England XV for Ireland game.

Most people have posted what they expect the England team will be for the first six nations game against Scotland, however I'm going to post what I feel will be the England team for their final match of the six nations against Ireland at Twickenham, when most of the currently injured players will be fit again and a number of players will have gained more international experience. (on the basis that there won't be any injuries, which i'm sure there will be)

1. J.Marler
2. D.Hartley
3. M.Stevens
4. M.Botha
5. G.Parling
6. C.Robshaw (c)
7. T.Wood
8. B.Morgan

9. B.Youngs
10. T.Flood
11. D.Strettle
12. B.Barritt
13. M.Tuilagi
14. C.Ashton
15. B.Foden

16. R.Webber
17. D.Cole
18. D.Attwood
19. T.Croft
20. L.Dickson
21. O.Farrell
22. M.Brown

You think Lawes won't be in the 22? Big call.

Ill give you credit....your stubborness to have Robshaw captain is commendable....

Oh but i stopped taking it serious when you had Stevens starting!

I didn't intentionally leave Lawes out, I thought there were question marks whether he will be fit by the end of the tournament?

Tighthead is a difficult decision, I'm not entirely convinced by Dan Cole. Whilst I feel Stevens still as a lot to offer at international level, (only at tighthead) if he can keep his discipline. My actual preference would be Rupert Harden of Gloucester, he's the best scrummager of the lot and very effective in the loose.

oh and geordie, mark my words - he will be Captain!

If he's going to make the same sort of decisions regarding taking points in tight games as he did against Connacht and the week before against Gloucester, I very much hope he isn't captain.

Robshaw's decision not to take the points was only at one point in the game, where it would have been a more difficult kick for Evans. Quins took the scrum, and after a couple more phases Quins were given another penalty and an even easier attempt at goal, which Nick Evans went on to miss.

Evans also missed the last penalty of the game.

Therefore I don't think Quins loss to Connacht can be down to Robshaw's decision making!

Not sure about Marler being in there. Maybe Sharples in for Ashton.

EnglishReign wrote:Not sure about Marler being in there. Maybe Sharples in for Ashton.

Corbisiero hasn't been in very good form though. He got comfortably out-scrummaged against Edinburgh yesterday. Stevens hasn't been playing at loosehead and didn't shine at the world cup either. I think its plausible that Marler could end up starting for England by the end of the tournament.

Who knows a few weeks working with Mr Rowntree could work wonders for Marler....but i stil not sure if i would start him...

Mind as rightly stated Corbs did have a tough day at the office on the Weekend....and Murray will be quite a bit tougher....

I wouldnt at all be surprised if Ashton wasnt there. He should have a long international career but right now I dont know if his head is in the right place or if he has any form to bring to the table - its not like there are not alternatives. Be lovely to see Strettle there but I think that is a guess too. I also think Botha is more than a bit debatable - Morgan maybe less so - I wouldnt be surprised to see Easter back in the squad at this point.

Brown wont be in the squad. Croft will be starting.

oh well - time will telll

robshaw4england wrote:Robshaw's decision not to take the points was only at one point in the game, where it would have been a more difficult kick for Evans. Quins took the scrum, and after a couple more phases Quins were given another penalty and an even easier attempt at goal, which Nick Evans went on to miss.

Evans also missed the last penalty of the game.

Therefore I don't think Quins loss to Connacht can be down to Robshaw's decision making!

He made some poor decisions as Captain - turning down easy points for instance.

However his performance as a player was not good. He gave away 6 points with silly penalties, twice allowed the ball to squirt out his side of teh scrum when quins were marching forward near the line (once each at open and blind side) for which the commentators unfairly blamed Easter, and was part of a back row that like tigers the week before were blown away by an Irish province at the breakdown.

robshaw4england wrote:Robshaw's decision not to take the points was only at one point in the game, where it would have been a more difficult kick for Evans. Quins took the scrum, and after a couple more phases Quins were given another penalty and an even easier attempt at goal, which Nick Evans went on to miss.

