Uncapped Semesa Rokoduguni is among 23 players retained by Stuart Lancaster to prepare for Saturday’s QBE International against New Zealand at Twickenham.
The Fijian-born tank soldier is one of four Bath Rugby backs included after sparkling Aviva Premiership form, with Anthony Watson also being included in a match day squad for the first time alongside Kyle Eastmond and George Ford.
In the forwards, uncapped Saracens lock George Kruis is included for the first time after Joe Launchbury was ruled out with a neck injury. Front row duo Joe Marler and David Wilson have trained fully this week after minor injuries and take their slots to face the All Blacks.
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “We’ve had a good few days’ training on the back of last week. The players have worked really hard and everyone who has been in camp has pushed hard for selection and their attitude has been fantastic. We are excited about the squad we have picked and we are looking forward to getting back to Twickenham this weekend and taking on a team of the quality of New Zealand.”
England squad to face New Zealand
Forwards (13)
Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby)
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Rob Webber (Bath Rugby)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
Backs (10)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Returning to Aviva Premiership clubs:
Calum Clark (Northampton Saints)
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
Alex Goode (Saracens)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
David Paice (London Irish)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Marland Yarde (Harlequins)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
32 replies on “Lancaster trims England squad ahead of New Zealand game”
Very surprised to see Yarde gone, he has not had a strong start with quins but I really thought after his strong performance in New Zealand he would be retained. Especially after Jonny May’s lack of try scoring during the 6N. Anyone care to have a guess at a likely starting team? Biggest question is who will start on the wings
Not sure if wing is a question, the whole squad kind of picks it self. I expect the starting line up to look like this:
1. Marler
2. Hartley
3. Wilson
4. Attwood
5. Lawes
6. Wood
7. Robshaw
8. Vunipola
9. Care
10 Farrell
11. Rokoduguni
12. Eastmonde
13. Barrit
14. May
15. Brown
Bench:
Kieran Brookes
George Kruis
Matt Mullan
Ben Morgan
Rob Webber
George Ford
Anthony Watson
Ben Youngs
Agree with your team, except I think you’ve got the wingers the wrong way round. May plays on the left, and Roko on the right.
Chiefs players are always overlooked…
Suprised at Nowell, Yarde and Goode (tho’ pleased at that one). Would have either of Nowell or Yarde over May
Haskell must still be feeling the effect in his illness, otherwise he is very unlucky
I imagine the wings will be Rokoduguni and May – but will hope for Watson rather than May
Haskell, Nowell all sent back. Guess Woods is starting. Glad George Ford was retained, why Jonny May was retained over Nowell is horrible.
Hope May is not starting. Does this mean Rokodoguni is on left wing. Hope our wingers are Watson & Rokodoguni.
Twelvetrees sent back must mean he’s fallen below the pecking order. I don’t see Stephen Myler will have to assume sent back as well?
No Goode? Shome mishtake surely?
Well the pack picks itself, but the back line has to be Care, Farrell or Ford, May, Eastmond, Barritt, Roko & Brown. Youngs, Ford or Farrell, and Watson on the bench.
Yep, looks like the Chiefs boys will be Saxons fodder again. If Slade was a Sarries or Leicester player I’m sure he’d be in that match day squad.
There are only four Sarries, and one Leicester player in the squad.
I think some chiefs fans need to perhaps take the eye patch off.
Slade is a great player, but he’s very young and playing at 13, if you’ve not noticed, England like a big man at 13 and that will be how all the plays of the last 3 years have been run. Slade is not going to be able to do that job. If we were starting afresh, and Manu didn’t exist, then I’d be over the moon to see Slade there, I suspect his best chance is actually at 10 though, since he has the defensive abilities of Farrell, whilst being far better in attack.
Nowell is a right winger, May is a left. They are not competing for a shirt. And May has had a fantastic season, and I was shocked he was dropped after his 1st test in the summer when he was straightening play and looking very dangerous. Nowell is fairly recently back from injury, and Roko has been absolutely on fire. I’m a Wasp, and whilst I’d dearly love to have Wade playing, I can’t argue that Roko isn’t the better choice.
Waldrom was never going to get ahead of Billy V and Morgan. He’s had a nice resurgence, but they’re better.
