Flutey likely to be left out?

I've read a few reports that suggest Flutey my be left out of the world cup squad. If this is true then the only recognised inside centre in the squad is Hape, with another option being Flood at 12. This would be very worrying for me as it would suggest that the Hape/Tindall patnership is set to continue. With this in mind, can England fans expect to see a very physical style of play, based on good defence (hopefully) and points coming via the boot of Wilkinson, with very little ambition to move the ball and look for try scoring opportunities?

Part of me is disappointed if this is the case - but then another part of me thinks that this limited style of play actually suits knockout rugby and that England will still be strong enough to get out of the group stages and maybe even past France and Australia, leaving them in the final!

Queue Beshocked
"I cant believe johnson left Allen and Barrett behind"

He is of course correct as if flutey doesnt go then not trialling one of the other 2 in the warmups was a big mistake.

I agree, but what's done is done - Barrit and Allen will not be in the squad so what are the options now and what does it mean in terms of England's ambition with ball in hand - do they have any?!!!

IMO Flutey should be left out - what has he done to merit selection? Hewas one of the few players who rose above the dross during the early MJ years and thus I believe MJ felt a loyalty to give him a go in the 1st Welsh game. However, he looked off the pace in that game. I'll be surprised if he gets more gametime for England before the 6N (at the earliest) and only if he shows some scintillating club form in that time.

SneakySideStep wrote:IMO Flutey should be left out - what has he done to merit selection? Hewas one of the few players who rose above the dross during the early MJ years and thus I believe MJ felt a loyalty to give him a go in the 1st Welsh game. However, he looked off the pace in that game. I'll be surprised if he gets more gametime for England before the 6N (at the earliest) and only if he shows some scintillating club form in that time.

I agree that he hasn't done much to prove that he's in form, but at elast we know that he CAN play well and be creative, whereas Hape simply cannot whether in or out of form. I don't think Flutey played badly against wales and if player can be judged fairly on one game is open for debate. At least if flutey was in the squad then he would have to chance to play himself into form....

Personally I believe MJ has made a big error with his 12 selections. Flutey has been good, but not right now. Hape has never been good.

Allen, Barritt and to a lesser extent Tuner-Hall all deserve to be in the squad ahead of them. Poor decision, poor selection.

rugbyfan - I agree Hape is limited, but the England management see something in him that eludes me (and many others I suspect) - maybe the RL style pop pass out of the tackle will finally pay off. As the man in possesion of the 12 shirt and as part of a backline that went quite well in the 6N (but not in that last game in Cardiff), he'll be in the squad. As for Flutey, I'll quote Mick Cleary in the Telegraph who says "he has not reclaimed the heights scaled two years ago. Injuries and a brief, unfulfilling stint in Brive, have seem him regress. He has only latterly got back firing and has not featured for England for 18 months." The "better the devil you know" theme will lead to Hape.

HQ Matt it's a mistake that can longer be corrected. I have already said more than enough on the topic.

Surprisingly enough I would say that MJ has to pick Flutey. He has made his bed now he's got to lie in it. He hasn't even experimented with Banahan at centre so cannot even fall back on that.

I would say Banahan hasn't even showed why he should be chosen on the wing let alone centre.

Flood is definitely not an inside centre. He is off form and low in confidence. Playing him at inside centre might send his confidence plummeting even further.

Sneakysidestep - I agree with what you say, but for me Flutey on a bad day is no worse than Hape on his average day. I agree that the England management have this strange loyalty towards Hape, but i can't for the life of me see why!

beshocked wrote:HQ Matt it's a mistake that can longer be corrected. I have already said more than enough on the topic.

Surprisingly enough I would say that MJ has to pick Flutey. He has made his bed now he's got to lie in it. He hasn't even experimented with Banahan at centre so cannot even fall back on that.

I would say Banahan hasn't even showed why he should be chosen on the wing let alone centre.

Flood is definitely not an inside centre. He is off form and low in confidence. Playing him at inside centre might send his confidence plummeting even further.

Agree with Beshocked on Flood at centre, MJ in his brilliance tried this with Geraghty in '09 where his first move was to crash the ball up off a lineout in to the oppoition forwards. Unsurprisingly it was a bad day for Geraghty.

Flood isn't a 12. Not any more. Hape makes our backline click. Flutey when he was fully firing, was a very very potent attacking threat.

Flankertye at least you are optimistic. Hilarious - Hape makes the backline click.

Scored a fair amount of tries in the six nations with him as our 12..
You don't have to be a great player to make a great combination.

Hape has nothing to do with making our backline click, that is purely down to Youngs, Flood and the back 3. He is an average bosh merchant and he is a relatively good defender.

Flankertye how many of those tries did Hape score? How many assists did he do?

flankertye wrote:Scored a fair amount of tries in the six nations with him as our 12..
You don't have to be a great player to make a great combination.

If you ignore the Italy game we didn't score that many, and you can't just credit him with the tries we did score.

He was really good in the autumn but I tend to agree that he has not been very good since.

Generally disagree with beshocked, but if flutey isn't going then I do agree that one of Allen, Barritt or even Twelvetrees (his Saxons selection indicates that the England setup like the look of him) should have been given a go. The potential of Manu aside, we're going into this with a really rubbish midfield.

It seems really unfair to be just taking Manu along and then presumably if he does play, dropping him in next to some one who is pap and having a massive weight of expectation on his shoulders.

I'd have preferred taking a risk and having another newbie partner Manu and then play them against Romania (are Romania in our pool?).

I think Johnson dropping Flutey and taking Tindall and Hape as the 2 centres means that England are going for Forward dominated game.

I think that after the RWC it will be the last we see of Hape, and Tindall and in the 6ns EPS Johnson will bring in the likes of Barrit, Goode Allen, Turnahall, i just think he left it too late to bring those guys in to the squad.

I think twelvetrees needs to change clubs to get more england attention. I would have said London Irish, but Hape is going there.
Maybe Northampton or gloucester would be good bets.