SCOTLAND: Ivanhalfback (nae, not really)
2019 was a sub-optimal year for the national team, comprising a pretty crappy Six Nations, followed by an abject failure to get out of the group at the World Cup (which had been a fear of this correspondent for a while). This on the back of a promising couple of years of third place in the 6N and some notable scalpings of Australia, and so nearly the ABs. So, a distinct downturn in fortunes.
Coaching Team
Toonie is still in place having been given the benefit of the doubt after Japan, albeit with a slightly re-vamped supporting team, including Steve Tandy to shore up a distinctly porous defence. Forwards coach Danny Wilson will stay in place till the summer until he takes over at Glasgow. He came with a decent rep but forward play has gone backwards since the Norn Gibbons thieved McFarland.
What ‘they’ are saying
Lunatic Fringe: Toonie oot! Catastrophe! Dodson! Money! Vern woulda won the world cup! Wurr Doommmed!! *froth* *froth*
Average Fan: Townsend really needs to turn things around, another bad 6N and his coat will be on a distinctly shoogly peg.
There has been a fair bit of angst about letting Big Vern go too early, but that ship has well and truly sailed. The fact remains that, after a couple of promising years, there was a complete failure on the biggest stage with a supposedly strong squad. The team looked predictable in attack with a leaky defence, and the much-vaunted fitness looked distinctly absent. Much of this has to land at the coaching team’s door; the question is, can they learn and turn it around? They seemed worryingly short of ideas and explanations last year.
Squad
LH Prop: Bhatti, Dell, Sutherland
Well, they are all fit & play pro rugby. Dell has been the first choice, and is probably the front runner. Not the strongest in the scrum but handy in the loose, although he has not been seeing significant game time for L’Irish. Bhatti has shown flashes of quality in recent years, but is not a regular club starter. Sutherland looked very good a few years ago before suffering bad injury, but could be the best of the lot if he gets his previous form back.
Hookers: Brown, McInally, Turner
Probably in that order. Handy enough options; McInally could do with rediscovering some form, though. Turner has some question marks over his tight work and darts.
Tichtheid: Berghan, Fagerson, Nel
Z-Fags probably the front runner here; has been on fine form for Glasgow in the loose. His scrummaging may not be his strongest point, and hopefully he’ll keep his discipline and not get distracted by some zand-bags. Nel can scrum still, but seems to be fading a bit in the loose. Berghan probably in third place as a kind of inverse-Nel.
Second row: Craig, Cummings, Gilchrist, Gray, Toolis
Still no real idea about Craig. The other options are serviceable internationals without being stellar, although Cummings still has development to do. Tackling Machine Gray & Cummings to start for me, with Gilchrist on the bench, or Toolis if we want to improve the lineout. The injured larger Gray and Skinner could feature at some point.
Back Row: Bradbury, Crosbie, DuPreez, Gordon, Haining, Ritchie, Watson
With injuries / form this is probably the best and most in-form possible line up. Notable absentees include the legend Barclay who has retired from internationals, Wilson (a first for a Townsend squad) and the injured Thomson & Fagerson the younger. First choices likely to be Bradbury, Ritchie and Watson. Other spots are more up for grabs. CDP has staged a revival after a horrific throat injury, although his last international appearance did not go well. Haining has appeared from nearly nowhere to have some storming performances for Edinburgh; one of these could fulfil the hard-running 8 role we need. Crosbie has also been in fine form of late, but is likely to play a more minor role behind the others. Gordon along for the experience.
Scrum half: Horne, Price, Pyrgos
Not many other choices. Maybe it’s time for Horne to show his stuff as a starter, but other choices way behind the first two until some youngsters come through. Nae depth.
Outside Half: Hastings, Russell
Dancin’ Finn first, then Hastings. Any injuries and it’ll be Weir or Horne getting the call. Nae depth (again).
Centres: Harris, Hutchinson, Johnson, Jones, Scott
Well, this is a conundrum and no mistake. We had nearly no un-injured centres last year now we’ve got too many. Typical. The fit & firing Bennett, Taylor and Horne all miss out which would have almost unthinkable not too long back. At IC Hutchinson has been on fine form for the Saints, Johnson has a lot of goodwill in the bank for his form in the last couple of years and Scott has staged a big comeback season at Edinburgh, cutting some fantastic lines and looking fit and fast. I’d probably go in the order Scott, Hutch, Johnson. Harsh, but someone on form is going to miss out. As for OC, Jones has finally returned to form for Glasgow and I’d have him start. Harris is a more solid option, but I’m not completely sold although he seems to be going OK at Glaws. He could have the bench spot nailed down, though.
Wings: Graham, Maitland, McGuigan, Steyn, Tagive
Graham & Maitland nailed on IMO with the others trailing. Graham offers something none of the others do, and Treacle Toes is a classy and competent player. McGuigan next off the rank in case of injury.
Hogg, Kinghorn
Well Hogg is el capitano, so he’ll be starting. Kinghorn could be bench fodder depending on how the subs shape up, or even start on the wing if we have back 3 injuries.
Fixtures & Predictions. Optimism Status: Low
Ireland away first up. Scotland’s record at the start of tournaments, especially away is, well, pish. It seems every time we rock up with some confidence and seem bemused when the opposition turn up and it all goes to pot. Unfortunately, I expect this game to be no different.
Next up is England at Murrayfield. We got the Calcutta Cup in this fixture two years ago, and retained it in that crazy game at Twickenham last year. Doubt England will be taking this one for granted, and despite Scotland recovering from a classic first game meltdown we’ll probably lose.
Italy Away. Haven’t lost to Italy for a while. Don’t think we will this time but you never know.
France! At Murrayfield! We tend to win against France at home these days. Might even do it this time, depending if the French Kidz get it together or not. Wales. Away. Well, we don’t tend to win there, do we.
Preview courtesy of Chimpie
FRANCE: A Sleeping Giant or a Fully-awake Midget?
Between 2000 and 2010, France won the Six Nations five times (four Grand Slams), finished second twice, third thrice and fifth just once.
Between 2011 and 2019, France finished second once (and that was in 2011), third once, fourth five times, fifth once and sixth once.
Even Bernard Laporte could see a pattern there. Ten years of rot and decadence and it could get worse, as fewer kids embraced the game, deterred by the lack of heroes and the increasing risks.
In the meantime, the French clubs were doing rather well in the big European Cup as they provided six winners and twelve runners-up (England 8 and 4, Ireland 6 and 4). In the Top 14, the stadia are packed even for the worst dirge served by – here insert your least favourite club, be it Castres, Lyon or Brive.
So basically, the players are there, albeit still propped by too many excellent foreigners, the public is there, so what’s wrong? A bit like the England centres conundrum or a conversation about the weather: everybody knows, but it functions as a social lubricant.
To make a very long story a bit shorter, the FFR has forced the hand of the clubs: they must have an ever-increasing number of French qualified players in their squad, or else they face points deductions and financial penalties (but not quite Saracenesque). It is starting to pay dividends, hence the huge number of uncapped players in the squad. The FFR then appointed a new set of coaches (Galthié, Labit, Edwards etc) who for once seem to have the basic understanding of the game and with a contract that runs until the next RWC. The clubs have now released 42 players (it used to be only 32) for the national squad and for a longer period. So what’s not to like?
The 14 players not kept in the squad by Galthié will go and play with their clubs since as usual the Top 14 will carry on during the 6N.
It goes like this:
| 6N dates for France | Top 14 main feature |
|---|---|
| Jan 25: Toulouse/Bordeaux | |
| Feb 1: England (home) | |
| Feb 8: Italy (home) | |
| Feb 15: Racing / Toulouse, Bordeaux / Lyon | |
| Feb 22: Wales (away) | Feb 22: Clermont/Bordeaux, Lyon/Racing, Toulouse/Montpellier |
| Feb 29: Racing/La Rochelle | |
| March 8: Scotland (away) | |
| March 14: Ireland (home) |
So expect injuries and more moaning from the clubs. Plus, it is difficult for Galthié to select two hookers from the same club, should they be the best in the country. For instance, one of Mauvaka and Marchand (or Dupont and Bézy) will not play for France during the 6N, whereas they probably would in a RWC.
Here is the first list of the 42. I left it in French, for your own good.
Premières lignes : Dorian Aldegheri (Stade Toulousain, 26 ans, 4 sélections), Cyril Baille (Stade Toulousain, 26 ans, 17 sélections), Demba Bamba (Lyon, 21 ans, 7 sélections), Camille Chat (Racing 92, 24 ans, 26 sélections), Anthony Etrillard (Toulon, 26 ans, 0 sélection), Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon, 20 ans, 0 sélection), Mohamed Haouas (Montpellier, 25 ans, 0 sélection), Julien Marchand (Stade Toulousain, 24 ans, 2 sélections), Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux-Bègles, 27 ans, 33 sélections)
Deuxièmes lignes : Cyril Cazeaux (Bordeaux-Bègles, 24 ans, 0 sélection), Killian Geraci (Lyon, 20 ans, 0 sélection), Bernard Le Roux (Racing 92, 30 ans, 37 sélections), Boris Palu (Racing 92, 23 ans, 0 sélection), Romain Taofifenua (Toulon, 29 ans, 14 sélections), Paul Willemse (Montpellier, 27 ans, 3 sélections)
Troisièmes lignes : Grégory Alldritt (La Rochelle, 22 ans, 11 sélections), Dylan Cretin (Lyon, 22 ans, 0 sélection), François Cros (Stade Toulousain, 25 ans, 2 sélections), Alexandre Fischer (Clermont, 21 ans, 0 sélection), Sekou Macalou (Stade Français, 24 ans, 1 sélection), Charles Ollivon (cap, Toulon, 26 ans, 11 sélections), Selevasio Tolofua (Stade Toulousain, 22 ans, 0 sélection), Cameron Woki (Bordeaux-Bègles, 21 ans, 0 sélection)
Demis de mêlée : Antoine Dupont (Stade Toulousain, 23 ans, 20 sélections), Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Bègles, 26 ans, 0 sélection), Baptiste Serin (Toulon, 25 ans, 33 sélections)
Demis d’ouverture : Louis Carbonel (Toulon, 20 ans, 0 sélection), Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Bègles, 21 ans, 1 sélection), Romain Ntamack (Stade Toulousain, 20 ans, 12 sélections)
Centres : Gaël Fickou (Stade Français, 25 ans, 51 sélections), Julien Hériteau (Toulon, 25 ans, 0 sélection), Virimi Vakatawa (Racing 92, 27 ans, 21 sélections), Arthur Vincent (Montpellier, 20 ans, 0 sélection)
Ailiers : Gervais Cordin (Toulon, 21 ans, 0 sélection), Lester Etien (Stade Français, 24 ans, 0 sélection), Gabriel Ngandebe (Montpellier, 22 ans, 0 sélection), Damian Penaud (Clermont, 23 ans, 16 sélections), Vincent Rattez (La Rochelle, 27 ans, 3 sélections), Teddy Thomas (Racing 92, 26 ans, 16 sélections)
Arrières : Anthony Bouthier (Montpellier, 27 ans, 0 sélection), Kylan Hamdaoui (Stade Français, 25 ans, 0 sélection), Thomas Ramos (Stade Toulousain, 24 ans, 9 sélections)
Peato Mauvaka (Stade Toulousain, 23 ans, 1 sélection) replaces Etrillard, injured.
19 uncapped players, but most of them won’t play. Interesting to note that – probably looking for established familiarity – Galthié has selected pairs of SH/FH: Dupont / Ntamack from Toulouse, Serin / Carbonnel from Toulon, Lucu /Jalibert from Bordeaux. I wonder if he’ll associate them.
Some striking omissions: Slimani, Lauret, Iturria, Raka, Bézy, Iribaren, Vahaa, Médard, Huget. Some of these may join the squad later in case of injuries.
Who will start vs England? Probably these guys:
Poirot, Chat, Bamba
Le Roux, Taofifenua
Ollivon, Alldritt, Cros
Dupont, Ntamack
Fikou, Vakatawa
Penaud, Ramos, Thomas
Bench: Aldegheri, Baille, Marchand, Willemse, Macalou, Serin, Jalibert, Hamdaoui.
What to expect?
Galthié is quite pragmatic, but he will prioritise style and substance over results, as he knows he’ll have a bit of a honeymoon period with the public. He’s chosen fast and mobile forwards instead of the big lumps that Laporte and his cronies favoured — incidentally, this is why I think he’ll pick Willemse and Taofifenua to bring in some weight to his scrum, but in the long term I’m pretty sure he’ll go for Palu, Geraci,Cazeaux and the likes. France will try to play a fast running game. The emphasis put on the high tackles favour off loads and it suits the national rugby psyche.
Strengths: more time with the players, better players, better coaches, no baggage. Half the team was already there at the RWC. The backs are a real threat.
Weaknesses: The reserves are green, green, green. Ollivon is a great captain but how about other leaders? Pack’s a bit lightweight. Ramos is a good kicker, but not in the same class as Farrell or Sexton. Finally, the Feb/March weather won’t help running rugby.
In terms of results, I expect France to finish around third.
England will have too much for France, even in Paris. Then Italy should be a formality. Wales, without Vahaa, is intriguing and could go either way but I’d bet on a win for France. As in the WC, their backs have the edge. Scotland and France tend to play the same type of rugby but I think France will have too much power for Scotland (also it’s towards the end of the 6N, so injuries have a bigger impact on smaller squads). Ireland in Paris? Ireland are easy to read but hard to stop. If there is still someone standing, possibly a draw.
May I remind you all that Heidelberg, the temporary capital of rugby, will host a blog meet on March the 14th. In a place called the Dubliner Pub.
Coincidence? Methinks not.
Preview courtesy of Flair99
Further Reading
TomPirracas on hallucinations about Super Rugby.
On the telly this week
Friday 17th January
| Dragons 47 – 5 Enisei-STM | 20:00 | S4C / epcrugby.com |
| Worcester 27 – 33 Castres | 20:00 | epcrugby.com |
Saturday 18th January
| Lyon 24 – 36 Northampton | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Treviso 0 – 18 Leinster | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Cardiff 62 – 3 Calvisano | 13:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Pau 24 – 17 Leicester | 13:00 | epcrugby.com / BT Sport ESPN |
| Zebre v Bristol | 14:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Brive v Stade Français | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Edinburgh v Agen | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Wasps v Bordeaux | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Ulster v Bath | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Harlequins v Clermont | 15:15 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 3 |
| Sale v Glasgow | 17:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| Exeter v La Rochelle | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| London Irish v Scarlets | 20:00 | S4C / epcrugby.com |
| Toulon v Bayonne | 20:00 | epcrugby.com |
Sunday 19th January
| Spain v Scotland (women) | 11:00 | BBC Alba |
| Munster v Ospreys | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Saracens v Racing | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Toulouse v Gloucester | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Montpellier v Connacht | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 |
Ovally Balls 
This tweet thread seems to indicate that Sarries have to show they are compliant with the salary cap for possibly two years at point of promotion to the Premiership:
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I read somewhere like the Beeb or Graun that Sarries players in the Championship will still be eligible for selection for England?
Besides, I don’t think any handwringing about the effect on England about the situation the highest paid Sarries players find themselves in washes as an excuse.
Playing for England is a different ship, and while onboard they can just get on with it, while being handsomely rewarded for their efforts. By way of example the Os and Scarlets players had to endure the ‘Project Reset’ merger malarkey this time last year, but being in the Wales 6N camp meant they just had to get on with it regardless.
If I have any sympathy then it is for the bread-and-butter Sarries players doing their job below deck, not those up there being spoilt at the captain’s table while ignoring the icebergs heading their way.
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……….and
Toulon vs. Scarlets
Bordeaux vs. Edinburgh
plus
Bristo; vs. Dragons
Leicester vs. Castres
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BB, Juventus’s case was a bit different. They didn’t have to trim on salaries if they didn’t want to and would’ve saved themselves a few bob on brown suitcases as well.
Also, Nedved’s the same age as me so would’ve been 34 at the time of calciopoli. I’m not going to compare Barritt to Nedved.
Buffon would’ve been 55 at the time.
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Slade – I’m really, really afraid of Toulouse’s pack.
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Flair, did it say who was doing the offering?
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Yeah, I’d forgotten about the fact that the Championship still has a cap on it. I suppose the other factor that’s different with regard to the English players at Sarries is that Buffon and Del Piero had just won the World Cup…
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TomP, no. The Bein pundits mentionned it during the game but remained vague enough to be safe. ” an ex scrum half well positionned in Lyon” was the source apparently. That would be coach Piere Mignoni.
Then the other guy joked that at least Farrell would play in the same colours.
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Flair, His wife’s from Lyons.
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Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/owen-farrells-wife-georgie-lyon-13970185
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@Thaum
I’d be more concerned about their speed of play and keeping the ball alive……………………….
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……oh, yes …….and Kaino!
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Super Rugby warm-up results:
Captain America beat Spiderman
Thor beat Black Panther
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Slade – yep, those are worries too, but then they make enough mistakes to be capitalised on, if you aren’t making an equal number of mistakes yourself … and getting battered off the pitch.
Made this for dinner: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chicken_and_lemon_tagine_75608
Absolutely delicious, but a solid three hours’ full-on work, despite what it says at the top.
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SpaceX going well up in the sky today.
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TomP, hehehe. I read that as Geordie Lyon.
Newcastle upon Rhône?
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30 second time lapse film of snow fall in Newfoundland over a 24 hour period, wowser!
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Hi all,
Now salarycapgate appears to be concluding, think I can post again without massively conflicting emotions getting in the way!
Definitely thought we were hard done by to start with but with everything that’s come to light since don’t think we can complain about the relegation etc now – so humble pie for me!
Hopefully we can keep the core of the squad together via some loans whilst giving the academy boys a chance to develop and trimming some of the fat (red card Skelton can go now thanks) and in a year or two (as looks like we might have to be there two years as have to be compliant with the cap the year before promotion too?) bounce back better than ever.
The most annoying thing for me is we’ve tainted those titles and yet if Wray and the management had been slightly less greedy we could probably have still won at least a couple of them the right way (as great as they were, I’m not sure Schalk Burger, Lozowski and Will Skelton for example were absolutely essential to us winning but probably helped put us over the cap).
Anyway, good to see the resilience yesterday, we’re going to need a lot of that over the next 18 months. Hopefully England aren’t too disrupted in the 6N by all this.
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Also don’t think this will be the end of cap related issues – not sure we’ll be the last team to have some skeletons in the closet and if nothing else this has reopened the debate around how to balance profitability of the clubs vs rewarding developing players / competing in Europe etc.
I wonder if one of the outcomes could be central contracts
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Biggest lad from the U14s team has a run out in the U9s
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FF, how likely are the club owners to accept central contracts? There has been an uneasy peace between them and the RFU for a while but the control issue has never really gone away, much less been resolved.
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@Ticht
EJ’s view /outlook on upcoming selection announcement?
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He’ll get that clip burned onto dvd, Yos
I would if it were me
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@ticht
I don’t know to be honest – when you look at what Sarries are now reportedly paying the likes of Farrell (£750k + the infamous investments) and compare that to what he’ll have been paid when he first broke through it’ll be a huge jump, then multiply that by 3 or 4 and it starts to become really difficult for clubs to justify/keep of players who end up becoming top internationals especially given how relatively few games they play already (for example Leicester thinking it’s better to keep 2 AFJ wingers for the cost of one Johnny May).
So although they may not like having even less control over their players, if it means you can get that 500k + wage off your book and still have access to them for the biggest games then I think as wages continue to inflate and player welfare becomes more prominent then it starts to become more and more attractive.
Would depend on how much control the RFU had over the players (I.e. could they force them to move clubs or be played in a particular position as happens in Ireland or is just a restriction on number of games played per year?)
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The ball looks tiny as he waves it around in his gigantic ham-hand
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If I put my England hat on I think it would be the best thing for the national team long term but then I’m not investing millions of my own pounds into a club!
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have an individual wage cap as well as an overall salary cap for each club? I’m there are arguments against such as losing players to France etc. etc. but also may stop quite so much SH poaching if the salaries aren’t quite so high.
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I am curious as to what Leinster’s wage bill is. Not for the purpose of knocking them, but their academy seems to churn out a massive amount of yoof and they can’t all be on mega salaries (like Sexton, Fardy etc.) before being farmed out to other regions.
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Wouldn’t it be easier to just have fewer big money earners instead of trying to circumvent the cap by getting the RFU to pay the big lad wages?
Also, you don’t want to give up any control of players to the Union, believe me.
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They play for the craic.
Biggest wage bill in the Pro14 by a mile. They have an enormous squad.
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The SRU controls the purse strings in Scotland, though I believe the teams get to keep gate money.
The accounts are opaque to say the least, the only entry available to us out here is that professional and international rugby costs £30M, that’s all the wages, which takes up some 27 million of that over 105 pro players, and other costs pertaining to running two pro teams, Scotland, Scotland Women, U20s, U18s, U16s, 7s.
I don’t think it includes the academies and the new Super 6
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Btw, here is a reprint of an article on Rory Sutherland, showing the side of the game we don’t see, when the players are injured and wondering if they will make it back to playing
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/rory-sutherland-regrets-nothing-edinburgh-rugby
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Can only say – it’s worked pretty well in Ireland. So, it’s how it’s operated (or who manages the process) that may be more important here…. IRFU have done a good job generally.
