement who offer nothing different.

Myler I don't get however. He's a decent 10 at times, too easily knocked in confidence though. I suspect he'll play second fiddle to Lamb next season anyway at club level then forget about his international aspirations completely. Clegg isn't the answer, he's just the same without the game management ability. If Farrell weren't in the Prem Final, I'd say have him play instead - May as well blood the younger boring 10 who's more reliable in confidence and with the boot. As we're stuck right now though, There must be someone else who can step into that role.

**** knows why Paice and Brown are in there. Both are over-hyped beyond belief.

Pleased for Callum Clark though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I'm hoping that Robshaw/Simpson aren't there as they're already being included in the Warmup squads, whereas Fearns/Johnson/Dickson aren't really on the scene at all

I think the squad is better than it could be, does have a few missing that I'd like and a few in there I don't, but it's an "England XV" so was always going to be a bit off the wall





Edit: Just seen Bullits post, I would've put in Freddie Burns over Myler or Clegg, think he's got a good future ahead of him at 10 and/or 15

 

[m0rris]

An interesting line up there from MJ, as has been pointed out some interesting names missing namely messers Ojo, Sharples and Burns, all ofwhich deserve at least a showing against the BaBas, I suspect though that as long as Johnson is in charge Ojo won't even get a look in. Hopefully Abendanon is already on MJ's radar, he's had a stellar season and shown real guts, determination and skill, granted he's not better than Foden but he is good.

I wonder why he included Banahan over Sharples... could it be to put him in at centre again/give him some responsibility? Time will tell.

m0rris

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Thinking about it, I'm surprised no Rob Webber, he's been in/around the England squad recently, but not been used



Who do people think will captain?
If Hodgson starts I think he might, he captained Sale after Cueto got banned
Simpson-Daniel possibly - I prefer forwards to be Captain, but there's not a lot of experience to pick from - Narraway perhaps?

 

[gingergenius]

What does Ojo have to do to play for England? A player who should be knocking on the door of the starting lineup is not even playing for the D team?

No point in Banahan being there besides if they try him at 12, which will make lots of sense given his last magnificent outing for England at 13. Still, he'll probably run in a few easy tries which'll have the media and Dewi Morris banging on about how great he is.

Why no Joe Simpson? Dickson may not be crap, but he's not very good either. One of Saints' weak links as I highlighted in another thread. If I want a reliable scrum half then I'll have Hodgson or Wigglesworth before I have Dickson.

Elsewhere, good to see from the BBC article that Marler is aware he's not a good enough scrummager for test level, and nice to see Narraway back.

 

[m0rris]

Johnson will never pick Ojo due to his incident on the 2008 New Zealand Tour, where he stayed out drinking until the wee hours and then, along with Brown, Strettle and Care, was accused of sexual assault by some lass who never pressed charges...

Despite the fact this was all these years ago and Ojo has proved to be an immense winger for Irish, Johnson still won't pick him.

m0rris

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yet he picks David 'Roman Nose' Strettle, despite being far inferior - the mind boggles =/

 

[m0rris]

Agreed, Johnson really needs to stop these silly habits of his. I can understand why he'd be disappointed but to leave Ojo behind for that incident when England need another option alongside Ashton*, as well as on the bench, is blind stupidity.

m0rris

*No disrespect for Cueto but sometimes I do feel England could do with a faster winger instead of his experience.

 

[Teh Mite]

Why no Joe Simpson? Dickson may not be crap, but he's not very good either. One of Saints' weak links as I highlighted in another thread

You used a ruddy awful and inaccurate argument to highlight this fact. Especially if you consider Wigglesworth better.

 

[RTFT]

Dickson may not be crap, but he's not very good either. One of Saints' weak links as I highlighted in another thread.

Well this just isn't true. Whether or not you think he's 'crap', he's one of three players I would build a saints first XV around - and that's a sentiment I've heard echoed by many other, saints fans or otherwise. Without him things just don't work; look at the difference in form between the autumn internationals, when the lack of internationals didn't even seem to faze the northampton squad, and the six nations when everything just imploded. The main difference was at scrum half, where commins and powell just didn't have the game pace to keep the delivery ticking at the level needed to keep the forwards on the front foot.

By the way, I did a quick search and couldn't find your reasons for him being a bad player, only a quick sentence where you dismissed 9, 10, 12 and 13 without much explanation. Would you care to elaborate as to why Dickson is such a weak link? Of all the complaints you could level at him, surely unreliable is the least convincing - have you seen Youngs and Care lately?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Tim Visser has been names in the full Barbarians squad:

Full Barbarians squad:

Backs: Benoit Baby (Clermont), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Doug Howlett (Munster), Brock James (Clermont), Nicolas Jeanjean (Brive), Willie Mason (Toulon), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), Ruan Pienaar (Ulster), Seru Rabini (La Rochelle), Paul Sackey (Toulon), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique), Tim Visser (Edinburgh)

Forwards: Sebastien Bruno (Toulon), Quintin Geldenhuys (Aironi), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), Carl Hayman (Toulon), Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon), Erik Lund (Biarritz), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais), Salvatore Perugini (Aironi), George Smith (Toulon), Iosefa Tekori (Castres Olympique), Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets), Paul ***o (Cardiff Blues), Joe van Niekerk (Toulon), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues)

Coaches: David Young, Scott Johnson

 

[Duckdee]

Eh, might give this one a miss.

 

[psychic duck]

Tim Visser has been names in the full Barbarians squad:

Full Barbarians squad:

Backs: Benoit Baby (Clermont), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Doug Howlett (Munster), Brock James (Clermont), Nicolas Jeanjean (Brive), Willie Mason (Toulon), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), Ruan Pienaar (Ulster), Seru Rabini (La Rochelle), Paul Sackey (Toulon), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique), Tim Visser (Edinburgh)

Forwards: Sebastien Bruno (Toulon), Quintin Geldenhuys (Aironi), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), Carl Hayman (Toulon), Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon), Erik Lund (Biarritz), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais), Salvatore Perugini (Aironi), George Smith (Toulon), Iosefa Tekori (Castres Olympique), Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets), Paul ***o (Cardiff Blues), Joe van Niekerk (Toulon), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues)

Coaches: David Young, Scott Johnson

My team from those players:

15 Baby, 14 Howlett, 13 Bastareaud, 12 Rabeni, 11 Visser, 10 James, 9 Pienaar; 1 Perugini, 2 Ghiraldini, 3 Kubriashvili, 4 Lund, 5 Geldenhuys, 6 van Niekerk, 7 Smith, 8 Parisse

16 Bruno, 17 Thomas, 18 Hayman, 19 Tekori, 20 Williams, 21 Tillous-Borde, 22 Michalak, 23 Sackey

Players left out: Jeanjean, Mason, ***o

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Narraway has been named Captain,
Team naming delayed for 24hrs though because of injuries (Lee Dickson ruled out) and the need to find replacements - presume/hope that Joe Simpson is called up

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/13503610.stm

 

[Teh Mite]

That pretty much rules Dickson out of the World cup then. Paul Hodgson will be very pleased.

And actually, so am I. Enough players likely to be missing already.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Aye - shame that Simpson has been brought into the EPS several times but then never used - an untested player is very unlikely to go to the RWC so that leaves Hodgson as the only guy I can think of
Unless Simpson is used in all of the warmups

 

[Teh Mite]

Callum Clark has slipped a disk so he's out.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Youch, hopefully he gets no long standing problems from that....

Johnson into the back row, Robshaw(?) called up?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Barbarians team:
15 Nicolas Jeanjean,
14 Paul Sackey,
13 Benoit Baby,
12 Mathieu Bastareaud,
11 Tim Visser,
10 Fred Michalak,
9 Ruan Pienaar,
8 Sergio Parisse (capt),
7 George Smith,
6 Joe van Niekerk,
5 Paul ***o,
4 Erik Lund,
3 Davit Kubriashvili,
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini,
1 Salvatore Perugini.

Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Carl Hayman, 18 Quintin Geldenhuys, 19 Martyn Williams, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Willie Mason, 22 Seru Rabeni.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Remember TRF are giving away tickets in the competition to this game ...

http://www.therugbyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?22787-Win-Tickets-for-England-vs-Barbarians