Picking an England form XV as the Gallagher Premiership returns
The Gallagher Premiership made its long-awaited return on Friday night, as Harlequins hosted Sale Sharks at the Stoop and upset the odds, turning over the touted title challengers, 16-10.
Saturday saw the bulk of the action, with varying levels of quality, before Wasps pulled off a 34-21 win over Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday, in what was arguably the pick of the weekend’s games.
England head coach Eddie Jones was on hand in the East Midlands to see the likes of Jack Willis and Jacob Umaga impress for Lee Blackett’s side, something which should put plenty of questions in his mind as he prepares to name his squad for the upcoming ‘Eight Nations’ tournament this autumn.
We have run the rule over the six games from the re-opening weekend of the 2019/20 Premiership season and put together a form England XV from Round 14.
15. Mike Brown, Harlequins
The veteran full-back looked at close to his best on Friday night, defusing the Sale kicking game and providing a reliable last line of defence on the few occasions that the side from the North-West were able to string together an attack. He also provided plenty of energy and incision in attack, too, joining the back line with good effect and showing plenty of ambition on the counter-attack.
14. Ollie Thorley, Gloucester
Thorley reinforced his claims that he should be in and around the England 23, as he took full advantage of a Worcester Warriors side that were reduced to 14 men. His raids down the right wing brought plenty of gains for Gloucester, whilst Zach Kibirige also impressed later in the weekend for Wasps.
13. Ollie Lawrence, Worcester Warriors
A strong all-round performance from Lawrence who showed off his maturing defensive and kicking games, to go with his innate attacking ability. There was little even Lawrence could do to rescue Worcester after Melani Nanai’s red card, but he was still a threat on both sides of the ball and did his best to put his name among the likes of Manu Tuilagi and Jonathan Joseph moving forward for Jones.
12. Billy Twelvetrees, Gloucester
The former British and Irish Lion was the glue in a solid Gloucester win, keeping the scoreboard ticking over with his boot, as well as moving the ball into space and allowing the players outside of him to flourish. An England recall is unlikely at this point, though he was the standout inside centre over the weekend of rugby.
11. Josh Bassett, Wasps
An explosive Nathan Earle pushed Bassett close, but the Wasps man was in clinical form at Franklin’s Gardens. England’s depth at wing is impressive and Bassett would be a left-field call to make the cut at this point, though he did himself no disservice with his display on Sunday.
10. Jacob Umaga, Wasps
Umaga has become one of Jones’ favoured youngsters over the last year and he has been involved in England squads as a result of his impressing performances at club level. With Lima Sopoaga having had his fair share of struggles since moving from the Highlanders, Umaga has been able to make the most of the playing time that has come way, not least so on Sunday.
9. Ben Spencer, Bath
A lively debut for the former Saracen who just edged out Dan Robson. Any suggestion that he was a ‘system’ scrum-half who was only able to flourish as a result of playing for Saracens was quickly dismissed on Saturday, in a sharp, incisive and high-tempo outing for his new club.
1. Ellis Genge, Leicester Tigers
Leicester were competitive with Exeter for much of the game at Sandy Park and there were green shoots of optimism for new head coach Steve Borthwick. Genge’s work in the tight and in the loose was impressive and he is putting himself in a good position to make the most of Mako Vunipola’s time in the Greene King IPA Championship.
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, Exeter Chiefs
It’s tough to leave out Tom Dunn, who finished with two tries against London Irish, though Cowan-Dickie’s overall impact in the loose just saw him pip the Bath man. Like Genge, Cowan-Dickie will be viewing the next 10 months as an opportunity to take control of an England jersey whilst its incumbent is playing in the second tier of English rugby.
3. Will Stuart, Bath
Bath’s tight five were all in good form against Irish and Stuart continues to look like an international-calibre tighthead. He has an unenviable task ahead of him, displacing British and Irish Lion Kyle Sinckler, but outings such as the one on Saturday are only going to further reinforce his position as the clear deputy to the Bristol Bears tighthead.
4. Maro Itoje, Saracens
A solid set-piece showing for Itoje, who helped lay the foundations in Saracens’ bonus point loss to Bristol. Jones will not forget about his talismanic second row anytime soon, though good performances in the tail end of this Premiership season will only help him retain his place during his time in the Championship and/or abroad.
5. Jonny Hill, Exeter Chiefs
Hill has been knocking on England’s door for a while now and with George Kruis heading to Japan, Nick Isiekwe not yet involved for Northampton and Courtney Lawes deployed on the blindside, it was his chance to steal the spotlight on Saturday. His efficiency at the lineout helped Cowan-Dickie have such a prolific game and vice versa.
6. Ted Hill, Worcester Warriors
Having been named Worcester’s youngest ever captain at 21, Hill looked to the manor born on Saturday. Not only did he cruise over for an early try, he also displayed all of the physicality and work rate that has separated him from the crowd in the past, as he helped mitigate Worcester’s early drop down to 14 men.
7. Jack Willis, Wasps
An all-action performance from the flanker and he continues to put his hat into the mix to break up the vaunted partnership of Tom Curry and Sam Underhill. His committed play was a key component in Wasps’ win over Northampton and it was also enough to see off the challenge of the effective Ben Earl for Bristol.
8. Zach Mercer, Bath
We’ve moved Mercer over from six to accommodate both Hill and Willis, but with all three excelling in the six jersey this past weekend, it just goes to show the riches England have to call upon in terms of versatile blindsides. He was the primary ball-carrier in the Bath pack on Saturday, in what was a notable 80-minute showing from Stuart Hooper’s forwards.
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 …
27 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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