Stuart Lancaster has created a positive culture and successfully united the England squad, but now is the time for him to be ruthless with his selection and attack. There is no doubt that his next squad represents the most important selection of his reign as England head coach.
Whereas in previous years he has given certain individuals several squad inclusions to prove they can cut it at international level, in his first squad of 2015, the year of a home Rugby World Cup, he must create an even more competitive environment that no longer includes out of form players and those who have no defined role in the squad. Here are some of the difficult decisions he could make.
Billy Twelvetrees out, Manu Tuilagi in
Manu Tuilagi, at least until the end of 2015 Rugby World Cup, will always be in the squad if he is fit. The only centre that should be dropped from November’s squad is Twelvetrees. When he’s on form, the Gloucester captain is a fine player but his downfall at the moment is that he makes too many basic errors, such as the interception try gifted to Exeter ten days ago and the dreadful botched two on one opportunity against Saracens on Friday night.
If Tuilagi fails to prove his fitness, Exeter Chiefs’ Henry Slade should be brought in. Slade will be an England regular for the next decade and, judging by his superb form this season, the youngster will not let anyone down if he is called upon for a long awaited first senior cap.
Alex Goode out, Ben Foden in
Alex Goode is probably in the top two or three most talented backs at Lancaster’s disposal, but he does not pose the threat required to make him a top international fullback. England have such depth in their attacking options here that they should select an out and out runner who will consistently break the line. In my opinion if Goode was playing fly-half for Saracens he would most likely be in the squad as a ten, but Saracens are unlikely to give him sufficient game time there, with Owen Farrell also at the Barnet-based side.
England’s back three must be attack-minded and Foden, who is playing superbly for Northampton, should return to the squad. It is a 50/50 call as to whether he or Mike Brown, whose form has not quite hit the levels of a memorable 2013-14 season, should start in the opening fixture against Wales.
Ben Morgan out, Steffon Armitage in
Ben Morgan’s injury is a devastating blow to Lancaster and England after his excellent performances against South Africa and Australia in the autumn. Realistically there are three options to replace him.
Lancaster now has the perfect reason to utilise the “exceptional circumstances” opportunity and select the France-based 2014 European Player of the Year, Steffon Armitage, who has been brilliant as a number eight for Toulon. When he plays at the back of the scrum he offers exceptional pace with his carries, scores tries, has a high tackle count and, crucially, is still able to win a number of turnovers, which would solve a big problem for England. And if Robshaw and Wood are Lancaster’s flankers, Armitage also does not need to be a line out option and could terrorise fly-halves from the back of the line.
As an alternative, Nick Easter is not playing like a 36 year old, but his experience and form is carrying Harlequins to wins this season. He was more than a match for Ireland’s Jamie Heaslip in their Champions Cup head to heads in December and remarkably Easter has completed 80 minutes in 86 of his last 98 outings for Quins (H/T to Russ Petty for the stat). But without putting his body through the strains of test rugby for the last four years he has played less intense games, keeping him fresh for one last international hurrah.
Thomas Waldrom is the third option. The top try-scorer in the Aviva Premiership has been a revelation at Exeter since his summer move from Leicester, but England need a higher work rate from their number eight than scoring tries, which is unlikely to happen against the best defences in world rugby.
Regardless of who replaces Morgan, Lancaster must avoid the temptation to play Tom Wood or James Haskell at number eight.
Stephen Myler out, Danny Cipriani in
England’s large EPS squad means at every group of international matches, unless there are injuries, certain players are always likely to simply be squad players. Stephen Myler, 30, despite being in form and one of the most dependable fly-halves in the Premiership, falls into that category. If Lancaster wanted Myler to run England’s attack at the World Cup he would have already given him the opportunity in the last twelve months.
Danny Cipriani was left out of the squad for the autumn, after a promising tour to New Zealand, but has continued to improve, both in terms of his defence and game management, in recent months. By working with Jonny Wilkinson’s mentor, Steve Black, there has also been a positive change in his attitude and his off field dramas are very much in the past.
Cipriani is still able to slice open defences better than any English stand-off and you feel he is always capable of doing something special to win a match, such as the sublime chip and collect against Newcastle that led to Johnny Leota’s match winning try in November.
This is a crucial selection, in my opinion. Owen Farrell should be England’s only dependable fly-half in the Six Nations. As well as orchestrating England’s attacking play, George Ford or Danny Cipriani should be given a licence to thrill by Lancaster and attacking coach Mike Catt. One should start with the other on the bench in Cardiff.
