Varndell called up to train with England squads

Well deserved call up for Tom Varndell - only for training but good that he is on the England radar.

Wasps wing Tom Varndell has joined a number of his club teammates at England training this week at Loughborough University.


Varndell scored two tries against Clermont Auvergne on Friday night.
England’s Elite Player Squad and the England Saxons squad are training together this week, and Head Coach Stuart Lancaster has invited Varndell to train with the wider group.
Wasps have six other players in both squads. Joe Launchbury and Christian Wade are in the EPS while Joe Simpson, Elliot Daly, Kearnan Myall and James Haskell are in the Saxons.
Neither Haskell or Daly are training this week as both continue their recovery from injuries.

Good to see he's been called up. There's no doubting that he's a deadly threat ball in hand,hopefully he'll get a chance in training to show he can defend too.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-2257734/Wasps-Tom-Varndell-England-right-drop-me.html

Toms defence has improved markedly & surely it would have been better to pick the in form wingers for England rather than a full back or out of form occasional tackler?

Anyhow, Christian is deservedly though belatedly in the EPS set up & I hope Tom gets a chance to to, though I do like the look of Yarde & he has youth on his side.

But for out & out finishing Wasps had the best 2 wingers by a distance last season & that was in a team that had its deficiencies in other areas.

I'd imagine this was in response to Jonny May's dislocated elbow. Varndell should have been there anyway ahead of Strettle so it's good that he's finally been recognised.

HongKongCherry wrote:I'd imagine this was in response to Jonny May's dislocated elbow.  Varndell should have been there anyway ahead of Strettle so it's good that he's finally been recognised.

 

I wasn't aware of that injury to May.

We are scraping the barrel, hopefully he'll get nowhere near a test team.

I would love to see a back 3 with real pace and attacking intent. Varndell on the left wing could be excellent. But just my opinion

LondonTiger wrote:I would love to see a back 3 with real pace and attacking intent. Varndell on the left wing could be excellent. But just my opinion

Foden at his best, Wade on one wing & Varndell/May/Yarde on the other would be pretty lethal.

Trev you mean Mike Brown at 15 right?

yappysnap wrote:Trev you mean Mike Brown at 15 right?

I like Brown but feel he lacks real pace albeit it has improved. Foden a year or 2 back was a great counterattacker & everyone was talking about him as the favourite 15 for the Lions as I recall?

Tait is another one coming into contention to. I'm with LT on this you cannot beat sheer pace in the back 3.

I think Mike Brown is better then any of those others at actually being a fb

Brown is probably the form pick but he's never going to be top draw. He's solid and a hard runner but a form Foden is far superior(form is a big word here as Foden has been poor for a while now).

Going forward, Daly or Nowell could make the spot their own.

Foden has been off because of his injured ankle. Came back too early. At the real tail end of the season was playing terrific.

Brown is a very good player. He is fearless and will take some risks. But there is something about him which is hard to define which makes me nervous with everything on the line.

Surely if, at 28, Varndell hasn't broken into the England team he never will?

Wouldn't it be better to invest time and training in a younger more promising talent?

Yappy he's better at the moment. Tait has taken off since Geordie started mentoring him. Give him another season and he could be a great option for England and can offer the pace Brown can't.

Mike Brown is an excellent club level player but I'm still unconvinced he's going to be any more than average on the international stage. If he develops his kicking to add something other than the cannon so he can offer greater tactical options then he could nick the 15 shirt in the short term.

I don't think Tait is the answer at FB, I'd have him well down the pecking order.

I was being a little devils advocate there. I do think Brown is the best all rounder and the only thing he does lack is true wingeresq pace like Tait and Foden. But then to me he offers better returns in nearly every other facet of fall back play. Horses for courses I guess but if we played a new wing combo of say Wade and Yarde I'd prefer a slightly (and on form he's only slightly) duller Brown who can defend, catch and kick for all three of them.

Tait needs a good season to really throw his hat in to the ring. Think of how long it took Brown before he was picked, or Wade or Varndell. Tait has all the goods he just needs to keep showing them and not get injured.

I honestly think Daly might be the long-term option at 15. Obviously not there yet but - excellent acceleration when hitting the line, good skills, MASSIVE boot from hand and tee. Needs to improve his tackling and timing of his running but he looks a massive talent there to me. Also looks like he's mentally quite robust.

