England squad named

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/14614058.stm

Forwards: (17)

Props: Dan Cole (Leicester, Age 24, 17 caps), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish, 22, 6), Andrew Sheridan (Sale, 31, 38), Matt Stevens (Saracens, 28, 34), David Wilson (Bath, 26, 18).

Hookers: Dylan Hartley (Northampton, 25, 29), Lee Mears (Bath, 32, 37), Steve Thompson (Wasps, 33, 67).

Locks: Louis Deacon (Leicester, 30, 24), Courtney Lawes (Northampton, 22, 9), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais, 32, 27), Simon Shaw (unattached, 37, 67).

Back row: Tom Croft (Leicester, 25, 25), Nick Easter (Harlequins, 33, 44), James Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams, 26, 36), Lewis Moody (Bath, 33, 67), Tom Wood (Northampton, 24, 7).

Backs: (13)

Full-backs/wings: Delon Armitage (London Irish, 27, 20), Ben Foden (Northampton, 26, 16), Chris Ashton (Northampton, 24, 12), Mark Cueto (Sale, 31, 52).

Centres: Matt Banahan (Bath, 24, 13), Shontayne Hape (London Irish, 30, 12), Mike Tindall (Gloucester, 32, 71), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester, 20, 1).

Fly-halves: Toby Flood (Leicester, 26, 41), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon, 32, 86).

Scrum-halves: Joe Simpson (Wasps, 23, 0), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 28, 7), Ben Youngs (Leicester, 21, 12).

Likely first choice side
Sheridan 31
Hartley 25
Cole 24
Lawes 24
Thompson 32
Croft 22
Easter 33
Moody 33
Youngs 21
Flood 26
Hape 30
Tindall 32
Cueto 31
Ashton 24
Foden 26


Average age of about 26? If you wer epicking one purely on a blend of youth and experience I dont think you could argue it doenst have that.

Bench would ikely be Stevens, Thompson, Deacon, Haskell, Wigglesworth, Armitage
A bit older but still hardly dads army as an overall side.


Suprisingly young front 5 though, and more age in the backs than many sides have

I have no real issues with the pack. Pretty much what I'd have picked.

The backs aren't really a big surprise, but as with a lot of posters on here, I would question whether there's enough talent to cause the better sides problems.

As always, England go into the World Cup with a massive pack and what looks like a game plan based on smothering the opposition out of the game. Based on Saturday, I think England will certainly beat Argentina on day one. The bigger question is really whether they can beat either France or the All Blacks in the QF. They'll have a lot of containment to do, and a lot rests on Youngs, Ashton and Foden being on top form.

Peter seabiscuit has Thompson got a brother who plays at lock? I presume you mean Palmer,Shaw or Deacon?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Likely first choice side
Sheridan 31
Hartley 25
Cole 24
Lawes 24
Thompson 32
Croft 22
Easter 33
Moody 33
Youngs 21
Flood 26
Hape 30
Tindall 32
Cueto 31
Ashton 24
Foden 26


Average age of about 26? If you wer epicking one purely on a blend of youth and experience I dont think you could argue it doenst have that.

Bench would ikely be Stevens, Thompson, Deacon, Haskell, Wigglesworth, Armitage
A bit older but still hardly dads army as an overall side.


Suprisingly young front 5 though, and more age in the backs than many sides have

An odd side, with a player missing from the bench, and Steve Thompson playing both at lock and covering hooker from the bench.

If you put Palmer in the starting XV instead of Thompson, and add Wilkinson to the bench, then I think you're about right.

Average age means nothing it does not make the older players any younger.
Individuals make a difference and if they cant play for 80 min and they may have to due to injuries then it will be a weakness in the side.

Actually, on reflection I think the starting XV against Argentina will probably look more like this:

1.Sheridan 2.Thompson 3.Cole 4.Shaw 5.Palmer 6.Croft 7.Moody 8.Easter 9.Youngs 10.Wilkinson 11.Ashton 12.Hape 13.Tindall 14.Cueto 15.Foden

16.Stevens 17.Hartley 18.Lawes 19.Haskell 20.Simpson 21.Flood 22.Armitage

Use the big boys for the first 50 minutes to prevent the Argentina forwards gaining traction, and rely on Wilkinson to keep the scoreboard working, and then bring on some dynamism in the last half hour to blow them away. Argentina don't look particularly fit, and against Wales they were ragged towards the end. The likes of Stevens, Lawes, Haskell and Simpson will cause their lumbering forwards all sorts of issues towards the end of the game.

