England world record attempt?

[JH1315]

With the ABs loss to Ireland (congrats to them), their world record winning streak ends at 18. The question that needs to be asked is whether the door is now ajar for England to break this record. With 9 wins this year, and the win against Uruguay in the world cup they have 10 consecutive wins. They will not have to play NZ until 2018, so their toughest matches will probably be against Australia, and away to Wales and Ireland in next year's six nations.
If I were a betting man, I'd say they could get to 18, with the Dublin match to possibly be the decider for the world record and the Six Nations. I don't necessarily like England, but I'm hyped for this to happen. If both teams keep up their current form and considering what is at stake, this could be a match for the ages.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

With so many injuries and Oz finding form I'm expecting a loss to them, and there's a pretty decent chance of a loss to the Springboks too. I also don't think anyone's mentioned them as a real threat to England yet, but the Pumas are a force to be reckoned with. If England get through these internationals undefeated I'll be ecstatic, but I can't see it happening. And if Ireland can keep playing like they did yesterday, then next year they'll have us too.

 

[spartan32]

I can't see us being anywhere near 18 on the trot. At full strength we pose a threat to any team, but we have not developed the necessary strength in depth to keep winning at this rate. The AIs will show just how far off the mark we are. Not saying it's impossible for us to clean sweep. Just feels unlikely, especially watching what the Aussies did to Wales who had some well seasoned and talented guys on the pitch. I'm confident we can get there just not yet.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Way too early to talk about any WR attempt when England's win streak ATM is only 9 so far and still to play SA, Arg., Aus as well as the other 6N sides including Wales in Cardiff and Ireland in Dublin.

 

[Which Tyler]

Way too early to talk about any WR attempt when England's win streak ATM is only 9 so far and still to play SA, Arg., Aus as well as the other 6N sides including Wales in Cardiff and Ireland in Dublin.

This.
Getting through the AIs unscathed would delight me - do that AND win the first couple of 6N matches, and then we can start talking about Grand Slams and record streaks. Far too many banana skins between now and a 15 match streak to waste any time thinking about it. It's not even as if we're favourites to get that far.
I'd say that 2 from 4 would be about par for this month - 4 is doable, but I'd be very happy with 3 wins.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I don't think we are in the right position to do 18, we have too many injuries with big games coming up. We also have various problems:

1) Dead wood in the team, we have remaining players who are just not a high enough standard but not replaced
2) Related to the above, our 9s in the squad are ok but really not up there with the 9s of the top teams, we need to get new talent in here
3) We have crap choice at centres, it's sad when our best 12 is an out of position 10. Slade has not yet shown he can handle 12 at club level day in day out, Burrel is ****, 12trees is ****, Tuilagi is injured and plays the wrong style, Teo is old and untested for us.
4) Our flankers are all 6.5's as Jones has pointed out. We have real talent available for the future but right now they are just jack of all trade types. This has not been shown to be successful for any length of time.
5) Mike Brown is aging and a replacement still hasn't been tested.
6) Our captain is someone who will not be with us for the next world cup
7) Defensively we are atrocious out wide, any team that knows how to hold the defender and move the ball wide can tear England apart over and over. With Lancaster teams learned you just had to hit England hard at the breakdown because it seemed we had no interest in defending our own ball or trying to get turnovers, now it is simply go wide and bypass our defence entirely. The number of times Nowell was left facing a 2 or 3 on 1 because the team didn't drift was shocking.

Plus a fair chunk of England's victories have been very close and far from convincing, we fell on the right side of the win-lose scenarios but you can't keep that up, we need to win emphatically and we haven't really dominated that many games at all whilst the ABs have. For those reasons I can't see us getting 18 without a ****ton of luck.

