Comments on: An England XV to start against Argentina

By: gareth craig

gareth craig — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 16:12:03 +0000

Actually don’t agree there Don,.. Wales usually do this and loose 3 out of the four games too often, what does that do for confidence i wonder?, i think they should try and plan an increase in opposition ,maybe a Fiji ,Samoa, Argentina, S.Africa/Aus would be a more beneficial when developing/rebuilding to gain momentum

By: gareth craig

gareth craig — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 16:04:02 +0000

WOW !, Very quiet @ twickers , I could hear a pin drop , someone call Delia Smith!

By: jake

jake — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 19:36:52 +0000

Don P

I don’t think its as simple as “Wales are the only ones to have grasped the nettle”. There are 6 northern hemisphere teams, only 3 “big 3” SH teams and only 3 weeks to play the AIs. Thus some of the NH teams are going to miss out on fixtures with some of the SH teams automatically. There are also Argentina, the pacific islands and Japan to factor it.

The only reason Wales play more games against the “big” teams is that they choose to play a games outside the window, when most of the other unions have released their players back to their clubs.

By: JK

JK — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 16:29:42 +0000

Fair comment on the AI’s, England probably would have been well served by lining up SA and NZ. Kiwis seem to want a lot for the pleasure of their appearance though.

However, I don’t see the value of England possibles playing for the Barbarians. A week long jolly up leading to an exhibition match isn’t going to give EJ any clues. Would be fun and an honour for the players, sure.

By: Don P

Don P — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 16:03:19 +0000

Leon
Correct Leon, but he could have offered players for selection… as could have the other NH sides. NZers, for e.g., made up a 1/3rd of the the Baa Baas team. This is EJ’s last yr to get it right as, by 2018, it will in effect be too late to tinker with either playing style or team composition. Also, only Wales have grasped the nettle by playing the ‘big 3’ SH teams this autumn to gauge where they potentially stand by nxt yr.

By: Leon

Leon — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 18:57:51 +0000

Err… Eddie doesnt pick the baabaas

By: Don P

Don P — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 17:31:29 +0000

‘Jones has frequently stated his end goal is victory at the World Cup in 2019’. Well he & the rest of the NH, missed an op to get stuck into NZ’s dev team last Sat via the Baa Baas. Has Ed (& the rest) got the wind up? Keeping his powder dry? Wrapping his team in cotton wool in case of injuries? Instead of talking up 2019, why didn’t he put up & even try to put a dent in NZ last Sat instead of acting like Ant Joshua & going up against a bunch of stiffs (Oz apart perhaps)? Echos of John Pullen’s words all those yrs ago; ‘We may be not be much good, but @ least we turn up’ (during the ‘troubles’ in Ireland. Well England didn’t & aren’t turning up v the AB’s this yr @ ‘Fortress twic’, when EJ could have insisted on seeing where his team really stand. Missed op or what? @ least the maladroit Lancaster had the stomach to take his team down under, whereas Eddy will continue to talk his lot up like Cameron talked his lot up. Impressive.

By: acee

acee — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 14:19:33 +0000

I’m with you about Collier Pablito. Both he and Williams were very good on the Argentina tour. Eddie must rate Williams but not Collier. Wonder why?

By: acee

acee — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 14:15:29 +0000

Attwood. Now there’s a mystery. Big,aggressive,can play and was touted by none other than the great (all hail) Johnno as a huge prospect. What the hell happened?

By: acee

acee — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 14:09:27 +0000

I could live with big Matt getting another go. He never let his country down in the past ans he certainly qualifies on the size front.

By: acee

acee — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 14:06:00 +0000

Reading the comments .it would seem that our much vaunted strength in depth is a little shallower than we care to admit.
It may be a good time to ask why we don’t produce big centres who can play a bit or why we have depth at L/Head but struggle a bit for 3’s. Is Eddie just too demanding or are the academies not giving us what we need? Do the clubs search out enough local talent from the lower lg’s?
Anybody want to add their weight to the debate?

By: Pablito

Pablito — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 07:18:35 +0000

What has happened to Devoto? Injuries?