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RFU confirms date for the England Six Nations squad announcement

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by PA)

The RFU have confirmed the date for the eagerly-awaited 2022 Guinness Six Nations announcement of Eddie Jones’ England squad. The Australian’s charges finished out the Autumn Nations Series in a welter of excitement, defeating the Springboks in a Twickenham epic to finish November with a 100 per cent record following victories earlier that month over Tonga and the Wallabies. 

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That success had sparked hype about how England will fare in the upcoming Six Nations, the tournament where they recorded a desultory fifth-place finish last March following disappointing defeats to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. 

Jones has since overhauled his squad, seasoned players such as George Ford and the Vunipola brothers losing out to a plethora of newcomers such as Marcus Smith, Bevan Rodd and Alex Dombrandt.  

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The England boss named a 34-strong squad in mid-October for the three-game Autumn Nations series that included four uncapped players and another 14 with ten or fewer caps and there will likely be great hype in the lead-up to his latest squad announcement which has been pencilled in for 10:45 am on Tuesday, January 18. 

No indication on the size of the squad was given by the RFU but it is unlikely to be as small as the 28 that Jones initially chose last January for the previous Six Nations where it was decided to keep the numbers low due to the strict bubble they were operating under at the time.

It was the smallest squad of any of the teams in the Six Nations and it hindered the chances of England who had assembled for a week’s training at St George’s ahead of that campaign’s opener against Scotland.  Jersey was used as the week-long preparatory base for England in the lead-up to the recent Autumn Nations but the plan now is to assemble in Brighton for a week of training from January 24 before switching to Pennyhill the week of the away game opener versus the Scots on February 5.  

An RFU statement read: “England will begin preparations for the 2022 Guinness Six Nations later this month. Eddie Jones will name his squad on January 18 and the group will meet in Brighton the following week (Monday, January 24) to begin training. They will then continue their preparations for their opening game against Scotland the following week at the Honda England training centre at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot.”

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England’s schedule will see them travel to Italy for the round two match in Rome on February 13 before they respectively host Wales and Ireland on February 26 and March 12 at Twickenham. Their campaign will then conclude with an assignment away to France on March 19.

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Trevor 1 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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