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This autumn is the real beginning of the build-up to the 2023 World Cup for England and we should be excited by the 34-man squad Eddie Jones has picked and his change in approach. He is getting stick for leaving out the Vunipola brothers and George Ford and dropping Jamie George until Luke Cowan-Dickie pulled out through injury, but the Australian is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t and we can’t have it both ways as media and fans.
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This is what most people have been craving: an England squad picked on Premiership form. Whether he has listened, been told or arrived at it purely on his own, it is packed with players tearing up trees at club level who deserve an opportunity.
The next step, with all the pace and athleticism in the ranks, is for Jones to change the manner in which England have been playing over the past 18 months and that surely has to come. Fly-half is always the position that is going to attract the most attention and Marcus Smith’s inclusion is great news. He has been the form No10 in the top flight for a couple of years now and has to be given the keys to drive this team forward now.
The fact that Owen Farrell is the only other fly-half in the squad and has been named as captain may set alarm bells ringing for some but I’m assuming he will start at inside centre with Manu Tuilagi providing the power outside him. For what it is worth, I’d start Smith with Tuilagi and Henry Slade in the midfield but we know Farrell is going to start with him having been given the captain’s armband.
Scrum-half is an interesting one and all the headlines around this squad announcement have been about the Vunipolas and Ford but Dan Robson is arguably the player we should feel for the most. He has earned 14 caps, all from the bench, and now finds himself behind Raffi Quirke and Harry Randall in the pecking order. He hasn’t ever really been given a proper shot at staking a claim to the England No9 jersey but it’s hard to argue with Quirke or Randall’s inclusion.
It's been a busy England-influenced midweek catch-up with Mark McCall – the exclusion of the Vunipolas, the reprieve for George and the situation regarding last weekend's Itoje shoulder injury#England #Sarries #GallagherPrem #SARvWAS
https://t.co/46mSZlIqRM— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 20, 2021
Randall played exceptionally well last weekend in a losing Bristol team and did well for England in the summer against fairly weak opposition, and Alex Sanderson said Quirke was “probably going to be one of the country’s greats” after Sale’s win over Harlequins. Ben Youngs will probably start again and 109 caps worth of experience counts for a lot, but he will be 34 when the World Cup comes around and we have to see someone else given a genuine chance at scrum-half soon.
Jones has spoken about wanting to lower the age of his England side and that is understandable but George’s initial exclusion at hooker is one I find hard to understand. Nic Dolly has started the season like a train for Leicester but he has come from nowhere and Jamie Blamire is behind George McGuigan at Newcastle, coming off the bench in all five of their games so far.
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Even 20-year-old Harlequins hooker Sam Riley got into last month’s training squad ahead of George, despite only making his Premiership debut a couple of days earlier but now the Saracens man is back in, I fully expect him to be the one starting against Australia and South Africa.
In terms of the Vunipola brothers, rumours have been circling about them heading to France for a while now. We are never going to know the ins and outs of the conversations Jones has had with them but they have a big decision to make about their futures.
I made the decision to take up a lucrative offer in the Top 14 at the age of 28, the same age Billy is now, before returning to England a couple of years later and it remains to be seen whether they will do the same or stay and fight for an international recall.
Mako is a couple of years older and has Ellis Genge and Joe Marler in fine form ahead of him, with Trevor Davison potentially included because of his ability to cover both sides of the scrum, so it might be more likely to be the end of the road for him but only time will tell.
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Either way, it feels like a new dawn and a complete shake-up by Jones after an unacceptable Six Nations earlier in the year. Premiership form has been rewarded and now these exciting young players need to be given a real go and allowed to express themselves.
Jones will have capped over 100 players by the end of this autumn, with almost as many as that having been named in an England squad and never been capped, so we can’t see a load feature against Tonga and then binned off when it comes to the Wallabies and Springboks and I don’t think we will.
We know it’s the end of the road for Jones after the 2023 World Cup and this feels like a tipping point. He has spoken about rugby going through a defensive cycle over the past 18 months but this squad is the opposite of that and it’s really exciting. Now he has to implement an attacking game plan that suits them.
It's not the sort of verdict the soon-to-be 31-year-old hooker would like to hear from his old pal Jim Hamilton…#England #Sarries @TheRugbyPodhttps://t.co/5WFvqncIOm
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 19, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
1 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
19 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments