Should Nick Easter be brought back for the AIs?

A subject that always seems to cause much debate is coming up again. On form, as people have commented, he is probably the best available......... but he is "too old", "not always delivered for England", "the wrong sort of character for the squad"......

So what to do?

To my mind he has played well for England mostly. He has gone missing on occasion most noticably when he had captaincy duties. By all accounts he is not your regular "team" guy. Which points to it being a matter of the correct leadership. He prospers pretty well under Robshaw at Quins and he was oustanding on Saturday. I expect he would do the same for England.

Morgan is still not up to 80mins and Waldron is better but hardly the future.

Easter got owned far too often at or behind the gainline at Test level to be viable. He doesnt have either the requisite power or speed in his legs.

Vale good servant to England rugby.

No.time to move forward.

Yeah , i always defended Easter from the 606 linch mob...

BUT

im afraid its time to move on. Morgan is the obvious one, Fearns, Haskell can do a job if requried for the moment (id be interested in seeing Fearns there actually) and if you want a like for like we have Crane.

Not sure whats happened to Alex Gray etc...

Don't forget waldrom and Dowson.both in eps,both got game time in SA and both seem to be fancied by coaching staff.

Dowson im afraid should not be in the EPS now...hes missed his chance.

Waldrom is ok but again id rather give Haskell or Fearns that 8 spot temporarily over Waldrom. But thats just me.

I had to vote no. In a one off game I may say differently - but there are young(er) alternatives who need to develop.

He is in brilliant form - but his time has passed.

LondonTiger wrote:I had to vote no. In a one off game I may say differently - but there are young(er) alternatives who need to develop.

He is in brilliant form - but his time has passed.

Fully agree with this. He's playing great but we won't get that much more out of him and need to develop other 8s such as Morgan and Fearns. Crane maybe?

It's worth considering that maybe Easter is playing so well for Quins without the extra burden of an international career.

Great to see him doing so well though. His offloading and out-the-back passes are fantastic stuff and his acceleration and yard gain seem to be improved too. Really difficult guy to take down.

I think picking Easter for the Ais would in my opinion be a step backwards.
England need to move on from the 2011 RWC team, or what is left of it.

Morgan, Haskell, Crane are the future. with the like of Ferns, Waldrom, even Dowson, England are pretty much covered in the 8 spot.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Dowson im afraid should not be in the EPS now...hes missed his chance.

Waldrom is ok but again id rather give Haskell or Fearns that 8 spot temporarily over Waldrom. But thats just me.

Agree with that,but doubt lancaster does!

MJ looked like he was grooming Haskell as England’s future no 8 and he was gradually improving there. And given there are some flaws with the other possibilities – Morgan (too unfit), Fearns (too fat), Waldrom (too fatter), Crane (too average), Dowson (too averager) – I’d go with Haskell to start, Morgan off the bench. Easter might get a look in if there were multiple injuries.

I think if you are trying to get in the top four pre december then it is very important that best man for the job is selected rather than other thoughts about the future successor etc etc...

Easter is by far the best option in the Premiership at the moment.

Likewise in Wales there will be similar decisions to make. My call is get 2012 over and get in the top four of the IRB ranking for 2015 and then worry about the future.

Can someone name an international game in the past four years in which Easter has stood out as an excellent and top performing international number 8?

He has played well for England in a position in which we haven't had a lot of talent over the past five or six years. His best facets at international level were his control at the base and brain in defence.

Morgan has been playing well for Glaws and looks considerably fitter. Fearns has tripled his work rate and is certainly not 'fat'.

The less we say about Dowson and Waldrom the better I feel.

I'm with GF and the others on this one -

Easter has been a solid player for England, and much maligned because he didn't necessarily look the part of a modern 8, but there is no point going back to him even if he is performing a bit better than the younger contenders for the England #8 shirt.

If we were 6 months out from a RWC, then maybe, but we are at a point where we should at least be considering how best to build and strengthen the team for the longer term. A case maybe of short term loss for longer term gains.

I must admit I am curious to see if he could step up now...

But really Easter does so well for Quins because he has big feckers Like Johnson and Kohn infront of him and hard grafters like Robson and Robshaw around him.

He wouldn't have that in the current Eng team and we'd probably see him drifting in games again.

It's worth noting as well that he's still useless under pressure, when Quins are on the back foot he's always one of the most likely to give away a pen or get binned.

I was all for moving on from Easter due to his slow and ponderous RWC form. But he has improved and as the current stand out 8 deserves another go. Rugby is about results and that means winning the AIs and not just developing players for the future. We need to select the best possible side we have and win all 4 matches and then a Grand Slam. Then we can slowly introduce 1 or 2 changes into a winning team. We cannot afford anything other than our best players to take on the Southern Hemisphere might.

Easter is actually a very effective international no.8. Stats from the 6N games shows just how much work he gets through (lots of carries and offloads). He's also more than decent in the lineout - much better than the alternatives listed here. His record as captain was not good and he doesnt have pace - just a lot of muscle.

Having said all that I'd rather we went with, say, Morgan to start and Haskell on the bench. Easter is not the future and should only be considered if there are a lot of injuries. They'll be calling for the return of St, Johnny next

lostinwales wrote:They'll be calling for the return of St, Johnny next

Well, he is younger than Easter and he is in decent nick.


Oh and we need a big, strong, athletic second row with good handling ... Simon Shaw.

yes and for the Lions along with Jonny, Tindall, Vickery and Daws if not cooking and definitely greenwood if it shuts him up.

can we go home now

Don't forget Shane

LondonTiger wrote:Don't forget Shane

you know what shane is exactly what we need v aus and i wouldn't be suprised....how is he doing in the 2nd row in japan?

LondonTiger wrote:Don't forget Shane

Well, if the Lions select him at tight head prop, there's half a chance the Aussie scrum will gain parity.