RWC 2015

[Slaav]

irocfan said:

SL has put himself into a difficult position TBH - I would say that there's a strong argument that DH should miss RWC 2015. He's been given chance after chance and has already missed a year of his career through suspension not to mention the Lions - by all accounts off the field he is a lovely bloke but if he can't be trusted on it....

He will simply become a target for wily old timers. Can you imagine any of the SH sides not winding him up? Especially NZ

He gives away penalties anyway but even ten mins ONCE off the pitch should be an issue in RWC. We simply cannot afford to be down to 14 against the big 3 and Ire (and also Wales).

[buckline]

Final ticket haul confirmed today.

Ireland v Romania
Ireland v Italy
Ireland v France
QF2 - All Blacks v France (hopefully)
QF3 - Ireland (hopefully) vs Argentina
Bronze Medal Final

After the initial disappointment of the lottery, its worked out quite nicely.

[Nobby Diesel]

irocfan said:

This why I only went for Japan vs Samoa - reasonable prices & lunacy vs commitment. I really wanted England vs Fiji but £300ish a ticket??? No thanks

The ticket prices are outrageous, in my view.
I have a number of debentures at Twickenham and my ticket price is £101 for grade A games.
Compare that to England pool matches in the RWC, where my seats are £765!!!

Errrr, no thanks.

True, long term fans have been priced out of the RWC at Twickenham. There will be a dominance of corporate blaggers watching the games. Shame.

[Melchett]

Interesting article from Austin:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/intern...

[Matt172]

So Hartley has been dropped from the squad then

Not that I'm a conspiracy theorist or anything but find it funny that the ref and tmo both said it was fine, for the citing officer to look at it they must have had a complaint (I assume from sarries) and surprise surprise Jamie George has replaced him

Tinfoilhat off

[hornetrider]

Give over

[Matt172]

hornetrider said:

Give over

at least we can blame him and Manu if we don't win

[Melchett]

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised. It wasn't much of an incident even though he knew what he was doing (as opposed to reacting). I would rather have Manu and Hartley in the squad, they would be first choices in their respective positions (OK, perhaps not Manu as he's still not fit). Good news for T Youngs though!

[hajaba123]

Banned and SL gets the chance to take the high ground. Any odds on a front row getting 'injured' in the early stages, DH comes back in as a replacement having served his punishment?

[a311]

I think the Hartley incident/sentence was very harsh but he's got a history and lets face it is a total plonker, and his discipline is a liability-although I don't recall him having any major issues when playing for England? IMO Hartley was always the solid set piece option at hooker but his accuracy hasn't been as good this season-I believe Youngs stats are better and he offers a lot more around the park. His experience if nothing else would have always made him a bench and injury option.

Interesting watching the Premiership final this afternoon. I'm sure there'll be comments made about Saracens substance over Bath's style in the backs but Bath's Forwards didn't turn up today. As per the comments on English options at Hooker Webber has really dropped off in form from where he was. Fazzlet got MOTM today too, not sure how, he had a typically solid performance working behind a dominant pack.

I was very disappointed to see Dave Ewers not even make the training squad, not sure what else he's got to do to break into the senior side. Lancaster et el seem hell bent on having Burgess in come hell or high water. What is encouraging is Billy Vunipola has had a cracking season, I do strongly suspect Lancaster's preferred back row will be Wood at 6, with Robshaw at 7.

I'd like to see a Bath 10, 12, 13 but I don't suspect Lancaster will put Eastmond in. I would like to see it, but I expect Barritt will come in (no Farrell please) there's a argument with a lack of carrying/linebreakers in the backrow a crash ball type centre who can carry and make line breaks is needed but I just don't rate Burrell and Billy 36 continues to prove he's not international class but continues to get picked.

Come through the season without too many injuries, Corbs hasn't got back to his previous form so I suspect Marler and Vunipola will fight it out for the loose head-the formers scrummaging has improved a lot this season and wouldn't be disappointed with either starting.

[irocfan]

I guess that one thing that Burgess has going for him is that he can (at a push) also cover a centre position which is handy TBH. I agree with you about Fazzlet really don't see him as the answer to many of our questions - typical English though stolid, slow and predictable means he'll be picked. Another I really can't see the love for is Izno(Goode) saw him trying his little stutter-step and then try to ooze glacially away - Rokoduguni, Eastmond and JJ all showed how it should be done... but then again they do have something Izno doesn't, PACE

[Madness60]

Eastmond was really poor, not helped by the inability of Bath pack to get on the front foot. JJ however cemented his starting position.

Farrell had his normal big game but showed exactly what he can offer and what he doesn't offer. He's ideal on the bench to come on and close a game out but I wouldn't want to try and win the world cup with him starting, especially without Manu to bust holes. Inside centre and 6 are real problems for us.

For me, avoiding injury and form issues I think the best 23, not the team Lancaster will pick :

Marler
Youngs
Cole
Launchberry
Lawes
Robshaw
Kvesic
Vunipola
Youngs
Ford
May
Barrett
Joseph
Nowell
Brown

Vunipola
George
Brookes
Itoje
Morgan
Simpson
Farrell
Watson

[irocfan]

Madness60 said:

Eastmond was really poor, not helped by the inability of Bath pack to get on the front foot. JJ however cemented his starting position.

Farrell had his normal big game but showed exactly what he can offer and what he doesn't offer. He's ideal on the bench to come on and close a game out but I wouldn't want to try and win the world cup with him starting, especially without Manu to bust holes. Inside centre and 6 are real problems for us.

For me, avoiding injury and form issues I think the best 23, not the team Lancaster will pick :

Marler
Youngs
Cole
Launchberry
Lawes
Robshaw
Kvesic
Vunipola
Youngs
Ford
May
Barrett
Joseph
Nowell
Brown

Vunipola
George
Brookes
Itoje
Morgan
Simpson
Farrell
Watson

sorry but May has got a LOT more to prove, I'd rather have either of the 2 Sarries boys TBH or even Yarde

[Madness60]

irocfan said:

sorry but May has got a LOT more to prove, I'd rather have either of the 2 Sarries boys TBH or even Yarde

Ashton - dreadful defence at international level, poor under high ball
Strettle - never really seemed to cut it at international level
Yarde - poor season with Quins

May has gone away and improved his game, notably his decision making and finishing, none of the others would have scored that try against the All Blacks!

[irocfan]

I'm also a little surprised that Rokuduguni wasn't in the training squad as he seems to offer more than May as well

[Joey Ramone]

Yeah, but he misses sitters against teams like Italy. And the AB's would never let him score a try like that again.

I've been watching the Hurricanes full back Milner-Skudder play during this last Super 15. He makes Johnny May look like a prop forward.

[The Mad Monk]

Nobby Diesel said:

The ticket prices are outrageous, in my view.
I have a number of debentures at Twickenham and my ticket price is £101 for grade A games.
Compare that to England pool matches in the RWC, where my seats are £765!!!

Errrr, no thanks.

True, long term fans have been priced out of the RWC at Twickenham. There will be a dominance of corporate blaggers watching the games. Shame.

How does that work, then?

The top price for a final ticket is (should be) £715. See attached thingy which lists all the ticket prices.

Why are they asking you for £765 for a pool game??

https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com/site/assets/Fixt...

[irocfan]

haven't seen it yet (got the highlights @ midnight tonight) but I gather that DC did his RWC chances no harm at all as England steam-rollered the BaaBaas....

[Madness60]

England overall were really good, especially in the first half. Stand outs were:

Cips - Barnes gave him MOM, 11 out of 11 kicks and 2 tries! Didn't try and be flash; just very effective
Slade - oozed class at 12, especially since he hasn't played there all season
Yarde - ran hard and fast as normal, kicked a lovely grubber for Wade, lovely left handed long pass at full pace
Wade - scored 3, dropped another over the line with no one within 10m!! Not challenged in defence
LCD - fantastic round the field, missed a couple of lineouts with overthrows
Brookes - not many scrums but v dynamic for a tighthead
Launchberry - just great, needs to be wrapped in cotton wool
CLifford - good game on the front foot

[a311]

Madness60 said:

England overall were really good, especially in the first half. Stand outs were:

Cips - Barnes gave him MOM, 11 out of 11 kicks and 2 tries! Didn't try and be flash; just very effective
Slade - oozed class at 12, especially since he hasn't played there all season
Yarde - ran hard and fast as normal, kicked a lovely grubber for Wade, lovely left handed long pass at full pace
Wade - scored 3, dropped another over the line with no one within 10m!! Not challenged in defence
LCD - fantastic round the field, missed a couple of lineouts with overthrows
Brookes - not many scrums but v dynamic for a tighthead
Launchberry - just great, needs to be wrapped in cotton wool
CLifford - good game on the front foot

Can't disagree with any of that. However Lancaster will only pick 2 specialist 10's in his final squad so Cips will hopefully make the squad as a utility back as Farrell will be nailed on I would imagine. I think Cips is plenty good enough and IMO deserves it as he could have buggered off to France/Japan for big money but wants to play for England.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe Wade is in the training squad? He's a class player bit of a cliche but has the x-factor. I think overall it depends what the coaching set up want and what they can achieve in time for the WC-solid options on the wings that won't let you down but won't set the world alight either or the likes of Wade/May who can be a bit flakey but will 'do something' in attack. I'm not sure if Lancaster will stick with Watson on the wing for the WC but has always had a bit of a penchant for playing player out of their position.

I was impressed by Clifford who covers the full back row so a good bench option but there are a lot of options in the backrow and at lock. Slade will break into the senior side sooner or later but has the same problem as any other English 10. He's a better prospect at 12 than Farrell though. I thought he had played at 12 this season for Exeter? I know last he played mostly at 12. He should have played in the AI's and 6N and would have had half a dozen caps but (all round much better than 36 IMO) but now Lancaster's looking at him and it's probably a bit too soon.

I think a bit like the premiership final showed yesterday you need to have a few more strings to your bow if an attacking open game is working. Saracens suffocated Bath and played the percentages and capitalized on handling errors, Bath don't seem to be able to revert to a territorial kicking game when required but to be fair they were chasing it from early on. I wouldn't read too much in to the Bath England hopefuls performances either as Bath have the poorest pack in the top 4 IMO.

Overall I think we're in decent shape for the WC and seem to have a good amount of talent coming through in their early 20's that bodes well for the future.

ETA Forgot to say something about LCD-with his carrying it's like having another backrower on the pitch which assuming Robshaw if fit is nailed on, and I suspect Wood more carrying options are needed. If he can sort his line out work with Hartley gone he could be a bolter? From what I've seen of Youngs at Leicester he tends to throw to the front but his stats are good.

Edited by a311 on Sunday 31st May 22:13