Marland Yarde out, Christian Wade in
Yarde is starting to find his feet at Harlequins but he is nowhere near the level that Christian Wade has reached this season. It seems beyond madness that Wade has only one cap to his name and is yet to start a test for England on home soil. Like Cipriani, and Steffon Armitage, Lancaster must find out if Wade can transfer his match-winning contributions to the international scene in 2015.
A few players, such as the Lions quartet of Tom Youngs, Geoff Parling, Alex Corbisiero and Dan Cole could earn recalls after injuries.
A final thought. Should Sam Burgess be involved? Why not? Judging by his man of the match performance for Bath last weekend, he’s improving and will be at least 10-20% better in eight months’ time. If Lancaster believe he is good enough to be in the World Cup squad he should join camp England after probable action for the Saxons.
My changes from the (original) autumn squad for the upcoming Six Nations are shown below:
| November | Six Nations |
|---|---|
| Matt Mullan | Alex Corbisiero |
| Joe Marler | Joe Marler |
| – | Mako Vunipola |
| Rob Webber | Tom Youngs |
| Dylan Hartley | Dylan Hartley |
| Kieran Brookes | Dan Cole (Kieran Brookes if DC not fit) |
| David Wilson | David Wilson |
| Dave Attwood | Dave Attwood |
| Courtney Lawes | Courtney Lawes |
| George Kruis | Geoff Parling |
| Callum Clark | Callum Clark |
| Tom Wood | Tom Wood |
| James Haskell | James Haskell |
| Chris Robshaw | Chris Robshaw |
| Billy Vunipola | Billy Vunipola |
| Ben Morgan | Steffon Armitage |
| Lee Dickson | Richard Wigglesworth |
| Danny Care | Danny Care |
| Ben Youngs | Ben Youngs |
| George Ford | George Ford |
| Stephen Myler | Danny Cipriani |
| Owen Farrell | Owen Farrell |
| Brad Barritt | Brad Barritt |
| Billy Twelvetrees | Manu Tuilagi (Henry Slade if MT not fit) |
| Kyle Eastmond | Kyle Eastmond |
| Jonathan Joseph | Jonathan Joseph |
| Luther Burrell | Luther Burrell |
| Jonny May | Jonny May |
| Jack Nowell | Jack Nowell |
| Marland Yarde | Christian Wade |
| S Rokoduguni | Anthony Watson |
| Alex Goode | Ben Foden |
| Mike Brown | Mike Brown |
| Joe Launchbury |
By Alastair Pickering (@AMP_Rugby)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
29 replies on “Lancaster must be ruthless with his Six Nations selection”
Only change I’d make to the above squad list would be to have Easter over Armitage. Selecting him now is a terrible idea. Select Easter or Waldrom. Easter is the better player, but if I cast my mind back to the post-2011 nightmare and internal rumblings about coaches, Easter was apparently (?) at the heart of all of it.
For the reason SL may feel Walrdom is the better call. Either way, Vunipola will start so the second 8 option won’t see a match day 23.
Yes, I think this could be at the heart of the whole Easter issue. Rightly or wrongly I don’t think he’s seen as a healthy influence in camp. He’s rumoured to be the player than Wilko was scathing about in his autobiography for bemoaning the loss of a win-bonus after getting knocked out of RWC2011….
I’ve never seen him give less than 100% on the pitch but SL is big on team character/ethos….
If you honestly want to win a world cup on home soil, are you really going to pick Thomas Waldrom or nick easter over steffan Armitage? Let’s be serious now.
Wishful thinking Alastair, I’m afraid. The die has been cast for the Lancaster regime. Slow and steady wins the day (or most likely is runner up).
The worrying aspect is that Farrell and Barritt are very short of match fitness, yet will be guaranteed to be in the 23 and 15 respectively. If SL is to prove his worth Wade must come into the 23 in place of Yarde, with a plan to start him against Italy, where we will need to rack up the tries like last year.
Burgess by all accounts will be in Saxons. If he does well there and continues his improvement for Bath in Europe then I wouldn’t bet against him starting against Italy too.
Barritt is still injured at the moment, so I would like to think that Burrell will get a shot, probably with Farrell at 12 and Ford at 10.
If Barritt & Farrell play the next 2 matches do you think they will be match fit enough for Wales? I worry that SL will repeat his mistakes from the autumn.
Barritt no, Farrell not sure. Not sure what Farrell’s injury is at the moment. I know he got pulled out last minute from the match last week, but don’t know why. I suspect it’s nothing major, or we would know about it. Barritt has not played since the Australia game, so I would not risk him. Not when there are so may other options available. Barritt was in the AI’s because the other options were not the best defenders, and Lancaster like at least on of his centres to be defensive minded. (That definitely leave 12T out!!) He hasn’t played since and should not walk back in the squad.
Don’t agree with Armitage for many reasons detailed on other threads. Would replace Morgan with Easter
Other than that not much to argue about.
On the Burgess front – I’d already select him over 12Ts and the bloke has only played 6 games of Union!
I have to agree with you on 36. I spend lot of time (far too much!) talking rugby with other affectiondos of the game and I can’t think of a positive comment made about him. Bomber must see something we don’t.
12T’s is an interesting one. When he first come on the scene I was a massive fan of his, but I’ve definitely lost faith.
He seemed to have all the attributes for a properly class 12 – kicking game, decent running game, good passing game, experience of controlling the game from 10, seemed to defend well – perfect right?
Only problem is he seems to make stupid errors far too regularly, and he is also not great at anything.
SL normally talks about top players being good at everything, and then one outstanding quality – 12T’s seems to lack that. To go along with these constant errors I thing it is time to move on from him.
I’d probably say 12t is the best passing centre in the premiership. When he’s not throwing interceptions he has a glorious pass, almost like a laser guided missile.
I’d replace Morgan with Ewers. No point in picking past it troublemakers like Easter. Get Big Dave in there and let him show what he can do. If we’re picking guys like Easter then we might as well see if Wilkinson can be coaxed out of retirement.
Let’s be honest, who can blame Easter for moaning about £30K being flushed down the toilet after the debacle of the 2011 World Cup. England were a joke on and off the field in New Zealand. He had every right to be angry. He’s the form number 8 in the premiership right now, as fit as the younger ones from what I’ve been watching and has the rugby brain of a 15-a-side code Gandalf (and the experience).
The whole Armitage nonsense needs to be forgotten too. For starters, he’s had his cake and munched it down – that’s down to him. It’s also worth bearing in mind that even I could look half good surrounded by club equivalent of a world 15.
Agree on Twelvetrees though, I always cringe when I see him on a team sheet for England as something is always bound to go wrong.
I have always been suspicious of 36, and recently tried to look over his performances with a less biased eye. To me, it seems he has flashes of good play, but just as often, flashes of woeful play too. His inclusion for me would completely contradict all the “consistency” chat that has thus far prevented players such as Cipriani and Wade from making appearances.
Regarding the 8 berth, giving Easter an opportunity may not be a bad thing. He has spoken about how much he wants the opportunity, and I think players with nothing to lose in that regard often play their best rugby. He’d be needing to essentially put in MOTM performances in every appearance, and that could be enough to spark something within the rest of the team, likewise with Cipriani if he gets a chance.
I get the feeling that Cipriani will make the eps but whether he will play i don’t know after the Toby Flood case.
12t has been static if i may say not improving but not getting any worst like Freddie burns was when he was in Gloucester. 12t will probably remain like this unless Gloucester sorts out it attacking phase problems and other attacking problems with players moving position, like James Hooks from 10 to 15, where he be more of a threat. There is also this communication problem between 12t & Hook which still exist between the 2 & Laidlaw while not a bad scrum half is really not the scrum half Gloucester needs. Just watch how Laidlaws plays for Scotland and just ask is this what Gloucester needs compared to how Robson plays.
The whole number 8 thing i would not have Easter no where near the eps or saxons, Easter plays well for Quins but thats pretty much it. He does not play to the style which England use their 8, offloading is not a thing the 8’s really do. England have more of a hard hitting 8 and higher tempo. I much prefer if Lancaster just goes for someone else instead of Easter who is well past his prime. Waldrom i would not mind as he would come of in the last 10mins or Ewers.the younger option but has played most of his game as a flanker.
England play to a higher tempo than Quins? Ummm…not that I’ve noticed. Quins are all about the high tempo game and whilst it may not always work, especially this season, when it does, it is devastating. Easter is a key part of that high tempo game.
As for the hard-hitting thing, Morgan has thrived because he doesn’t run straight at defenders, but runs cleverly, looking for half-gaps and inside shoulders and changing the angle of his run at the last moment. He’s not a bash it up the middle 8 – which is what BV has been doing and as was seen in the Autumn, is easy-ish to defend against if you know it’s coming.
And quite frankly, if off-loading 8s is not a thing England do, then it bloody well should be!
