England Squad for Autumn Series - My take on who's in and why?

First topic message reminder :

It gets picked tomorrow.

My squad for the autumn series:

Brown (still the best defensive FB by far).
Daly (Must be in first XV. With only 1 year out from the WC, just stick with him at wing or else bet the house and put him at 13).
Nowell (back up wing. Injury hasn't helped him).
May (1st choice now with Daly).
Ashton (with Watson out good to see how he performs, albeit short of match practice).
Cokanasiga (Very raw, but looks a better bet than Solomona/Roko/Yarde as a brick house wing that EJ needs in his armoury).

Tuilagi (looking fit, fingers crossed...EJ needs to get that witch doctor into camp).
Twelvetrees (in for Te'o who is just back from injury and needs time. Twelvetrees has been in impressive form dovetailing with Cips in 10/12 axis. Experienced, a goalkicker, strong in tackle and fleet of foot).
Slade (utility back with pace and left foot kicking option. Prefer to see him develop his game at 12 but looks like EJ sees him as a 13).
Farrell. (This is the year to show us that he deserves to be recognised as the best fly-half England has ever had; next to JW)

Ford. (urgently needs competition for his place)
Cipriani (is he the man to bring out the best in this England backline? Yes!).
Youngs. (needs to maintain consistency and get back to his sniping best)
Care. (Is he better than Robson?)
Robson (Care needs to feel some heat).

B. Vunipola. (Indispensable. Seems to have lost more weight)
Hughes (just back from injury but too good to ignore as back up 8. Simmonds is too small and better 7s are already in place).
T. Curry. (Lead contender for 7 jersey with a better game in the loose than Underhill)
Underhill (Curry and Underhill to fight it out for the 7 jersey and if neither prevail, then bring back Haskell).
Robshaw (under threat from Shields or Rhodes who are both more athletic and comparable in terms of work rate).
Shields (hope that cheekbone heals in time. In for his highly credible tackling and carrying stats in SR).
Rhodes (Flanker/Lock who can displace Kruis and give Robshaw a run for the 6 jersey).

Lawes. (always 1st choice)
Launchbury. (needs to show he is a better player than Itoje.)
Itoje. (a big season after losing steam)

Cole. (well rested. Should see him back to his scrummaging best)
Sinckler. (needs to grow a little wiser on the pitch)
Williams. (could displace Sinckler as bench option)
Marler. (superior to Vunipola in the scrum and should start matches)
Vunipola. (needs to get back to his rampaging best. Should draw inspiration from Codie Taylor's recent displays in the loose)
Hepburn (in for injured Genge).
Hartley. (once again, he needs to prove himself.)
George. (perfect bench option)
Cowan-Dickie. (just got injured so may have to sit it out, in which case Dunn is a good option)

Fair points - most of those mentioned still fit into the .....'potential' category rather than proven.
Sinks brings that bit of 'dog' that you sometimes need (but it needs to be controlled).
Hartley a few years back had it....then lost it....then found it again!
Genge seems to have that niggle too - yet to be determined if he can control it.

If Mercer gets his chance lets see what he can do with it.

If I am optimistic I think, “well if Eddie was going to fight fire with fire and put out a heavyweight back row, he would hardly have sent Morgen and Rhodes home. So that means he is doing the opposite, an agile, dynamic back row. So Maro 2nd row with Kruis, good. Wilson 6, Curry 7 & Mercer 8. Shields on the bench to cover back row and second row. All good”.

If I am pessimistic......... I have no clue what combo he might be thinking of putting out.

DT reckon possibly
Youngs, Farrell, Teo, Slade to start Tuilagi on bench.

Te'o has played less than 30 minutes of rugby so far this season - however I can believe that will be the selection. If the bench were to be Care, Ford and Manu it would cause a problem should there be a need to replace a back 3 player. Mind I have seen suggestions that Ashton will be on the bench too, which would suggest Slade would cover 10 if there was an injury to Farrell.

Also heard on radio that Mercer is likely to be on the bench with Shields playing at 8.

South African journalist has noted that, provided all are fit and selected, Saturday will be the first time in 2018 for Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Duane Vermeulen and Warren Whiteley to play in the same Sprinboks team.

Having gone so well in the back row, would they really move du Toit forwards to the second row?

Lots of journalists and pundits think they have an inside scoop then. All of them are different though!

LondonTiger wrote:Having gone so well in the back row, would they really move du Toit forwards to the second row?

Mostert is not available for Saturday, Lood de Jager is coming back from injury and RGSnyman will come off the bench, hence Du Toit to partner Etzebeth

Armchairexpert wrote:If I am optimistic I think, “well if Eddie was going to fight fire with fire and put out a heavyweight back row, he would hardly have sent Morgen and Rhodes home. So that means he is doing the opposite, an agile, dynamic back row. So Maro 2nd row with Kruis, good. Wilson 6, Curry 7 & Mercer 8. Shields on the bench to cover back row and second row. All good”.

If I am pessimistic......... I have no clue what combo he might be thinking of putting out.

The optimistic point of view does make a lot of sense. Eddie will obviously have had a good idea of his 23 before the cuts. It's not like he's sent the guys home and now he's wondering how he's going to get his team balanced. It would be unfathomable (by me at least) to send home those two then decide he doesn't have enough backrow bulk and shift Itoje to 6.

Still, the pessimistic point of view does stand. I've been left scratching my head at Eddie's selections before.

Times reckons that Hartley is the starter

I see Farrell is starting at out half. Is Eddie hitting the panic button?

England: Elliot Daly; Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ben Te'o, Jonny May; Owen Farrell (co-captain), Ben Youngs; Alec Hepburn, Dylan Hartley (co-captain), Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Brad Shields, Tom Curry, Mark Wilson.

Replacements: Jamie George, Ben Moon, Harry Williams, Charlie Ewels, Zach Mercer, Danny Care, George Ford, Manu Tuilagi.


Co-captain? What's this madness.

Decent side, I'd say England by 10.

I actually .. quite like it

I'd start George to be honest and as yet I can't see what Shields brings to the team.

TightHEAD wrote:I'd start George to be honest and as yet I can't see what Shields brings to the team.

What Shields brings to the team is (mostly) not being injured. Eddie could have some interesting choices to play with over the 6N if the likes of Billy, Robshaw and Clifford are all fit

Has the SA team been named yet?

Nope

Hi Billtong. All good in the hood?

Should be named later this afternoon I think

Collapse2005 wrote:Hi Billtong. All good in the hood?

Who normally does our international prediction competition? We need one for the AIs!