I don't follow the debate re: age. Why is it relevant at all?

Funnyexiledscot I personally think it's a little risky to start with Moody and Sheridan.

Not too worried about the apparent age of the squad - only Shaw is really at the furthest end of his capabilities, and he's being taken as the 4th choice lock.

We knew before that there were issues with the 12 jersey based on who MJ had included (and excluded) in the larger squad. I do though have some concerns that we only have 1 regular 12 and two 10s (both of whom could cover 12 in an emergency) in the squad.

Perhaps something has happened in the squad training, like Manu T or Armitage revealing hitherto unidentified potential at 12, that allows us to go with so few obvious choices in the inside backs.

Think Banahan is lucky to have made the cut, and Flutey obviously is the unlucky one to miss out amongst the backs.

Looks like the warm up games, and Shaw's good performance compared with Fourie's poor performance, may have swung that choice.

beshocked wrote:Funnyexiledscot I personally think it's a little risky to start with Moody and Sheridan.

Not as risky as sticking with Hape at 12......

I hear what you're saying, but if they're in the squad I can only assume they'll be fit for what is a key group game.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Likely first choice side
Sheridan 31
Hartley 25
Cole 24
Lawes 24
Thompson 32
Croft 22
Easter 33
Moody 33
Youngs 21
Flood 26
Hape 30
Tindall 32
Cueto 31
Ashton 24
Foden 26


Average age of about 26? If you wer epicking one purely on a blend of youth and experience I dont think you could argue it doenst have that.

Bench would ikely be Stevens, Thompson, Deacon, Haskell, Wigglesworth, Armitage
A bit older but still hardly dads army as an overall side.


Suprisingly young front 5 though, and more age in the backs than many sides have

An odd side, with a player missing from the bench, and Steve Thompson playing both at lock and covering hooker from the bench.

If you put Palmer in the starting XV instead of Thompson, and add Wilkinson to the bench, then I think you're about right.

Yeah that would be the one sorry! I always seem to have a problem with Thompson Plamer name swappinmg, ni idea why.

Anyway at the minute thats pretty much what Id expect Johnsosn first choice side to be. The only suprise in the squad for me is that its one back light.
As you point out further down theres a few posiible adjustements, and teh Ireland game may give the Flood/Wilko debate a final decision. England have tended toward keeping the conservative options on the bench, but yes he could go back to the other option of saving Lawes etc to be "impact" players rather than game closers.
The utility back bench slot is open too, they do love Banahan.

With regard to injured players, if they thought they were a real risk they wouldnt start.

I cant see Thompson in the 2nd row if I'm honest - Its not as if the Ospreys management are picking the team

According to the Guardain, Robshaw is out for six to nine months with a ruptured cruciate ligament....

hence we get moody until he is injured and then Foruie will get flown out.

I will be very interested to see how England perform. It is a balanced squad but i am not sure if it will be enough. Wilko will have to be at his kicking best.

Is that true about Robshaw?!!

I can't find anything on the Quins site or any other sites.

Are you not getting mixed up with Rees or Crane?

eire
That's a balance of some quality and some mediocrity?

To be honest, other than the centres and the continued inclusion of Bananaman, I don't think many of us would have chosen a significantly different squad - OK, we are taking a risk on a few players coming back from injury, but it's not as though there are many outstanding candidates to replace Moody or Easter.

I don't think any of us expected the England squad and team to be good enough to win the RWC this time - we've become a decent side in the last 18 months and can produce some excellent performances, but we are still capable of having off days. As such, it is about equally likely that we'll go out in the QF, SF or as runners up. Winning will take a lot of favours from other sides.

apolagise....Rees. is the injury

England's Dads Army back row won the RWC don't forget!

Thank god for that, you had me worried then!

Bungle196 wrote:apolagise....Rees. is the injury

Surely the headline grabber would be "Rees set to be available longer than Henson this season"