England's forward options

A few thoughts on the weekend to date.

I believe 5 English THs aged 22 or under got game time (Knight, KPN, Mcintyre, Thomas, Sinkler (and it would have been Collier instead of Sinkler if he hadn't got himself injured a few days ago)), which is promising. There is also Brookes who will hopefully figure for Tigers at some point this season. The THs appear to be about 2 years behind the LHs, but things should work out and well before the WC we should have some proper competition/back-up for Cole.

On the LH side Mako Vunipola had another excellent game and looks to me like he could challenge Marler, Corbisero and Mullan this season. There are a few hookers around (Youngs, Lindsey, Buchanan) who are potential regular internationals given some time.

I thought Launchbury looked a class apart when he came on for Wasps - athletic, fearless and with superb skills. I expect him to be a starting lock for England by the end of this season.

I'm also highly impressed with Billy Vunipola. He's a man transformed compared to the overweight lump of last season. I think he may be a longterm rival for Ben Morgan at international level.

Finally, Will Fraser for Sarries looks good to me at 7 - a better player than Saull in my opinion.

Re. Launchbury, I'm really impressed by him. He was a stand-out for the U20s especially in the JWC.

Other good news is Hartley seems to be getting back to his best so the young guys coming through should be able to develop naturally and not be forced in. Hopefully hooker become a position of strength in a few years rather than weakness. Youngs especially looks like he has good potential.

In the engine room, Kitchener has continued to impress me. Good at scrum time, and in the lineout, but it's his handling and turn of pace that shows up well on firm grounds.

bathmad wrote:In the engine room, Kitchener has continued to impress me. Good at scrum time, and in the lineout, but it's his handling and turn of pace that shows up well on firm grounds.

He was underused in the lineout on Saturday - but other than that he put in a really good performance, topped an tailed by hir roles on the first and last tries Tigers scored.

Agree with your comments regarding Launchburry and Fraser DaveM. Fraser's been excellent in the first two games, making tackles all over the field. I too think he's better than Saull.