On a slight tangent – the FAI (soccer governing body) in millions in debt and the former CEO John Delany is probably (for all the wrong reasons) one of the most recognisable faces in the country… Philip Browne – IRFU’s CEO is unknown. Speaks volumes in my view…..
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Fee-paying schools in and around Dublin are the engine here – Leinster schools cup(s) are huge. As I understand it, the schools will actually control the players – the lads don’t play club rugby at this age. The schools have full-time coaches – not Mr Smith the geography teacher trying his best. It’s basically a full-time set up – hence they seem to emerge from the academy “ully formed”
Much the same in Munster – though not quite as competitive – but it means that our U16/U18 have run the age grade team of a senior club like Cork Con quite close – they lose their best players to schools rugby
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The IRFU (and their branches) runs all of the pro teams in Ireland, which isn’t the case in England or Wales, and is why there is more joined-up thinking across the water.
When you have a demand to play your best lock at 8 in a must-win fixture even though he’s about the 5th best option or when the Union choose to rest your best players from HEC matches, but will think nothing of playing them in a non-capped international fixture (both of these things have happened here in the past 6 weeks), then it is not working. The club is nothing more than a development team at that point and no matter how good the player might be, it’s not much use having them.
You can’t have independent clubs and Union-contracted stars where both get the best out of them. It doesn’t work.
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‘Then, during a fairly sedate warm-up, he felt an almighty pop. The adductor muscles run from femur to hip and move the legs together and Sutherland had just blown his clean off his pelvis.’
Fricking ouch.
Didn’t know exactly what he’d done. That’s a hell of a job to come back to where he is after that.
sounds like some sterling support work from Atiga in that article.
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England 6N squad announcement at midday. No doubt they’ll pick a load of cloggers.
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[i]Wouldn’t it be easier to just have fewer big money earners instead of trying to circumvent the cap by getting the RFU to pay the big lad wages?[/i]
In an ideal world yes but then how do you compete with the big french teams and Leinster (for example)?
Obviously we’ve done it illegally from a premiership perspective but I think it’s telling that we’re arguably the only Premiership club to compete at the sharp end of Europe consistently over the last few years (hopefully Exeter or Saints change that this year) shows that regardless of whether it’s over the cap or not you need this kind of wage bill to compete with the big boys.
That balance between domestic fairness and European competitiveness is where things get messy for me and where central contracts could help a bit (although bring their own.problems if not done right like your examples above)
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Lobby for a cap increase to bring it in line with the Top14 cap/scrapping of cap or accept that you can’t compete.
One of the best things about the Premiership, for me, is that the best players are almost always available (when there are no international fixture clashes). Start centrally contracting the best 30 odd players and that would be lost. All you’ve got then is a preparation for HEC competition, like the Pro 14.
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ok – its up on the rfu site…….now, let me see………………………….
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LH: Genge, Marler, Vunipola
H: LC-D, Dunn, George
TH: Sinckler, Will Stuart, Williams
SR: Ewels, Ted Hill, Itoje, Kruis, LAunch, Lawes, Alex Moon,
BR: T. Curry, Earl. Ludlam, Underhill
SH: Heinz, Mitchell, Youngs
FH: Farrell, Ford, Umaga
C: Devoto, Dingwall, JJ, Tuilagi
W: May, Thorley, Watson
FB: Daly, Furbank, Hodge
meh…………….
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Slam for Ireland
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A good mix of the world cup squad and exciting new prospects but lack of an out and out 8 is a bit worrying as is the ongoing presence of I can’t play on the back foot Youngs – having massive flashbacks to Paris a couple of years ago and getting turned over a billion times (and then murrayfield the week after – oh God it’s going to be 2018 all over again!)
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some really top players not included…………..
J. Hill, Dombrandt, Simmonds x 2, Smith, any scrum half other than………………etc
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I’d have expected a proper 8 in the squad. Still pretty strong.
And great to see Hull KR legend George Fairbairn in the squad.
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England squad – not enough Sarries.
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Well done Tom Dunn. Surprised no Harry Thacker, tbh.
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Dingwall
Grrrrr!
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We’re fecked.
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Looks weak. having to raid SQ players etc. etc.
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