As someone wrote elsewhere – if Easter were a 21 year old straight out of an academy playing like he has been this season, the calls to include him in the England squad would be deafening
Except every now and then you get players whose form is counter to the norm. Take Easter and Morgan. Easter for his entire 47 caps never consistenly performed for England, and regularly underperformed, yet throughout that time was the best English 8 in the Premiership.
Morgan rarely performs like he does for England for Glooucester yet rarely has an off game at international level. Therfore on the club form criteria you’d always pick Easter over Morgan, which would be wrong.
Also calls for wise heads in Cardiff as justification for Easter, seem to ignore his abject performance in Dublin 2011, where Easter was continually knocked back in the takle.
Now maybe Easter is a better player now. Maybe the carrot of getting to 50 caps would lift his performances and quite frankly the cupboard is reasonably bare in back up resources. but let’s not big up Easter by ignoring the majority of his 47 medicore previous apprearances for England.
I think Benjit, that you have rather summed up the Easter issue. “47 mediocre previous appearances” pretty much sums up my recollection of him in a white shirt.
I do recall a good game from him at one point (although I don’t recall who it was against) and wondering why he couldn’t play that way all of the time.
How could you have Jack Nowell in the squad and not Rokoduguni?! I would also much rather see Burgess in over Barritt, Barritt contributes absolutely nothing in attack, and we’ve already seen in Burgess’s opening few games he is ruthless in defence. Steffon Armitage would also be a much needed impact player in the pack, especially when we have Wood and Robshaw at the flanks who offer no real threat in attack. If Twelvetrees or Goode are in the squad for the 6 nations then I might have to email Lancaster myself, they are both just so bad, no where near international standard.
Burgess actually misses quite a few tackles, he tends to rush out the line and go high. A bad habit from his rugby league days.
In the back line I would leave Barritt out. He hasn’t played since the Australia game due to injury, and with only a few weeks until the first match I just don’t see the point. I would replace him with Burgess, and replace 12T with either Joseph, Slade or Daly. If Manu is not fit (and even if he is, he won’t have played much) the alternative is to have someone with real pace in the 13 shirt. I would also consider playing May in the 13 shirt, and having Nowell, Watson, or Yarde on the left wing. Wade has to be in. His continued exclusion from the squad should now be put to bed. His form at the moment is too good for him to be left out.
Without Manu (I don’t think he’ll be fit in time) my back line would be 9. Care, 10. Ford, 11. May, 12. Burgess, 13. Burrell, 14. Wade, 15. Watson.
As for the 8 replacement. I would like to see Ewers given a shot. As someone else pointed out whoever Morgan’s replacement is, they are not likely to be selected above Billy V, so probably won’t make the matchday squad anyway. Ewers is a versatile player, and is as good at 6 as he is at 8. I would also like to see whoever is playing at 6 to take some more responsibility for carrying the ball. I’m not saying that Wood should be replaced, but if he’s playing he needs to carry the ball more. When Billy V plays at 8, he seems to be left to do all the carrying. This becomes predictable, and leads to a lot of turnovers and penalties due to lack of support at the breakdown.
Could Croft get back in the squad at someone expense. On his day, if fit, Croft is a (maybe was) a World class player. Maybe I would swap Clark for Croft?
‘Stuart Lancaster has created a positive culture and successfully united the England squad, but now is the time for him to be ruthless with his selection and attack’.
Surely SL needs to be ‘ruthless with’ himself. Picking this or that player (& then dropping or playing him out of posi) partly at least, misses the pt. He needs to stop talking about things like ‘NZ having more caps’ than England (whose fault is that anyway?), or being ‘back on track’ (after 1 HOME win v Oz in how many v SH?), or having a ‘vision’ (what precisely is it btw?) & pick his style of game (is it back to the past R1 as v Oz, when the team looked as though they were playing for SL’s future, or is it an all out game with his team attempting 7 pters when they have possession?), stick to it & then pick his team to suit. Too much nonsense about a specific player, like the rabbit out of the hat miracle man Burgess maybe, has been made. It’s good to ‘create a positive culture and unite the squad’, but how in the last 3+ yrs has this ACTUALLY helped England when Lancaster’s record is little diff from that of the vilified (& scapegoated?) johnno? SL needs to get his BEST players (whomever & wherever they are) into a uniformly cohesive & flex pattern of game yesterday. Time’s a runnin’ out & Wales & Ireland are looming large in his rear view mirror!
gordondarling
You’re looking at Armitage from the inside out, rather than from the outside in.
