England Squad V Barbarians

England squad for the Babaas game:

Backs

Will Chudley (Exeter Chiefs)
Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks)
Elliot Daly (Wasps)
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints) captain
Shane Geraghty (London Irish)
Alex Lewington (London Irish)
Mathew Tait (Leicester Tigers)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Christian Wade (Wasps)
Marland Yarde (Harlequins)

Forwards

Josh Beaumont (Sale Sharks)
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
Jack Clifford (Harlequins)
Jake Cooper-Woolley (Wasps)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
Gareth Denman (Northampton Saints)
Jon Fisher (Northampton Saints)
James Gaskell (Wasps)
Joe Launchbury (Wasps)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)
Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers)
Tommy Taylor (Sale Sharks)
Alex Waller (Northampton Saints)
Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)


I fainted when I saw Tait's name.

BARBARIANS SQUAD

BACKS (13)

Gio Aplon (Grenoble & South Africa)
Stephen Brett (Lyon)
Tomas Cubelli (Belgrano Ath & Argentina)
Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
Yoshi Fujita (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan)
James Gopperth (Leinster)
Zane Kirchner (Leinster & South Africa)
Ugo Monye (Harlequins & England)
Wynand Olivier (Montpellier & South Africa)
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster & South Africa)
Tusi Pisi (Suntory Sungoliath & Samoa)
Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne & New Zealand)
David Smith (Toulon)

FORWARDS (17)

Matias Diaz (Pampas & Argentina)
Jason Eaton (La Rochelle & New Zealand)
Deon Fourie (Lyon)
Shane Jennings (Leinster & Ireland)
Pablo Matera (Pampas & Argentina)
Konstantin Mikautadze (Toulon & Georgia)
Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights & Japan)
Adam Jones (Cardiff Blues & Wales)
Rodrigo Capo Ortega (Castres & Uruguay)
George Smith (Lyon & Australia)
Saimone Taumoepeau (Castres & New Zealand)
Rodrigo Tejerizo (Tucuman & Argentina)
Brad Thorn (Leicester Tigers & New Zealand)
Gerhard Vosloo (Toulon)
David Ward (Harlequins)
Thomas Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs & England)
George Whitelock (Panasonic Wild Knights & New Zealand)

Anyone care to cobble together teams out of that lot?

I'll have a go

1) Mullan, 2) Cowan-Dicki3, 3) Brookes
4) Launchbury, 5) Slater
6) Wilson, 7) Clifford, 8) Beuamont
9) Dickson, 10) Cips
12) Slade, 13) Daly
11) Wade, 14) Yarde, 15) Tait

16) Taylor, 17) Waller, 18) Cooper-wooley, 19) Gaskell, 20) Fisher, 21) Chudley, 22) Geraghty, 23) Lewington

V

1) Taumoepeau, 2) Fourie, 3) Jones
4) Thorn, 5) Eaton
6) Whitelock, 7) Smith, Waldrom
9) Pienaar, 10) Pisi
12) Olivier, 13) Smith
11) Monye, 14) Cuthbert, 15) Kirchner

16) Ward, 17) Tejerizo, 18) Diaz, 19) Mikautadze, 20) Matera, 21) Cubelli, 22) Gopperth or Brett, 23) Fujita/Aplon/ Rokocoko

Barbarians alot harder to pick Jennings IMO will be saved solely for the Ireland game.

The Ireland game is before the England game, so really we'll just have to wait and see who plays in that one.

What are the dates of the baabaa games?

maestegmafia wrote:What are the dates of the baabaa games?

V Ireland next Thursday
V England Next Sunday.

Welly wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:What are the dates of the baabaa games?

V Ireland next Thursday
V England Next Sunday.

Cheers

Welly wrote:... I fainted when I saw Tait's name...

I'm pleased for him, even if it is only because Goode, Watson and Pennell are all playing elsewhere, while Brown and Foden are out.

I've had a go at setting up match threads if anyone is interested:
https://www.606v2.com/t59121-ireland-england-v-barbarians-28-and-31-may

A bit surprised Ewers was not in there?  Also why not give Kitchener a go instead of Gaskell, who I think will never make an international lock (though not necessarily a bad player).

Anyone else's thoughts?

Does Tait's presence indicate his move to Bayonne is off?

cb wrote:A bit surprised Ewers was not in there?

Concussion.

Looks like a bit thin of an England squad, quite a few names that are relatively unknown, and also some average ones (Cippers, Tait, Geraghty). Will most of these players not make the RWC squad?

Tait Average ????????

What???????????

Injury prone maybe but not average.

Lancaster doing it right. Handing the game to mostly ultra fringers. This year has no time for these Exhibition games. Barbarians are just getting in the blasted way!

SecretFly wrote:Lancaster doing it right.  Handing the game to mostly ultra fringers.  This year has no time for these Exhibition games.  Barbarians are just getting in the blasted way!

I don't think it matters which year it is. England (like most sides) tend to send 3rd or 4th strings against the Barbarians these days. It's good for players (like Launchbury) coming back from injury to get a bit of game time.

an old fashioned 'A' side. Up and comers with something to prove, guys returning from injury who need game time and the odd old head

Cyril wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Lancaster doing it right.  Handing the game to mostly ultra fringers.  This year has no time for these Exhibition games.  Barbarians are just getting in the blasted way!

I don't think it matters which year it is. England (like most sides) tend to send 3rd or 4th strings against the Barbarians these days. It's good for players (like Launchbury) coming back from injury to get a bit of game time.

I think a degree of truth in what you say, Cyril, but I'll also bet I could find unfortunate sides that didn't have sufficient 3rd or 4th string players to give to the Barbarians and had to make do with a sizeable cut of firsts

But given the year that's in it, the temptation could have been to put a (possible or probable) 2nd choice WC unit out. Hope Ireland give the game to mostly solid fringers too.

Welly wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:What are the dates of the baabaa games?

V Ireland next Thursday
V England Next Sunday.

Its this Thursday and Sunday, 28th and 31st May

Thursday is an odd day for an 'international'. Is it televised? I seem to recall a previous Ireland v Baa Baa's game wasn't on telly.

Cyril wrote:Thursday is an odd day for an 'international'. Is it televised? I seem to recall a previous Ireland v Baa Baa's game wasn't on telly.

Both games are on Sky Sports

Cheers

SecretFly wrote:...But given the year that's in it, the temptation could have been to put a (possible or probable) 2nd choice WC unit out...

Players from Bath, Saracens and Gloucester are all tied-up, so there's not an entirely free hand on selection.

Im chuffed to see Mark Wllson finally get the recognition he deserves, and im sure he will show everyone what a good player he is.

Welly wrote: Tait Average ????????

What???????????

Injury prone maybe but not average.

Yeah, been talked up since 2005 and hasn't really done anything of note. You're right about him being injury prone though.

I used to love to hate Tait because at one time he really did look the most dangerous English player (well along with David Strettle ) in terms of speed, evasion and unpredictability.

God, that seems a long time ago now....and Saint has just proven it! 2005? Ten years gone by in flash. It's strange to see him mentioned again after so long and perhaps being in contention for a come back?

I think Strettle is still a decent player, better than Johnny May...

The Saint wrote:I think Strettle is still a decent player, better than Johnny May...

I don't watch enough AP to be able to make a reckoning but yep, I always wondered why Strettle seemed to just disappear from England duty.

Tait was probably England's most dangerous back in the 2007 RWC final, but he's been out injured so much that it's hard to see how he could get back into reckoning for the main squad.

I'm much more interested in the back row, with Josh Beaumont and Jack Clifford being given a taste of the senior shirt. A glimpse of the future, perhaps?

Hopefully we'll see Slade at 12. He's England's best hope of having a balanced presence at IC.

The backrow looks interesting, although more as an indicator as to where England might be in 2-3 years' time than for this WC.

Poorfour wrote:Tait was probably England's most dangerous back in the 2007 RWC final,  but he's been out injured so much that it's hard to see how he could get back into reckoning for the main squad.

By his own admission, he thought that 2007 World Cup performance had secured his England spot, and he promptly went off the boil. He had a good spell on the wing in 2009, which put him back in contention, but a poor tour in 2010 meant he was out of Johnson's World Cup plans.

Rugby Fan wrote:

Poorfour wrote:Tait was probably England's most dangerous back in the 2007 RWC final,  but he's been out injured so much that it's hard to see how he could get back into reckoning for the main squad.

By his own admission, he thought that 2007 World Cup performance had secured his England spot, and he promptly went off the boil. He had a good spell on the wing in 2009, which put him back in contention, but a poor tour in 2010 meant he was out of Johnson's World Cup plans.

It's a shame to see a talent like that never achieve its potential. One thing that Lancaster seems to have done well is to remove any sense of complacency from the squad.

Partly because of the injury list, but also because of how he's handled Care, Tuilagi, Wood and (however controversially) Armitage on the one hand and the likes of Ford, Haskell and Easter on the other, players know that a prolonged loss of form or serious misbehaviour will get them dropped, and that consistent performances while playing in England will eventually earn them a chance. It's not been perfect, but we are a long way from where we were going into RWC 2011 with a heavy reliance on the superannuated old guard of 2003 (and, from the leaked post-RWC debrief, players like Wood and Robshaw tearing up trees in the training camp and being rewarded with only bit parts at best).