Yeandle can perhaps wonder why he wasn’t the 3rd choice hooker (as could George), but if England needed a 3rd choice to suddenly join in, it would need to be someone familiar with the plays, and Yeandle isn’t that guy.
Agreed. Slade is going to be a great player for England. Just not yet. Also agree that he needs to move in to 10 or 12 (though based on Lancaster picking Burrell at 13 he may be fine). Look at Watson. He was included in several training camps and inital training squads before his first match day squad. It is the right thing to do for both team and player to ensure that new players deliver to their potential on debut.
Much the same for Ewers.
Personally I would chose Nowell over May, but the coach can’t get everything right 😉
Only real surprises are May and Watson. Glad Watson is in over Goode (although I’d have preferred Foden). Really shocked and disappointed that he’s gone for May. I’d happily have Nowell or Yarde over May.
Team picks itself now. Really hope Attwood is available – without Parling and Launch, we really need him in.
Guys I think we are getting a little carried away here, whilst yes personally I would have loved to see both Slade and Nowell in the team, I don’t think Slade would have complemented Eastmond at 12- we need some muscle- which Barritt does supply (though obviously not like Tuilagi or Burrell). For me Slade was competing for the 12 shirt, and he was never likely to pick him- he was an injury call up. It’s just good to have him training with the squad. Takes time to get up to speed and after a few days in camp is not the time to make your senior debut against snake-hips (good luck Roko is all I can say). Nowell is obviously short of game time and rusty. He will be back.
But the big news- HE PICKED WATSON (presumably for the bench) and not Goode. How long has everyone been harping on about this in the comments section? Let’s rejoice for small victories!
May has actually been in pretty good form this year. One more chance for him.
I can stomach May IF he has been told to run straight
V pleased with the lack of Goode. Watson has the talent to be a stand-out performer for England if he can adjust to the big stage
Out of interest Cheif fans…. who do you believe should be in?
Nowell is probably the most likely, but if SL sees him as a right winger, do you really believe he should be in over Roko?
Slade? He’s in great form but England play with one ball playing center which in this case is Eastmond. Do you actually think he is playing better that Eastmond?
The last one I would guess could be Waldrom, and whilst he has had a resurgence this year, he unfortunately is not in the same league as Vunipola, or Morgan.
You could possibly make an argument for Dave Ewers over Morgan as he covers blindside and 8, but not if Haskell is fit
BTW – what about the payers like Ewers / Myler / Kvesic? Have they been sent back as well?
Potentially I’d agree with you there actually, I really like Ewers. But Morgan has been around the set up for a long time so Ewers would have to be outstanding to displace him.
Good point on those three – no idea where they are right now.
I had read that the 42 man squad that was training last week was trimmed to 35 on the weekend just gone, so that was when the additional players like Ewers, Kvesic, Waller, Thomas, Waldrom and Foden were cut. Myler apparently had some injury niggle and remained with Northampton. And then Kitchener replaced Launchbury of course.. but they also added Paice for a short time. I think I’m missing someone somewhere, but that pretty much covers it.
I also read that Yarde hadn’t trained last week because of some niggle, so maybe that’s why he’s not involved. But also, Lancaster has commented that he wants a balance in the back three of power, pace and positional / aerial nous. So it seems Roko provides the power ahead of Yarde and then it was between the likes of May, Watson and Nowell for the other wing. I think May and Watson have more pace than Nowell, so I guess that helps their cause.
I’m pleasantly surprised by this squad. I thought May was rubbish in the 6N, but thought he was pretty good over the summer and has been playing well so far this season, scoring and setting up tries for others.
May and Watson also have experience at 15, and I believe May has also played a bit at 13, so maybe that’s why they were included ahead of Yarde. Or they have simply been performing better in training!
Given the injuries I’m leased with Bomber selection – Ben Youngs great to see faith retained in him over the plodder Dickson & same for selecting Watson hoping he gets a go at fb where he is really dangerous.
Cant believe people still keen to keep the non-try scoring Nowell !! Bizarre.
Slade and Ewers both ones for the future hope they both get in the 23 v’s Samoa but JJ surely needs to be selected at 13 at some point Barff fans I know reckon he’s been in the best form of their backs & he’s the one cut by England!? .
Not sure why everyone is so down on May. He’s solid in defence and causes panic in the opposition with ball in hand. Just needs to sort his decision making out and he’ll be devastating.
DanD Don’t you mean brighty… regards the eye patch?
Well, a team CAN ‘pick itself’, altho I reckon injury has forced Lanc’s reluctant hand with, e.g., Attwood to start… at last? Altho it ain’t actually picked yet… is it?
I see poor old Jonny ‘on the spot’, May, has come in for the usual ‘England’ bashing (e.g.’…IF he has been told to run straight’ Pab; get rid of that chip brother. Who do you think you are? Me? Ha, ha. You do make me giraffe.). Old ground, but if the MIDFIELD runs straight, then JM won’t be forced to ‘cutback’ infield. And it’s also as much about ‘rugby intelligence’ (read Stu Barnes in the last ST) which is in the COACHING, rather than in just team selection & then expecting individual & team performances. Having said that, ‘the team (almost) picks itself’ & the above is likely near SL’s choice for Sat. Will it get the job done? Maybe…, maybe not.
BTW, the 2 most effective & consistant finishers @ wing in the Prem’ship, Ashton & Strettle, are NOT included! Too flash & too old respectively? Interesting food 4 thought stat for the no. crunchers?
Interesting reading a few people saying the midfield needs to run straight so the likes of May don’t need to cut in-field. And yet still a few moaning about Barritt? Who runs straight……….nearly always! Eastmond and Barritt could be the best partnership England could have.
Eastmonds creates a hole and if he needs to offload, Barritt can take the ball, run straight and pull in defenders. Creating more space on the outside providing the back row get their quick enough to carry that momentum.
If it’s on Eastmond can run through the hole, and then release to Roko or May with Barritt providing back up to the second wave if the offload is needed.
Barritt will switch to the 12 position for defence I’m sure, giving Eastmond the opportunity to get involved in the attack if the ball is turned over.
Interesting lack of 12 and 13 in the squad, if BB or Eastmond come off I wonder if he would go Farrell to 12 or May to 13?
To be fair it is quite unusual to cover properly every position with 3 back rubs on the bench. Typically a 9,10 and another. Farrell would move to 12 I’d expect. I actually think the prospect of him there with Ford at 10 wouldn’t do a great deal to weaken the side anyway.
No I agree just interested to see which option people thought more likely/exciting. I know SCW has advocated Farrell at 12 for a while and I wouldn’t mind seeing him and Ford play together like that.
Definitely. SCW really wants Cipriani at 10 with Farrell at 12, which I must admit, I’d love to see.
Why does there always have to be a hate figure! The two leading wings in terms of trys scored in the Aviva premiership this season are Rokoduguni and May and look who’s been selected. The two guys that have been vying for that left wing berth (most in possession of the shirt) are May and Yarde. On form it’s a fairly easy choice. May and Rokoduguni are also good in defence and positioning. May did make a couple of lateral runs in the 6N that didn’t go anywhere, but it’s better to cut infield than either get isolated or be run into touch and once that decision has been made he’s entitled to be as elusive as he wants, even if ultimately he goes nowhere.
Dazza
Altho I did’n’t go into detail, the idea of running straight, or perhaps ‘straightening’ the attack, is not just for the ‘bosh’ merchant to crash into/thru defenders & thereby (in theory) drawing them into himself. As you infer, KE is the ‘creative’ centre, but is he likely to suck in, as a ‘novice’, an exp AB defence? Barritt is ‘PERDICTABLE’, but even ‘heavyweight’ centres have to, these days esp, also possess the ability to choose, with speed of thought & sleight of hand/foot, to accurately execute the right option or whether to run, pass or kick. Agin the ABs on Sat is he, or KE, likely to be able to do so, because that’s what they’re gonna have to do? Only Sat will tell of course & the fwds will likely have a say in all of this anyway, but your theory sounds gd.
twelvestocks
Agree with you regds hate figure. Presume you mean May? Wings haven’t had enough exposure to be judged yet & I’ve queried the midfield (& it’s coaching!) as being responsible for JM going in field. The way to judge is by comparison with the SH. SL has been in situ for 3 yrs now & does he even KNOW his midfield yet? And ALL team’s have injuries. Some here are now even talking of Farrell in midfield!? I think May’s ok, alhto I like Varndell & Wade for prev stated reasons, but whatever, the egg timer’s still running.