Evans also missed the last penalty of the game.

Therefore I don't think Quins loss to Connacht can be down to Robshaw's decision making!

The opportunity he turned down was closer to the posts than the one Evans later missed. When you are a point behind in a tight match and there is an opportunity to get points as close as the penalty was, good captaincy is to take that chance (given the lottery of referee interpretation of the scrum, that's even true if you have scrum dominance, which they didn't, they lost two of their own scrums).

LondonTiger wrote:and was part of a back row that like tigers the week before were blown away by an Irish province at the breakdown.

Worryingly so was the Saints backrow against Munster containing Dowson & Clark from the EPS.

To say that I'm concerned about the standard of English teams (including the international team itself) at the breakdown would be an understatement.

Seems to be a major problem with that part of the game...but why?

Is it down to numbers? speed to the break down....or ferocity at the breakdown...

I commented about it on a thread over in the club section yesterday. I didn't see the Quins game so can't comment on that one. (Copy & Paste below of post below). I also think that the ref's in the prem have to allow for greater competition at the breakdown as well - too often the ref's shout ruck very early and the players just fan out along the line waiting for the next wave of attack. Players also get pinged when they come through the middle to challenge - I know it's a fine line but there must be allowed to challenge.

"One area where the English are really struggling, both with the club sides in Europe and at International level, is at the breakdown. The Irish and the French seem to have watched and learned from the SH teams but the Prem seems to have almost evolved into it's own breakdown 'system' which is shown up as woefully inadequate when playing european and international matches. Both the Tigers against Ulster and the Saints yesterday were second best there. I think us english have to get their heads out of their arse and step up the breakdown battle in the Jeff. It worries me for the 6N. I've seen much stronger backrow's put out by Munster than yesterday (although I thought Ryan was excellent, better than I ever seen him in the second row) but they hammered the Saints there yesterday - a Saints side containing Clark & Dowson who are in the EPS".

It is a lack of ferocity more than anything - and this is in many ways due to how the breakdown is policed in the AP. Refs do not seem to allow fair competition as soon as they call ruck, in terms of driving over the ball, so we see the fan (as employed by Leicester) of the periscope (as employed by Sarries).

You'll also note that in those wins I believe every game was reffed my a Rabo referee, so it's doubley an impact on the Eng sides.

The XXII against Ireland will be injury-permitted and based on the previous four performances so rather pointless to try predicting it now.

robshaw4england wrote:I didn't intentionally leave Lawes out, I thought there were question marks whether he will be fit by the end of the tournament?

There are question marks over whether he'll be fit for the second game I believe. Given that there are weeks off after the 2nd and 3rd games, I'd be very surprised if he's still out by the end.

I thought it said that in the Wood out for 2 weeks bbc article that Lawes may still make the Scotland game?

im staggered that robshaw could be captain after only playing once for england!

I do think there are differences in interpretation. I thought Munster did a lot of sealing off for instance, and Saints didn't seem to know how to deal with it (I think if the reverse had been true Munster would just have come over the bodies and through the middle, but would AP referees allow that?)

I think the second row will be Lawes and Attwood, that Mullan may well be the LH having been called up, that Sharples and Strettle will be the wingers and that Brown won't be in the squad (having a specialist fullback on the bench seems strange).

DaveM wrote:...Mullan may well be the LH having been called up...

When did that happen? I can't find any mention of it on the RFU website, BBC Sport or Twitter.

Mullan is only in the Saxons...and Lawes is not fit...

cricketfan90 wrote:im staggered that robshaw could be captain after only playing once for england!

They made Tindall Capatin despite him playing that badly so many times for England, which is worse?

thomh wrote:

DaveM wrote:...Mullan may well be the LH having been called up...

When did that happen? I can't find any mention of it on the RFU website, BBC Sport or Twitter.

Having been called up at some point during the tournament due to injury.