Stuart Lancaster has confirmed that Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care and Bath duo Semesa Rokoduguni and Kyle Eastmond have been released back to their clubs, ostensibly to give them additional time to prepare for the Aviva Premiership game between the two clubs on Friday night.
None of the three were involved in the win over Samoa, with Eastmond and Rokoduguni not considered due to injury. After featuring for Bath at the weekend, however, they appear not to have done enough to get back into the matchday squad for the Australia game. Similarly Care, who was dropped for form reasons, misses out.
George Ford, meanwhile, will start at fly-half again this weekend after earning that right, claims head coach Stuart Lancaster.
“George has earned the right to start again,” confirmed Lancaster. “He’s played well enough for that. At the time, I felt it was a good performance and on review it definitely was.”
Billy Twelvetrees, meanwhile, could be in line for a start after impressing from the bench in the Samoa test.
“Billy Twelvetrees impressed me from the bench, he did well and brought good energy to the team. He’s worked hard on the feedback we gave him when he came back into camp and he’s a genuine prospect for us at 12.”
England are optimistic that Courtney Lawes will be available after the lock hyper extended his knee against Samoa.
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
I’ve seen plenty of fellow Bath fans saying that Eastmond has been “hard done by”.
He was released to Bath to prove his worth, and against Irish (who I believe are not as good as Australia) he missed 2 of his 5 tackles, conceded two penalties, and ran just 5 metres. Hardly making a strong case for being included in the squad.
As opposed to the stellar club form shown by Farrell prior to the AIs. ..
It may be justified not to play KE for the reasons you suggest, but it’s the double standards that grate.
Look at Barritt. 2 matches aside (NZ in 2012 & Scotland in 2013) his presence in the centres has coincided with England playing dull rugby and a lack of tries. How much more evidence does SL need: 2012 & 2013 6n, 2012 & 2014 AIs. What a waste of caps.
See your point on consistency but I think Farrell has more credibility in the England camp that Eastmond and therefore the situations are quite different. He shouldn’t however be playing when he is in this poor form – it isn’t helping him.
Barritt – well I can’t explain that one. He’s a brilliant 6 masquerading in a 13 shirt.
I feel Eastmond hasn’t been given much of a chance compared to some others in the squad, more perhaps dues to untimely injuries but it is more frustrating to see Lancaster likely to pick someone who isn’t a 12 at inside centre and hasn’t shown any form throught the series, and Barritt, who isn’t an outside centre and also hasn’t shown much form this series.
I understand some players are not up to speed on moves and training but it would have been good to see Barritt move to 12 and a Slade/JJ/Daly type player come in at 13.
Totally agree Rob – this Autumn England have wasted the opportunity to try out a genuine 13 to cover when Manu is out. I hope on Saturday from the squad they have chosen they go with Twelvetrees and Burrell in the centres, but Burrell in his natural 12 and Joseph outside him would have been better. And what do the likes of Elliot Daly or Joe Simpson have to do to get in the squad?!
I can’t believe Rokoduguni has been sent back and not Yarde!
Out of who’s left i am left hoping for a 12t and Burrell centre combo. Please not Barritt. I don’t care how well he tackles. If that was the pre requisite for a centre we might as well put Robshaw in the 13 shirt, he probably offloads more that Barritt and would make more yards.
“If that was the pre requisite for a centre we might as well put Robshaw in the 13 shirt, he probably offloads more that Barritt and would make more yards.”
Ha ha, brilliant. Funny and accurate.
Headline should have read “England release creativity back to clubs”. I can’t understand how May, not exactly a powerhouse in defence, has been given so many chances but Eastmond a paltry few?
Also I read a scary stat – Englands 5th centre pairing in 6 games is now on the cards for this weekend? Doesn’t indicate SL really knows what he is doing this close to the WC. Manu injured – fair enough. He’s probably nailed on (though he’s not yet, due to injury, had a chance to show he’s more than a brilliant debutant) but surely the 2 behind him would be similarly settled by now?
