With 332 days to go until the biggest tournament in rugby kicks-off in England, who enhanced their chances of featuring at Rugby World Cup 2015 at the weekend, and who did themselves no favours?
GOING UP
Ben Youngs
Leicester Tigers, England
With the captaincy bestowed upon him at the Tigers this season, Youngs started strongly before stalling after the first two rounds – as his whole team did, to be fair. Against Ulster he was back to somewhere near his best, creating each of the Tigers’ three tries with his vision and quick thinking – the intercept for Kitchener’s score was particularly well-executed.
Christian Wade
Wasps, England
If rumours are to be believed, he won’t be named in the England squad for the November Internationals, but it’s certainly not for lack of trying. He scored a real ‘Wade special’ against Leinster at the weekend, darting around a man in what was no wider than a five metre channel before turning on the afterburners to scorch away from the covering defence. You will never get bored of watching him score tries like that.
Camille Lopez
Clermont Auvergne, France
Charlie Hodgson took most of the plaudits from Allianz Park on Saturday but opposite him Lopez was equally impressive in a performance that must have caught the eye of Philippe Saint-André, as he looks to fill the void left by the injuries to François Trinh-Duc and Freddie Michalak. Lopez steered his Clermont side with aplomb to what could be a crucial losing bonus point.
Mark Bennett
Glasgow Warriors, Scotland
If the first European weekend was a shop window for players looking to feature in the Autumn Internationals then Bennett thrust himself front and centre with a brace of tries that saw him named this week in Cotter’s Scotland squad. Centre has for a long time been a tricky area for Scotland to fill, but Bennett, despite being just 21 years old, could be the answer.
Dane Coles
New Zealand
Hooker is one position New Zealand haven’t quite nailed down since the Hore/Mealamu era – the latter’s presence in the squad even now is proof enough of that. Coles, though, looks like he’s changed that fact – his score against the Wallabies was one a world class winger would have been proud of, and the line-out frailties which used to dog his game seem to, for the most part, have been dealt with.
Sean Maitland
Glasgow Warriors, Scotland
Wing will be a hotly contested position for Scotland as we build towards the World Cup (Maitland’s teammate Seymour could just as easily have been named here) and Maitland’s return to action – and form – only exacerbates that. He bagged a try at the weekend and generally looked dangerous whenever he got the ball.
Rhys Priestland
Scarlets, Wales
Named this morning in the Wales squad for the Autumn Internationals, Gatland’s golden boy will get game time this November. It is almost inconceivable that he will be named ahead of Dan Biggar for the big games, such is the Ospreys man’s form, but given he has been preferred to James Hook and Rhys Patchell, Priestland is clearly in Gatland’s World Cup plans.
GOING DOWN
Alex Waller
Northampton Saints, England
Waller was given a tough ride by Racing’s Luc Ducalcon, although bizarrely it was another Métro man who went to the sin bin for scrum offences (referee George Clancy comes out of this worse than anyone). With Corbisiero and Vunipola out injured, Waller is still likely to make the England squad but this was not his finest hour.
Rory Best
Ulster, Ireland
Ulster’s line-out was a shambles at Welford Road, the province winning just 64% of their own ball. The hooker must always take the bulk of the blame for this, but it does have to be said that the second row crisis at Ulster can hardly have helped. Still, from one of the most experienced hookers in World Rugby, we expect better.
Kelly Brown
Saracens, Scotland
Most people are struggling to get their head around this one, but Brown has been left out of Cotter’s Scotland squad for the Autumn Internationals. It is a real blow to his chances of playing at next year’s World Cup, as Cotter, with such limited time, will be looking to establish his starting line-up and squad as soon as possible. Baffling, given his form for Saracens.
Adam Jones
Cardiff Blues, Wales
Is this the end of the road for Jones with regards to Wales and next year’s World Cup? Left out of the squad this morning, it’s been a torrid start to the season for the man who switched regions in the off season. He’s been a way off his best for some time now, and Gatland’s preference of youngsters could spell the end for Jones’ chances of featuring at the World Cup.
Henry Thomas
Bath, England
Thomas has been playing second fiddle to Dave Wilson this season but was given his chance to start against Glasgow after Wilson was munched by the Wasps front row the week previously. Sadly for Thomas, he couldn’t really take his chance in the 50 minutes he got on the pitch, failing to dominate in the scrums and not making any discernible impact in the loose. Injuries mean he could still be included in the England squad tomorrow, but he’ll need to drastically improve if he wants any game time.
Who were you impressed with over the weekend and who do you think played poorly?
By Jamie Hosie
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I’ll be bitterly disappointed if Wade doesn’t make the squad. We lost a 6N on points difference and it’s not inconceivable that our RWC group could be decided on points difference with 3 teams all with one loss. Therefore not picking the most lethal finisher available and integrating him into the England setup (to learn the defensive patterns) would be bonkers. Same applies to Cipriani.
Waller was a touch unlucky that Ducalcon got away with moving his initially correct bind to the arm as soon as the scrum was set.
Thomas must have dropped behind Brookes after NZ (who I thought was one of the biggest pluses to come out of the tour.)
Wade’s defence is woeful. Until it improves he’ll be no where near the England squad unless there’s an injury crisis.
…. and yet we pick Ashton. If Ashton’s defence is considered good enough then so is Wade’s. I’d rather give Wade the chance to work with the national team coaches on his defence because he offers so much more in attack.
Completely with Matt here. No one is saying Wade is a strong defender, but it can’t be used in argument whilst Ashton is selected. It’d be madness not to pick him in my opinion. Same thing for Cipriani – got to be in. Sadly, if rumours are to be believed, neither are in.