England vs Barbarians

[Nielsch]

Nice for Tim that he's one of the uncapped players to represent the Barbarians.

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

Ojo is a terrific player and I'd love to see him play for England again. If he keeps this up, I can see him getting picked for the 2013 Lions tour (hopefully).

 

[Getofmeland]

You can apply to win tickets to this game see our thread here - http://www.therugbyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?22787-Win-Tickets-for-England-vs-Barbarians

 

[m0rris]

Ojo is a terrific player and I'd love to see him play for England again. If he keeps this up, I can see him getting picked for the 2013 Lions tour (hopefully).

Agreed, at the Bat/L.Irish match Ojo was the danger man by quite a long way and played very well. It would be the ultimate WTF are you doing Johnson if he was picked for the Lions.

m0rris

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Were we not supposed to have the squad announced by today?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

That's what I thought too,
Looks like it'll be tomorrow now, could be giving more time to the injury concerns to see if they're definite yes/no for the match

 

[IRFU]

The Squad was announced earlier :

Team:
15.Nicolas Jeanjean (Brive)
14.Paul Sackey (Toulon)
13.Benoit Baby (Clermont Auvergne)
12.Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais)
11.Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby)
10.Frederic Michalak (Toulouse)
9.Ruan Pienaar (Ulster)
1.Salvatore Perugini (Aironi)
2.Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso)
3.Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon)
4.Erik Lund (Biarritz)
5.Paul ***o (Cardiff Blues)
6.Joe van Niekerk (Toulon)
7.George Smith (Toulon)
8.Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais) (C)
Replacements:
16.Sebastien Bruno (Toulon)
17.Carl Hayman (Toulon)
18.Quintin Geldenhuys (Aironi), ,
19.Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues)
20.Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique),
21.Willie Mason (Toulon)
22.Seru Rabeni (La Rochelle)

Link to squad: http://www.barbarianfc.co.uk/news/480/parisse-captain-against-england/

 

[TRF_Olyy]

England squad, we're on about
BaaBaas squad is on the last page

 

[IRFU]

I'm an idiot sorry

Apologies

 

[TRF_Olyy]

:lol: No need to apologise


I'm excited for this match though, there'll be some good matchups on the pitch - "scattered showers" forecast for London over the next few days, hopefully there's not too much rain and we get a good fast open game

 

[Getofmeland]

1 Hour to go to enter our competition and you could be going to watch the game!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

England:
15 Mike Brown,
14 James Simpson-Daniel,
13 Henry Trinder,
12 Matt Banahan,
11 Ugo Monye,
10 Charlie Hodgson,
9 Paul Hodgson,
8 Luke Narraway (capt),
7 Carl Fearns,
6 Tom Johnson,
5 Dave Attwood,
4 Graeme Kitchener,
3 Paul Doran-Jones,
2 David Paice,
1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 13 Kieran Brookes, 18 James Gaskell, 19 Jamie Gibson, 20 Mickey Young, 21 Stephen Myler, 22 Jordan Turner-Hall.


With the exception of Bananaman at 12 (trying him in more positions = more chance he'll play there for England ) I like that team

 

[Teh Mite]

ENGLAND v BARBARIANS
Twickenham
Sunday, May 29th, 2011
Kick-off 1:30pm

ENGLAND
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins)
14 James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
13 Henry Trinder (Gloucester Rugby)
12 Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby)
11 Ugo Monye (Harlequins)
10 Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks)
9 Paul Hodgson (London Irish)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins)
2 David Paice (London Irish)
3 Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester Rugby)
4 Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors)
5 David Attwood (Gloucester Rugby)
6 Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs)
7 Carl Fearns (Sale Sharks)
8 Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby) (capt)

Replacements
16 Joe Gray (Harlequins)
17 Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
18 James Gaskell (Sale Sharks)
19 Jamie Gibson (London Irish)
20 Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)
21 Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints)
22 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)

BARBARIANS
15 Nicolas Jeanjean (Brive & France)
14 Paul Sackey (Toulon & England)
13 Benoit Baby (Clermont Auvergne & France)
12 Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais & France)
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby & Netherlands)
10 Frederic Michalak (Toulouse & France)
9 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa)
1 Salvatore Perugini (Aironi & Italy)
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso & Italy)
3 Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon & Georgia)
4 Erik Lund (Biarritz)
5 Paul ***o (Cardiff Blues)
6 Joe van Niekerk (Toulon & South Africa)
7 George Smith (Toulon & Australia)
8 Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais & Italy) (capt)

Replacements
16 Sebastien Bruno (Toulon & France)
17 Carl Hayman (Toulon & New Zealand)
18 Quintin Geldenhuys (Aironi & Italy)
19 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique & France)
21 Willie Mason (Toulon)
22 Seru Rabini (La Rochelle & Fiji)

 

[gingergenius]

interesting side. I really hope people run rings around Banahan. As a former centre and lover of ball-players, I find it an insult that someone like Banahan can be picked at 12 for an international side.

Seriously, the guy comes in on the wing and looks average (whereas I can think of at least Ojo, Monye & Strettle who've played wing for England recently and looked like they've had something to offer). He then gets picked at 13 and looks out of his depth (in fairness opposite BOD). So why 12? Surely if Banahan's going to be a good 12 for England then he might have shown he'd make a good 13, or even a good winger? As it is he hasn't impressed anywhere on the field.

 

[m0rris]

TBH, Ojo is excellent but Johnson will NEVER pick him and Monye should be on the wing instead of Cueto with Banahan on the Bench but Strettle is the master of average.

As much as I like Banahan he is still working out his game, which importantly involves moving to centre, and he shouldn't be doing this in the England shirt but the Bath shirt. That said, when Hape is being picked at centre there really is something wrong in the centre department -coaches/players you decide.

m0rris

 

[TRF_Olyy]

All I can think is they're looking to use Banahan as a crashball centre

Why not use Barritt who can crash ball well, but can also, you know, PLAY RUGBY

 

[ZeFrenchy]

All I can think is they're looking to use Banahan as a crashball centre

Why not use Barritt who can crash ball well, but can also, you know, PLAY RUGBY

Yeah , I'll think they'll try to use Banahan's weght advantage over Bastareaud...
Now, seriously, that's a poor decision. Specially in a match like that, when you're supposed to try things that... you know... may work.
Personally, I think he's a decent winger (better than Monye, imo), but really can't pass a ball. Tim Horan, Philippe Sella and BOD must be revolving in their graves.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yup, Banahan is good at running over little guys - Bastareaud is many things but a "little guy" is not one of them

 

[psychic duck]

man for man, the Baabaas are better in every position apart from ***o at lock, maybe fly half and right wing

 

[gingergenius]

I may be on Banahan's back too much (he might be a perfectly nice guy for all I know) but I really hope Bastareaud shows him up. HMS is a good Premiership player, let's not forget that. So is Hape, for that matter. But there's nothing more irritating as someone who appreciates the Coopers & Giteaus of this world for backs to be picked at international level purely because of their physiques. You have guys like Bastareaud, Roberts, Nonu, SBW, probaby even Manu Tuilagi who all are good enough to play a physical game internationally - because they have a high skill level and/ or rugby brain to go with it. HMS simply doesn't have that.

 

[Charles]

Man that Baa-Baas backline is all over the place...Visser is good and desrves to be there but the others...