I think they see Burrell and possibly Burgess as the back ups to Manu, the latter being very much a punt if Bath play him in the back row. I just don’t see what Barritt offers? Neither a kicking, distributing 12 or a gain line boshing 13. Seems to fit neither of SLs criteria, so why not try alternatives? Seriously I think even Banahan would have been a better option.
Bananaman really? That would be a return to dark days. A man so lumbering he actually made a “beep – careful, this rugby player is reversing” sound when on the pitch.
Bit of a crossroads for SL this weekend. No danger of being sacked (and nor should he be) but Ireland beating Aus means that Eng really, really do need to beat them as well or these AIs will have been a failure. (yes, I know Wales’ has been as well… only thing I would say is that we were not tipping ourselves as WC finalists so the scale of the failure is worse given the higher expectations). Unfortunately he is going into it still not really knowing his 9/10/12/13. Questions over 1 (or 2?) of the wings as well. Wouldn’t be surprised to see an ugly win this weekend given all of England’s best players right now are in their 8. SL may decide that the short term pain (if you can call beating Aus pain) of up-the-jumper stuff may be better in the long run than spending the buildup to the six nations with the media jumping all over him and the squad.
Desperate time Brighty. I think I’d rather have a semi retired Tindall than Barritt at the moment!
It is an odd one.
If you look at Barritt for Sarries he does both distribute and has been known on occasions kick. He also started playing rugby as a FH. BUT, he does not seem to bring this to England, where as you say he seems to be enither a distributer, kicker, not particular bosher. He is simply the defensive coordinator and wall.
At some point SL has to take the view that Barritt is not ticking enough of the required boxes at international level. He does, doesn’t he?
Is that the latest on Burgess? the back row?
I had understood that he was destined for the 12 shirt…
As far as I understand it, the England set up want him to play 12, but Mike Ford has said that long term he see’s him playing in the back row. I think the Bath viewpoint is to play him at 12 until he’s learned the intricacies of the game well enough to play in the forwards.
a couple of weeks ago Ford Snr confirmed to rugby Tonight that Burgess would play in the back row. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks
Very funny. And worryingly true. If you look at his stats, when he carries Robshaw does pass a fair bit…
Agree Benjit – Yarde might have some pace but he has no tactical nous. Wade has the better of him each time they play and deserves a chance in the squad. Roko has way better defence and deserves a chance again to show what he can do
Has to be a Ford, Twelvetrees, Burrell combination. I know 36 has his doubters and lacks consistency, but he did well with Burrell outside him, and I think he’d compliment Ford well.
Elliot Daly may need to start passing the ball. He’s never going to be a Manu power runner either. Oh, and he can watch his temper too. A season or so ago he was making a case for a potential place in the 23 shirt, now I’d not place him above a number of others.
Roko can feel hard done by, but Watson played very well and grabbed his chance. Eastmond I fear simply isn’t big enough for them to feel comfortable with Ford at 10.
I’d rather have Eastmond tackling Kuridrani and Toomua than Farrell. Eastmond kept SBW pretty quiet in the AB game and it was noticeable that the only clear break he made was once Farrell had been moved to i/c
It will be Farrell and Barritt on Sat, my depressing gut feeling tells me. The Aussies will target Farrell through Kuridrani as he tackles too high and can be fended off and they’ll look to use their speedsters against Barritt as he is just too slow
As for this article – obviously we don’t know what’s been happening in training but sending these three back strikes me as silly…
Eastmond – just give the poor man a run of games playing next to a fly-half who stands flat and not 20 metres behind the gain line. Eastmond has very fast feet – give him a chance to use them
Rokoduguni – feel sorry for him. Not given much chance to show his attacking prowess vs ABs, he did very well defensively, calmly clearing up a couple of situations that, had they been dealt with differently, could have led to AB scores. I’m not sure I’d have trusted Yarde to have handled the same situations so well
Care – ok his form is out but I don’t see Wigglesworth or Dickson having much impact from the bench. If you’re going to play either of them, then they should be starting. If we’re two tries down to the Aussies with 20 mins to go, who would you rather see come on? Care or Wigglesworth?
Personally I think Eastmond and particularly Roko are really unlucky – but can’t blame anyone for that. Roko got injured and Watson has really taken his chance. Can make a case for him over Yarde but I can also understand keeping Yarde in – he hasn’t exactly done anything wrong.
Eastmond again was unlucky to get injured, then Twelvetrees impressed off the bench last week. I’ve seen social media rumours that Ford/Twelvetrees will start on Saturday – so we’ll see.
Also – Kurandrani is out injured – stroke of luck for England as he’s been the form centre in world rugby this year.
Care was so woeful against SA I’m quite happy to see him back at Quins. More than likely scores will be tight going into the final 20 and I’d much rather see Wrigglesworth come in and put us in the right areas than Care come in and give Australia territory.
But why couldn’t Roko take Yarde place on the bench?
Absolutely no reason why he couldn’t – I think he is unlucky.
I don’t always agree with SL – but 9 times out of 10, I do understand the logic. Whilst I’d pick Roko over Yarde, it is pretty close so I have no reason to lambaste SL every time I don’t completely agree with his decisions.
Barritt is the one I will never quite get.
Jacob, i’m not so sure that Watson has taken his chance. Granted he has had little opportunity to do much, but the same can be said of Rokoduguni. For me, Yarde is decent but always seems one little error away from a good game, so i would have returned Rokoduguni to 14, and put Watson on the bench.
Eastmond has to consider himself very unfortunate, but I suspect that once they decided on playing Twelvetrees, with Farrell also in the group there was no way into the 23 for him.
I prefer Eastmond at 12, but I have no problem with Twelvetrees either. I thought he did well on Saturday.
I think we are saying the same thing re:Eastmond.
I also can’t say I disagree with bringing Roko back in; but I don’t think it is obvious to do so which is why I’d rather not criticise SL. Personally I’ve been impressed with Watson, more so against Samoa. He’s a real athlete, brilliant in the air, quick. I’d agree that personally I prefer Roko to Yarde, but it’s small margins. Roko can count himself very very unlucky, as I’m sure he’d have played all 4 tests had it not been for injury.
A lot of people moaning about Barritt on here, and to a point I can see why, as he doesn’t offer much going forward. What he does give is a very solid platform of defence in the back line. Last week this allowed Ford and Farrell more time to link up and play the run arounds etc they’ve been tasked to do (much like they did in the U20’s). He also allowed the ball to get out wide. We saw Watson and May with more ball than they did for the first two games, and guess what all of the back three scored a try. When was the last time that happened!? Yes admittedly it was against Samoa, but they are not the push over a lot of people assume they are. They are an incredibly physical team, who are difficult to play against.
Barritt is a leader in the back line, a defensive organiser, and without him I think England would have shipped a lot more tries than they have in the first three tests. He’s not everyones cup of tea as a centre, but he does very little wrong. He’s doing exactly what SL has told him to do. Look at it from SL’s point of view. You have a player who might create something from nothing, who might leave big holes in defence and get horribly out of position, and is not a great physical tackler. Or you can have a player who won’t give you much going forward, but will put himself in the of anything coming through his channel, is very unlikely to miss a tackle, will organise the back line into position and do exactly what you want him to do. It’s not particularly exciting to watch, but I know which one I would choose.
If we had a player who was fit that could do all Barritt does, and create something from nothing then I would pick him. At the moment we don’t have that luxury.
I’m struggling with this theory. In the games that Barritt hasn’t played – were we leaking loads of tries? Last years 6 nations, or even last Autumn – were we awful defensively? I’ve not seen that.
We’ve been poor defensively in two games since SL took charge. Against Wales in the 2013 6N, and against NZ in the third test. One of those Barritt played in and one he didn’t.
Does Burrell leave massive gaps and make defensive errors? Not from what I’ve seen of him. I’m not asking for a maverick – I just ask that we have someone in our centre pairing that get us over the gainline.
Also – nit picking a little but Watson didn’t score vs Samoa so not all three of our back three scored a try.