 

[BPM]

I don't think we are in the right position to do 18, we have too many injuries with big games coming up. We also have various problems:

1) Dead wood in the team, we have remaining players who are just not a high enough standard but not replaced
2) Related to the above, our 9s in the squad are ok but really not up there with the 9s of the top teams, we need to get new talent in here
3) We have crap choice at centres, it's sad when our best 12 is an out of position 10. Slade has not yet shown he can handle 12 at club level day in day out, Burrel is ****, 12trees is ****, Tuilagi is injured and plays the wrong style, Teo is old and untested for us.
4) Our flankers are all 6.5's as Jones has pointed out. We have real talent available for the future but right now they are just jack of all trade types. This has not been shown to be successful for any length of time.
5) Mike Brown is aging and a replacement still hasn't been tested.
6) Our captain is someone who will not be with us for the next world cup
7) Defensively we are atrocious out wide, any team that knows how to hold the defender and move the ball wide can tear England apart over and over. With Lancaster teams learned you just had to hit England hard at the breakdown because it seemed we had no interest in defending our own ball or trying to get turnovers, now it is simply go wide and bypass our defence entirely. The number of times Nowell was left facing a 2 or 3 on 1 because the team didn't drift was shocking.

Plus a fair chunk of England's victories have been very close and far from convincing, we fell on the right side of the win-lose scenarios but you can't keep that up, we need to win emphatically and we haven't really dominated that many games at all whilst the ABs have. For those reasons I can't see us getting 18 without a ****ton of luck.

I agree with most of this.

4 wins in the AIs would be a tall order with our strongest 23 available. With 6 or 7 removed from that it will be a huge challenge.

The Boks are our bogey team and Argentina will be a big test based upon their recent performances. Winning the three games in Australia flattered us and the Aussies will clearly be out for revenge.

This is where Eddie earns his corn for me ... If we can pull off four wins, I believe we equal England's record of consecutive wins so there's an incentive there and to do so with a depleted squad would be a huge achievement.

However, I also think we need to separate our current problems from our longer term aims. All 7 of your points are totally valid but I think the evidence suggests Eddie is well aware of these (definitely 1, 3, 4 and 7) and is actively looking at solutions.

On point one, I think it's about managing a transition. I don't think we have a huge amount of genuine dead wood and I do think Eddie's approach to a bigger EPS and bringing younger players in to the fold sooner shows an intent to address this. I think we also need to remember he's only a year in to his tenure. Even if he had wanted to, I don't think he reaslitically could or should have jettisoned experienced players we arguably needed to see us through in the shorter term.

On the centres, I don't think playing Farrell at 12 is the worst thing in the world. Ireland beat the ABs last night with two centres out of position (Henshaw prefers 13 and Payne is a 15) so we're hardly alone in this. Similarly, I don't there are many top class 12s in world rugby right now - it's not just England.

Eddie is all over the challenge in our back row. In 3 years time, I think it's totally conceivable that Evans, Underhill or one of the Curry brothers will be our 7.

 

[spartan32]

Good points by both rage and BPM. I don't think it's fair to down play the white wash of Aus especially after grand slamming the 6n. That showed a continuity of ability, and arguably a steady increase. I think these injuries have in some ways been fortunate, allowing EJ to try out some fresh blood without getting criticised for bringing them on too early, or against too tough opposition, and as I've said before it will demonstrate where are strength in depth is really at. Should we come away with a victory against either SA or aus (I don't rate Arg any higher then a 6n team. Good but nothing special) or possibly even both , then I think we are in a really strong position, and will have cultivated a decent psychological edge over future opponents in the same vein as the ABs.

I really hope we get to see Daly and Slade get some decent game time, and id love to see May back to his best. I'd also like to see what Teo can achieve on the big stage.

Whatever the selections I think the AIs are going to be very revealing. I just hope it reveals strength and versatility!!

 

[JH1315]

Way too early to talk about any WR attempt when England's win streak ATM is only 9 so far and still to play SA, Arg., Aus as well as the other 6N sides including Wales in Cardiff and Ireland in Dublin.

I guess so. Perhaps I'm just hyped about the possibility of ending two English dreams in one game. But at the moment, they could do it. They have some tough matches but considering that don't play the ABs it's possible. They've already won a few games this season which they shouldnt have, and they are well coached.
The earlier you call it, the better a prediction is.