Yea he also looks like a proper big game player. The greater the pressure the better his performance!

Daly could be favoured in the future as a points kicker so England can utilise Ford should he come good. Ford offers a level of game control and vision that our other 10s don't at such a young age. If he can get his game to the next level (and dropping the points kicking will I think do that) then he has to be selected. Daly is a classy player with a huge boot who combined with the precision of Ford and a midfield of Manu and Eastmond would see us cooking.

Tait is already in the Saxons and has big game experience. If he can make his high ball ability a strength and keep improving his positioning and kicking then he has the running game to be a sensational 15. He showed up well in big games for Tigers last season both in Toulon and in the AP Semi and Final.

That's a lot of improvements required for Tait. As it stands it's only his running ability that is high quality tbh.

He's not got much of a kicking game, poor defence and suspect under the high ball....a fair few improvements required for a 27 year old.

To be fair those are almost the same issues with Foden.

Mike Brown has genuine pace now days, anyway, the 15 debate will go on for a while and whoever is in the best form should start. All this "class is permanent" is fine but that "class" still has to be in some form of "form" first

Foden is a much stronger full back than Tait imo, perhaps not fully firing but every facet of his game is ahead of Taits bar open field running and Foden is no mug.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Mike Brown has genuine pace now days, anyway, the 15 debate will go on for a while and whoever is  in the best form should start. All this "class is permanent" is fine but that "class" still has to be in some form of "form" first

I don't think Brown has much pace CJ, he seems decent off the mark but is pretty slow for an Int fullback.

If you say so

Do you think he's fast?

He's not going to be topping charts but he's plenty fast enough for an INT 15

I honestly can't think of a slower current Int full back (bar Goode)

Halfpenny, Hogg, Kearney, Huget, Beale, Dagg, Aplon/Kirch???

Fair enough, though I think if you see Mike run you will be surprised that he is faster than you think he is. Also isn't Le Roux likely to be playing 15 for SA?

Sgt, Tait's kicking is actually pretty good, or is now after Geordie got involved. The way he strikes the ball is practically identical to Murphy It's easy to see who's been teaching him his art. He's decent under the high ball and a good tackler. It's more the experience in those roles and the practice of doing those things week in week out he needs. Hence why I said by the end of the season he could be contesting the 15 shirt. Under the high ball is obviously the big one and his learning curve has been steep so far with Toulon unable to target him there (they may have regretted their attempts given his counter attacking runs in that game)

Certainly a work in progress but could be the incumbent by the RWC if he has a couple of good seasons at Tigers. Especially as he can step in as a secondary playmaker which Lancaster likes.

I'm a little unsure how SA will set out, I think Kirch was brought back in.

For what it's worth I think Brown is our best option currently but we could do with better moving forward. A firing Foden or Daly coming through would be better options imo.

I dont understand the problems with Mike Brown. I think he's class...and his pace isnt an issue. He offers something a little different and would compliment Wade, Varndell and Yarde etc as opposed to Foden who is a similar type of runner to those guys.

We're lucky we have two FB's of their quality.

11 Wade
14 Yarde
15 Brown
has a nice balance...with all three offering subtle differences yet massive effectiveness...

Since Brown has been working with Margot Wells his pace has vastly improved. He's clearly not the fastest full back in the world, but equally he's not slow. His pace is an issue when he's stuck out on the wing with Goode playing at FB as this does make the back 3 too slow, but playing at FB with the likes of Yarde, Wade, May etc his perceived lack of pace will not be an issue.

I do think Foden can be the better player, but in the last 2 years he's hasn't hit the heights he is capable of often enough.

What Mike Brown appears to lack in pace he more than makes up for with belligerence and refusal to be tackled. I really want to see him given a proper run out at 15 over the Autumn. I think he's electric.

In my opinion Foden was one of our best players for about two years,  until he got injured.  I would have him straight back in the team during the AI's.  Brown is an excellent player,  but I believe that Foden has a little more X factor.  I am excited when I see Foden get the ball because I believe something is going to happen.  

Moving forward,  I'm not sure Daly will have it all it's own way.  There are some excellent young back three players coming through like Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson.