England World Cup Squad

[Noonz]

August 5th matchday squad:
1. Genge
2. Blamire
3. Stuart
4. Ribbans
5. Martin
6. Ludlam
7. Pearson
8. Dombrandt
9. Care
10. Smith
11. Cokanasiga
12. Porter
13. Marchant
14. Malins
15. Steward
16. Dan
17. Rodd
18. Sinckler
19. J Hill
20. T Willis
21. JVP
22. Ford
23. Slade

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Marcus Smith is set to GO to the World Cup with England

CHRIS FOY: But after announcing his line-up to take on Wales in Cardiff in Saturday's warm-up fixture, Borthwick revealed that he will retain his trio of playmakers en masse.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Looks like all three 10s will be on the Ryanair flight - unless he goes curveball and has Malins as third choice 10

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

Marcus Smith is set to GO to the World Cup with England

CHRIS FOY: But after announcing his line-up to take on Wales in Cardiff in Saturday's warm-up fixture, Borthwick revealed that he will retain his trio of playmakers en masse.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Looks like all three 10s will be on the Ryanair flight - unless he goes curveball and has Malins as third choice 10

Weirdly heard that 20 England players suddenly booked camping holidays in the south of France owned by an ex sportsman with a penchant for coaching and with a running track and gym onsite.

Oddly, as part of their holiday deal, they also get 30 balls and 5 pairs of boots, as well as a 50k bonus for booking the holiday.

Weird times

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

All becomes clear. Murley came back in as Arundell has picked up a hamstring injury casting doubt over his chances of making the final squad.

Curry out for a week or so after twisting an ankle.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Knew that Arundell would get injured as soon as they were bragging about how strong he was as a kid

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Is it just me or does Theo Dan have lifting blocks on in this? Doing some training as back row cover?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Hmm back row of
6. Lawes
7. Dan
8. Martin

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Nice article on Pearson in today's Times. Timing feels as if they may have been given the nod that he'll be going.

Apparently he's posted scores that "we've never seen before" while training on the bikes. Assume that's power output on the wattbikes.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Knew that Arundell would get injured as soon as they were bragging about how strong he was as a kid

Unfortunately there seems to be a touch of the Barbearys about him.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Every year I swear there's a young player who posts scores never seen before and then we literally never see them play for England again

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Every year I swear there's a young player who posts scores never seen before and then we literally never see them play for England again

The Aled Walters effect, obvs.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Nice article on Pearson in today's Times. Timing feels as if they may have been given the nod that he'll be going.

Apparently he's posted scores that "we've never seen before" while training on the bikes. Assume that's power output on the wattbikes.

The Times are really beginning to go downhill, they referred to George Ford as George Farrell yesterday.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Every year I swear there's a young player who posts scores never seen before and then we literally never see them play for England again

Never seen before and not seen since

 

[Reiser99]

Not sure if anyone caught Borthwicks comments yesterday but he essentially confirmed that 3 x 9s and 3 x 10s are all going to the RWC.

Talked about flexibility to cover positions and need to adapt:

BBC:

Farrell, Ford and Smith are the fly-halves in Borthwick's current training squad, while Care and Leicester Tigers' Ben Youngs and Jack van Poortvliet are the scrum-halves.

With World Rugby increasing the squad size for the 2023 tournament, Borthwick says all six are all likely to travel.

"I think it is pretty clear given I have kept three scrum-halves and three fly-halves within the camp," he said.
The head coach also stressed that position flexibility is "incredibly valuable", prioritising players able to play in multiple roles.

"There is a need to be able to adapt," he added. "We are going to have to do that during this tournament and we have kept our squad quite tight between each of our camps in terms of the number of players we have had in camp.

"I am really aware that there is going to be a need for the players outside the 33 that will be named on Monday to be ready to be the next man in. What I see with this squad now is that they have built togetherness and conditioning and a role clarity that anyone can slot into the 33."


EDIT- apologies thought I was posting in the England RWC Squad thread

Pulled this from the Wales/England thread.

I really don't like the comment about flexibility being a priority. Yes having players who are flexible is good, especially in a world cup with injuries, but it shouldn't be a 'priority'. You should be picking the best players for positions. Flexibility should be a bonus or a selection decider between two close players.

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

Pulled this from the Wales/England thread.

I really don't like the comment about flexibility being a priority. Yes having players who are flexible is good, especially in a world cup with injuries, but it shouldn't be a 'priority'. You should be picking the best players for positions. Flexibility should be a bonus or a selection decider between two close players.

I totally agree with this. Well said.
We have too many jacks of all trades, master of none.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Pulled this from the Wales/England thread.

I really don't like the comment about flexibility being a priority. Yes having players who are flexible is good, especially in a world cup with injuries, but it shouldn't be a 'priority'. You should be picking the best players for positions. Flexibility should be a bonus or a selection decider between two close players.

This, flexibility prevents the performance getting hit too much when there is a sudden shortage of specialists (injury usually). They do not increase the ceiling of the team though. A team full of players who can do everything to 7/10 will put in 7/10 performances but not much above that.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Pulled this from the Wales/England thread.

I really don't like the comment about flexibility being a priority. Yes having players who are flexible is good, especially in a world cup with injuries, but it shouldn't be a 'priority'. You should be picking the best players for positions. Flexibility should be a bonus or a selection decider between two close players.

I totally agree with this but in a squad of 33 there should be room for some utility players to give options.

What we largely have are players who have a specialist position but can cover others. What ideally we'd like are players who can play a couple of positions with equal facility. But that gets us into debates about specialising too early, club needs etc.

 

[Reiser99]

I totally agree with this but in a squad of 33 there should be room for some utility players to give options.

What we largely have are players who have a specialist position but can cover others. What ideally we'd like are players who can play a couple of positions with equal facility. But that gets us into debates about specialising too early, club needs etc.

Planning a few players is fine, being a priority when picking the squad is not.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The Times & The Sunday Times

News and opinion from The Times & The Sunday Times

www.thetimes.co.uk

Blimey!

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

The Times & The Sunday Times

News and opinion from The Times & The Sunday Times

www.thetimes.co.uk

Blimey!

That's incredible. I thought there must have been a bit of a story, and probably health rather than injury, given the radio silence around it all, but never thought it would be anything like that.

Hats off to all concerned. This may well give him a different perspective and motivation on his rugby now.