Jamie Gibson called up for Joe Launchbury for England

From the London Irish site. Launchbury is injured apparently, so Gibson has been called up as a replacement.

http://london-irish.com/news/Irish84917.ink?newstype=N&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

Good for him, hopefully he'll get a start in one of the midweek games and show what he can do. He's been pretty good for LI this season from what i've seen. Although didn't I see Garvey playing 7 a couple of times?!

Ah drat, I wanted to see Launchbury play

Big shame for Joe & England

Chjw131 wrote:Good for him, hopefully he'll get a start in one of the midweek games and show what he can do. He's been pretty good for LI this season from what i've seen. Although didn't I see Garvey playing 7 a couple of times?!

Garvey wore 7 but played on the blindside when Danaher was openside. Danaher won't wear 7 as he suffered a career threatening knee injury whilst wearing that shirt.

It is a shame for Joe, but he'll be get lots of opportunities in the coming years,, he's got a long international future ahead of him IMO.

That explains so much! Always thought Garvey at 7 was odd...

Interesting they called up a backrow, maybe that is where they were intending to use Launchbury.

Shame for Launchbury. He looks a great talent and he'll get his chance again.

So if there is another back row injury, Steffon Armitage must be the next in line?

robshaw4england wrote:So if there is another back row injury, Steffon Armitage must be the next in line?

Nah, assuming they have not been called up yet, Saull (even though he is injured?), Gaskell, Myall and even Narraway would be called up first from the Saxons squad. Then he would probably raid the U20s. Then he might call Steffon, but only if Mad Dog turned down the chance for one last hurrah.

Oh and only some of that is tongue in cheek. Lancaster likes a certain work ethic which he may not see in either Armitage. This may be short sighted of him - but there we go.

LondonTiger wrote:

robshaw4england wrote:So if there is another back row injury, Steffon Armitage must be the next in line?

Nah, assuming they have not been called up yet, Saull (even though he is injured?), Gaskell, Myall and even Narraway would be called up first from the Saxons squad. Then he would probably raid the U20s. Then he might call Steffon, but only if Mad Dog turned down the chance for one last hurrah.

Oh and only some of that is tongue in cheek. Lancaster likes a certain work ethic which he may not see in either Armitage. This may be short sighted of him - but there we go.

I disagree tiger, Steffan Armitage would definitely be playing in SA however Toulon still have a semi-final and a final to play that's why he isn't there...he is also playing abroad so will only be picked in exceptional circumstances such as currently with injuries to Croft, Wood and suspensions to Clark and he will have to be playing out of his skin. Delon is a funny one, he is a very good player, with proven international experience and would still be in the England squad as a quality bench player to cover fullback, wing and centre however he has completely sabotaged his own career with a long list of mistermeaners and instead of fighting to get his place back has scarpered for the money.

Ah man im dissapointed to hear this. I really thought he could have shown how good he is against the Boks...

But it shows we have a decent depth of youngsters coming through that we can bring another highly rated player in...

I think Launchbury is really unlucky but I'm really pleased to see another natural 7 in the squad who will be given an oportunity to show what he can do.

Hope Gibson does well, what kind of flanker is he gentleman?

flankertye wrote:Hope Gibson does well, what kind of flanker is he gentleman?

From what I've seen, he isn't your normal openside. He is quite tall and good in the lineout however he is also a good fetcher and gets around the park well. Most sevens are usually small so this is where he differs.

Hasn't he spent majority of his career at no.8?

Can play 6, 7 or 8 and has a good allround skillset. Personally I think he will eventually settle at 8.

sounds like a Tom wood style player?

My impression of him to date has been that he is a handy utility backrow player without having shown a huge amount of specialism. He's athletic, a good tackler, can be a nuisance at the breakdown (a little groundwork ability, but not a true fetcher), does a bit of link play, but not a big carrier.

He is a better carrier than he is given credit for. He is a similar player to Tom Croft in some respects.

Reminds me of our Tom Guest. He's pretty dynamic but not a powerhouse, hopefully he'll have a better impact then Dowson at international level if he gets his chance does he jump in the lineouts Ozzy?

He is very good in the lineout yappy. Regularly makes steals for us. I would say that is a real strength of his. He is also very good at restarts and regularly chases our kick offs and wins them.

Maybe a mid-weeker backrow of:

6. Johnson
7. Gibson
8. Fearns

20. Haskall

I like that a lot actually. Johnson has pace and tonnes of power, Gibson is athletic and can link and support the backs while Fearns is tough to put down and will anchor the back of the scrums. All three of them have experience of playing 7 and can work on the floor when needed. Then the Hask provides experience from the bench to cover any of them.

It's quite nice, personally I think Johnson would be a very good 8. How old is he?

Johnson is 30, but having not played top flight rugby before last year I reckon he could go on until he's 34/5 easily as his body hasn't been throught the mill as much as someon of his age who has played all their career at the top level.

I thought Fearns had played quite a bit at 8 and seems quite stocky which is a bonus, Johnson is really a 6 that can cover other potitions isn't he?

I also thought Johnson was about 27 and just looked old...

Sorry, he's 29, not 30 until next month...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Johnson_(rugby_union)

Ha looks like his friends have been on his wikipedia. fearns looks ancient

I'll let you off that one

Shame for Launchberry, but it offers an opportunity to Gibson and hopefully he can take it.

Haven't been on in a while, what is the news on Dowson's injury? Maybe Gibson is coming in for Launchberry but also covering for Dowson as well.

I haven't heard anything on Dowson either, I assumed he was ok as he flew out there with the rest of the squad.

I see Haskell is almost certainly out of the 1st test...so who do we go with in the back row...

6 Johnson
7 Robshaw
8 Morgan

??

From what Lancaster has been saying I reckon this will be the test back row on saturday...

6. P.Dowson
7. C.Robshaw
8. B.Morgan

19. T.Johnson

However, I would prefer to start Johnson at 6 as I rate him very highly and think he could make a bigger impact on the international stage than Dowson. I'd also have Fearns on the bench, as he is very 'hungry' player, would match the sprinkboks physically and can cover all back row positions to a very high standard.

I would prefer Johnson to start too, he'd be a better foil to Robshaw and then either Fearns, Dowson or Gibson can be on the bench as they cover the whole backrow.

My issue is that Dowson has done nothing to warrant an Eng place, he's had his worst season for Saints in a long time, hasn't performed for England either and has no real experience to bring so why would SL start him?

Johnson certainly complements Robshaw and Morgan. He is good in the lineout and carries well too.