Anything less than a 50-point win for England would be a major surprise - Andy Goode
Eddie Jones has gone full noise with his selection for England’s opening game and I fully expect them to win by 50 against Tonga.
I might be called an arrogant Englishman for saying that but England’s attack has really started to click back into gear in recent weeks and Tonga had 92 points put on them against New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, so I think it’s a fair assessment.
The likes of Siale Piutau, Cooper Vuna, Tane Takulua, Sione Kalamafoni and even David Halaifonua do have genuine individual ability, as we’ve seen in the Premiership, but I don’t think they have what it takes as a collective to worry England.
There will be linebreaks and try-scoring opportunities as some of the individuality comes to the fore but there isn’t the structure that’s necessary to really hurt the men in white over the course of 80 minutes with fitness also coming into it later on in the game.
They will be competitive and have their moments during the game, of course, but things will have to go drastically wrong for England for them to have any chance of winning.
With England having their two easiest pool games first, it’s important to notch up two bonus point victories and get that feel-good factor going.
I really like the fact that Eddie’s gone so strong from the start but I don’t think it’s a completely first choice side as some have suggested. I still think Owen Farrell will return to fly half for the big games and we’ll see the likes of George Kruis and Mark Wilson in there as well.
We know Tonga are going to fly up in defence and try to make some big hits and I think the selection of George Ford and Farrell together is aimed at picking off that rush defence.
It’s a formula worked spectacularly well against Ireland and I expect it to fire again but it’s interesting to see them paired together when they are the only two boina fide fly halves in the squad and one of them will surely have to start against USA as well.
Of course, Tonga will be targeting that 10/12 channel in defence. Every team does but especially with Ford and Farrell offering less in terms of physicality than Farrell and Tuilagi, for example.
There’s no doubt that defence is the weaker part of Ford’s game and he’ll need his back row and others to give him some protection against some of the massive units he’ll be coming up against but he’s a quality player and I think we’ll see a big performance from him.
It’s great to see Tom Curry and Sam Underhill starting together again in the back row and there is a chance that they might get the nod as a combination at six and seven in the tougher tests to come.
The selection of two opensides has proven successful for Australia with Michael Hooper and David Pocock and the All Blacks to an extent as well with Ardie Savea and Sam Cane. I still think England’s number six shirt belongs to Mark Wilson at the moment though.
He was player of the series in the autumn, shone again in the Six Nations and had seven carries, 49 metres made, five defenders beaten and 27 tackles to his name against Italy in Newcastle in the final warm-up game, so he’s a man in form.
Billy Vunipola has started all four warm-up games and starts again in this one and, with no other out-and-out number eight in the squad, Wilson might just be pencilled in to fill in at the base of the scrum against the USA.
Billy will be glad he’s got the start in this one as well. He got married in Tonga in the summer and is hugely proud of his Tongan heritage. His dad Fe’ao played for Tonga at the 1995 and 1999 World Cups and it’ll be a special day for the family but he’ll only have eyes on an England win.
This might be the second youngest starting XV England have ever named at a World Cup and some people have made a bit of a meal out of that but when you look at the names in there and the experience some of them have in terms of caps as well, it really isn’t a concern at all.
Tom Curry has taken to international rugby like a duck to water and the rest have plenty of nous and experience to go around. Quite a few have been on a British & Irish Lions tour.
You’d expect 13 or 14 changes to the starting XV for the game against the USA four days after this one but momentum is big in World Cups and it’s great to see such a strong team put out first up to get the campaign off to the best possible start.
England will be desperate to make a statement. Realistically, Tonga have got no chance of beating England and anything less than a 50-point margin of victory would be a surprise for me.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
28 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
28 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
28 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
28 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
28 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments