Post-Six Nations - which 31-players make England's plane to Japan and the Rugby World Cup?
On balance, it was a productive Guinness Six Nations for England.
The second halves against both Wales and Scotland will be a concern, but overall England logged 320 impressive minutes of rugby across the course of the championship and head coach Eddie Jones will be even closer to finalising his squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
Just four games remain for England now, before they face Tonga in their tournament opener in Sapporo in September. Those games will see them taken on Wales home and away, before hosting Ireland at Twickenham, and then finally welcoming Italy to Newcastle to round out their Rugby World Cup preparation.
We have taken a look at the potential 31-man squad that Jones could take to Japan below.
Back three – Joe Cokanasiga, Elliot Daly, Jonny May, Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson
Daly and May pick themselves at this point, given their incumbent status in Jones’ regular matchday XV, whilst Nowell has been consistently involved as either a starter or a replacement, and also boasts the versatility to cover at outside centre if needed.
Watson, if fit, would likely travel, with the Bath flier capable of playing on either wing or at full-back to a high standard. We have Cokanasiga joining him given the unique physical ability he brings to the mix and the standards he has shown so far in international rugby. Chris Ashton could crash the party, too, and although we have gone with a 18-13 split in favour of the forwards, if Jones opts for a 17-14 split, Ashton would be a strong candidate for the extra spot. Don’t rule out a Mike Brown recall, either.
Centres – Jonathan Joseph, Henry Slade, Ben Te’o and Manu Tuilagi
Slade and Tuilagi seem like certainties after the Six Nations and Te’o has always been a favourite of Jones, consistently selected whenever fit. Te’o’s inclusion also allows for England to go the power game that worked so well against Italy and is something they may well deploy against both Tonga and the United States.
We have gone for Joseph to accompany that trio because he offers something different to the power of Tuilagi and Te’o and the ball-handling of Slade, not to mention the fact he was involved in the larger England squad early in the Six Nations, despite still having very little rugby under his belt following his injury last year. Ollie Devoto, Piers Francis and Alex Lozowski are the others to keep an eye on, although none boast too much international experience or recent involvement in an England 23.
Half-backs – Owen Farrell, George Ford, Dan Robson and Ben Youngs
In all honesty, this is a guess on Robson’s inclusion. The Wasps scrum-half started the Six Nations as Youngs’ deputy, but his opportunities were few and far between and now another international window has passed with England knowing very little about their options behind Youngs.
Farrell, Ford and Youngs are all inked in and Slade is capable of covering at fly-half if required, allowing England a little more flexibility elsewhere in the squad. Danny Care could come out of the international wilderness to offer an option instead of Robson, whilst Ben Spencer is the other nine floating around the England squad. It seems as if Danny Cipriani‘s chances are getting slimmer by the week, too.
Front row – Dan Cole, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Dylan Hartley, Kyle Sinckler, Mako Vunipola and Harry Williams
The starting front row of Vunipola, George and Sinckler from the Six Nations are all certainties, whilst history shows that Jones has always taken three hookers to Rugby World Cups, paving the way for captain Hartley, if fit, and Cowan-Dickie to join that starting trio.
We have England taking three tightheads, with Cole and Williams coming into the mix, and just the two looseheads, thanks to Cowan-Dickie’s previous time at the position and ability to cover in training should a player pick up a minor knock. Genge gets the nod over Ben Moon in this scenario based on a fit Vunipola being able to start, but Jones could easily flip it and take three looseheads and just two tightheads, with Sinckler having proven particularly durable.
Second row – Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes
A nice and simple one, with these four locks having established themselves as England’s go-to options in the second row over the last three years. It’s hard to see any one of them not travelling for any reason other than injury, which could potentially prompt a call to Charlie Ewels or Nick Isiekwe.
Back row – Tom Curry, Nathan Hughes, Brad Shields, Sam Underhill, Billy Vunipola and Mark Wilson
The Six Nations starting trio of Wilson, Curry and Vunipola all feel firmly entrenched and as if their tickets have already been booked, whilst Hughes and Shields have consistently been around the England squad over the last year. Underhill has had his injury problems but when fit has starred for Jones’ side.
The back row selection could go a number of ways, though. The ability of Itoje and Lawes to be options on the blindside could see England opt to cut a back rower and pick an extra prop or wing, whilst Chris Robshaw brings experience and leadership to a team that many said were struggling for the latter in the Six Nations. Ben Earl has been on the bubble of the squad this season, too, and is one of the few players to be a genuine option at six, seven or eight, something which is valuable in the short turnarounds and limited squad sizes of the Rugby World Cup.
Watch: Jack Nowell reflects on England’s second-half meltdown against Scotland
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 …
26 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 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