England Under Eddie Jones

What will his tarting XV look like for Scotland?
Who will Captain?
Will Robshaw be involved?

My Team:

1) J. Marler (Need a better option here but no-one will be ready in time)
2) J. George (Didn't get much of a chance at the world cup, Hartley is getting on a little bit but would still be good to have in the squad)
3) D. Cole (Poor in the world cup but getting better for tigers. Brookes should be groomed as a replacement)
4) J. Launchbury (A future world class player. Enough said.)
5) C. Lawes (Big hits and some decent experiance.)
6) M. Kavesic (Overlooked by England, out of position but it worked for Aus with Pocock)
7) B. O'Connor (Although Fraser and Kvesic could fill in here easily)
B. Vunipola (He is a young player with world cup experience, what the pack need. Hughes when qualified)

9) B. Youngs (Electric Player)
10) G. Ford (Needs to get his form back but him and Youngs together could be world class.)
11) J. May (Electric Speed and getting more strength, could play Nowell or Rokodiguni here.)
12) L. Burrell (Playing well in Prem, would be Slade if fit)
13) J. Joseph (Was injured during WC it was announced, hence he wasn't at his best)
14) A. Watson (What a player.)
15) M. Brown (Stand our player in the world cup, still got a few more years)

1.Marler/Mako
2. George
3. Brookes/Cole
4. Launch (c)
5. Attwood (Lawes puts in a big hit at international maybe once every 3 games, if its not 2+ each game it's a luxury, not a strength).
6. Itoje
7. Kvesic
8. BV

9. Youngs (Mauger seems to have had a very good effect, just enough improvement to keep Simpson from taking it).
10. Ford
11. May
12. ?
13. Joseph/Daly
14. Roko (Still don't get all the Watson love, would take Roko every time).
15. Brown? Perhaps Pennell, Foden has been showing decent glimpses too. Goode still isn't out the frame.

Nothing to stop England picking Daly and JJ. They'd have to be able to move the ball, and pack would have be able to support, but you've got May and Roko there to a punch option

1: Mako
2. George
3. Brookes
4. Attwood
5.Launch
6. Itoje
7. Kvesic
8. BV
9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. Watson
12. Burrell
13.Joseph
14.Newell
15. Brown

would love to see cip giving a fair shot

I like depth

1. Mako/Marler
2. George/Hartley
3. Brookes/Cole
4.Attwood
5.Launchbury
6.Itoje/Robshaw
7.Kvesic
8.B. Vunipola/Hughes
9.Simpson
10.Ford/Cipriani
11.May/Roko/Yarde
12.Slade/Tuilagi
13.JJ/Daly
14.Roko/Watson
15.Foden/Watson

I'd go something like this (laid out in a BR NT kind of way)...

A team:
1. Marler
2. Hartley
3. Brookes
4. Attwood
5. Launchbury (vc)
6. Robshaw
7. Fraser
8. B Vunipola
9. Youngs
10. Ford (Farrell if playing a more conservative style)
11. May
12. Burrell
13. Joseph
14. Watson
15. Brown (c)

B team:
1. M Vunipola
2. George
3. Cole
4. Parling
5. M Williams
6. Wood (c)
7. Kvesic
8. Morgan
9. Care (vc)
10. Cipriani (Farrell if playing a more conservative style)
11. Wade
12. Slade
13. Tuilagi
14. Yarde
15. Pennell

(Just realised I've got 4 former and 1 current Wuss player in my squad - bet no one else will be foolish enough to do that!).

Not a fan of itoje spud?

Marler
George
Brookes
Launchbury
Attwood
Itoje
Kvesic
Vunipola
Robson
Ford
May
Tuilagi
Joseph
Yarde
Watson

Youngs
Auterac
Thomas
Lawes
Croft
Simpson
Cipriani
Daly

Dazza79 wrote:Not a fan of itoje spud?

Give him a little longer to gain more experience and he'll be right in there. Wouldn't be surprised to see him feature next year at some point but I don't want to see another promising young player like him pushed too soon and ruined as seems to be a common trait of English sport in general.

I feel that may be more of a football trait than a general english sport one

Football primarily yes but there are plenty of examples of the same thing happening in all sports. Our media is always quick to over-hype young talent, then become the first to get on their backs when it all goes wrong (there are a few players in the current England rugby setup who have suffered this fate). The cricket squad has experienced the same thing too. The same with other sports - even in boxing with (although both were no longer rookies) David Haye before and after his Klitscho fight and Ricky Hatton with Mayweather.