He was presumably picked by Toulon as he’s RATED in the 1st place, altho not enough by SL who must have a plethora of bolters in mind waiting in the wings. I’ve stated it’s mainly in the coaching with players to suit a game, but some are a cut above & can alter, or influence, a game more than others. The real ? is, ‘Do you want yr best team on the pitch & DO YOU WANT THEM TO WIN?, or not’? Forget about the ‘looking good’, ‘munching cake’ or whatever. SA wasn’t Euro Player o’ the Yr for nuthin’ was he? And stop blaming Johnno. You’re shooting the messenger. His record is almost identical to that of SL! And if he’d just BEATEN France instead of losing to them (it happens), you’d be singing a diff tune. Bit like brighty, that well known Welsh misery guts, who claimed that if only Warburton hadn’t raised the Frog to the horizontal & then, for good measure, dropped the unfortunate on his nut, Wales wouldda, shouldda, oughtta, couldda won… but didn’t. If the Taff kicker hadn’t missed 2, they def wouldda won!
Cipriani and Wade ought to be in the team as both can INFLUENCE. Ford from bath made an interesting comment recently in the ST about Sinbad. Ford said he ought to have pushed @ the time for S-Daniel more to be on the England wing & that the coach (yes, Johnno) ought to have told Ford to have MADE S-D a better defender. The player had superior SKILLS, but S-D was perceived as being too small & therefore weak on D. My pt is that a conservative England, then as now IMO, looked & look @ the 1/2 empty glass instead of making the glass 3/4+ full. Ford said he’s since regretted his decision about, again IMO, 1 of the best attacking NH wingers since Y.Evans. England are unlikely to play either Cip or Wade as they don’t fit the, D or bosh mould. History repeats? In Lancaster’s case it seems so. A parting thought. Would any here have canned Neil Back or Jason Robinson from the England teams of the time? Small in stature, but plenty effectivce I think.
Don, I too read that comment by (Mike) Ford in the Sunday Times. Given his son’s defensive record, it is probably a very good job (and the right one in my opinion) that he has broadened his view on playing the game.
Neil Back was canned by England plenty of times early in his career. From memory, it was not unreasonable at the time, but he went away, bulked up, bettered his technique and came back the player we now remember.
Just a thought – it doesn’t seem too long ago, that many/most on this board (and in the wider world) were calling for the quick expulsion of Jonny May from the England squad. He does appear to have won over many pundits now.
Nothing against Slammin Sam but to pick him for the 6N would be madness. He won’t be surrounded by club mates at international level and opponents will target everything he is still weak at. Not his fault just the law of the jungle.
12T is an enigma. His talent screams out for his inclusion and yet……….. you just get a bad feeling about him which won’t go away.
Easter deserves his chance. In the absence of Morgan it’s either the tried and tested or an unknown quantity at int’l level such as Dickinson or Ewers. As has already been stated on here BV will probably get the nod anyway so it’s all academic.(so much for consistency of selection eh SL?)
Cipriani…YES! For God’s sake,let him prove that the past is the past. England are not blessed with “stardust”players and with the WC looming now is the perfect time to see if Danny is a reformed character who can boss a game and mould it to his will.
Slade too has to be included but not as a replacement for Manu. They are completely different players. Slade is another one who has the “X” factor and would be a perfect compliment to everybody’s favourite Anglo-Samoan.
Vunipola (M) for Mullan? contentious.Mullan has done nothing wrong in his handful of cameos and it would be good to give him a full outing at some point during the tournament. The same applies to Brookes.To ditch him in favour of Cole would be extremely harsh. It’s a conundrum but that is what Lancaster is paid to resolve . Three tight heads and two loose? Why not? Or three of each.Overkill or sentiment or plain pragmatism? I don’t think Rowntree does sentiment so that is going to be a tough call.
My (for what it’s worth) xv for wales: Brown,May,Banahan, Burrell,Joseph,Wilson,Webber,Marler,Robshaw,Easter,Haskell, Attwood,Lawes, Ford, B youngs. Reps: Slade,Mullan,Brookes,Kitchener,Tuilagi (If fit) Dickson,T Youngs.
Banahan…theres a blast from the past! I actually think he could add something to the squad, he has been excellent recently, although i imagine he wouldn’t be a universally popular pick
Blub
If England want to go D @ fly, then they may as well revert to Farrell & type. I think Lancaster etc really want to play as v Oz, so if Ford Jr puts a foot or 2 wrong he could be toast. However, England need more IMO to compete @ the WC, but the 6N should reveal more.
Back never grew those extra 6” tho.