Football is merely the most high profile due to its global appeal and the subsequent high proportion of media attention it receives, but the same build up to shoot down approach the sporting media take remains applicable to all sports.

Plus you would also need to consider playing too much rugby, especially at the very highest level, brings a hell of a lot of stress on the body and players can become more prone to injuries or even breaking down entirely if they are pushed too hard too soon as would almost inevitbaly be the case for the forwards in particular.

1. Marler
2. Hartley
3. Brookes
4. Launchbury (C)
5. Lawes
6. Robshaw
7. Kvesic / Fraser
8. Vunipola

9. Youngs
10. Ford

11. Watson
12. Slade
13. Tuilagi
14. Nowell
15. Brown

16. George
17. Auterac
18. Cole
19. Lawes
20. Morgan
21. Simpson/Care
22. Farrell
23. JJ

1.M.Vunipola beast
2.Hartley, apparently Jones likes him
3.Cole, experience
4.Launchbury, future world player of the year
5.Lawes tackle machine
6.Itoje, future captain playing great for Sarries
7. Fraser, MVP for Sarries rn
8.Billy Vunipola, Absolute wrecking ball
Chemistry between the back row
9.Youngs, not much competition
10. Farrell,  
11. May, PACE ABUSE FTW
12.Barritt, his defence is impeccable
13.Joseph, the spark that England need
14. Watson, pace + strength=power
15.Brown, consistently better than Goode

Hartley is looking likely to be next captain.

Not sure how Hartley can be a favourite to be captain, seems more a newspaper story. And I say that as I don't know that Hartley and Jones have even met, let alone spent serious time together in training and also off the pitch discussing the game. And whilst I am no doubt somewhat crazy I think those things would need to happen.

And of course Hartley is suffering still the affects of concussion, and whilst he's likely to play again may not even rise once more to being a 1st choice for Saints. Myself I'd question strongly whether he's good enough to play for England, even before he's more than a bit of a loose cannon.

9. Simpson or Care.
10. Cipriani or Ford.
15. Watson - leaves a wing position for the likes of Yarde or Wade.
Back row will be an interesting one, Kvesic, Ewers, etc. then there's the 'outlanders' like Nathan Hughes, and with the big Welsh Tony moving to Bath, will he get England residency in time for the next world cup? (not sure of the residency rules). Earnshaw is playing better at 6 for Quins, but if he can't make captain for his club, how can he be for his country.
I'm hoping to see some fancy new thinking in the front row seeing the likes of Auterac and I'd like to see a hooker who can strike the ball. We concede too many penalties (and have done for years), and yes, I know Hartley concedes less in International games than domestic, but he still makes me nervous, and as captain NO!

Auterac should perhaps be in the mix in the front row, but it's not as if our current looseheads are bad options, and they're quite young too.

Got him on my bench. Impressive in the scrum, commendable ball carrier, lots of improvement needed at the ruck and maul

We've got a lot of valid options at prop, few world class standouts at this time, but as said, they're mostly very young (especially in propping terms!).

Hooker will hopefully start to look better soon, but I think that Hartley and Youngs (as always depending on his throwing, could Borthers somehow help?) could/should be on the way out. George, Taylor, LCD all seem to be doing well (if not injured).

Lots of locks, but it'll depend on what Eddie wants as to who gets picked.

Lots of backrow, but again, few truly standout, and again, depends on what Eddie wants.

Scrum half is looking half decent since Youngs is going well. Youngs, Simpson, Chudley, Robson, Spencer, Harrison should all be somewhere in the mix (to varying degrees).

10, Ford, Farrell (he's improving), Cips and Burns, with others potentially to come.

12. The big issue position.

13. Manu, JJ, Daly, Slade, Nowell?

Wings, again plenty of options but few amazing options, May is nailed on for the left wing, the right has plenty of possibilities.

Fullback, another position that could depend on what Eddie is after, Brown vs Foden would seem like a straight up dog fight, but other options out there.

Borthwick can certainly help on strategy at the lineout and sorting lifters and jumpers, but I doubt he's yet added much in the way of coaching the throwing, he may look to develop to coaching throwing, but that makes him a specialist coach and it's my guess he'll prefer to look at the breakdown, the wider game, and progressing toward being a head coach than specialist coach.

Manu at 12 with JJ at 13 might work. But we'd lack a distribution option. With Gustuard responsible for defense we could see Faz at 10 and Barritt at 12.

Which would really curtail the distribution.

Borthwick is in the set up

After some needles whining in public from Bristol. I've really no idea what they were trying to achieve.