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Teams

Bath RFC	InTheFastLane
Exeter Chiefs	Driver - RIP 606
Gloucester	Anonmattyt
Harlequins	Steven_Sharks
Leicester Tigers	LukeLovesLuka
London Irish	stnick88
London Wasps	Arry
Newcastle Falcons	Sgt_Pooly
Northampton Saints	Dammit_Chris
Sale Sharks	SirJohnnyEnglish
Saracens	LDCPete
Worcester Warriors	prop_lyd

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Waiting List
1. Sam
2. pullthestrings
3. Bathite

Yeah think Arry is away on holiday at the moment.

Driver and inthefastlane - what sort of players are you after? I've got a fair few up for sale at the moment!

Joey Barton :'(

It's like when Maps left Irish , Wilko left falcons and Dallaglio retired

Its like Azam not being offered a contract at the end of last season. Now we have to go and sign the western force hooker on a short term loan.

I worry about gloucester this year. We lost to London Welsh in a friendly the other day and were dreadful

AAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH Fasavalu off to the world cup

http://wc.planetrugby.com/news/view/samoa_name_strong_squad_247391

anonmattyt wrote:Its like Azam not being offered a contract at the end of last season. Now we have to go and sign the western force hooker on a short term loan.

I worry about gloucester this year. We lost to London Welsh in a friendly the other day and were dreadful

Yeah I read up about that. Really wish we'd kept Ollie on till after the W.C at least. I'm off to watch the Russia game tomorrow, you heading down Matt?

Not quite the same for Wasps this year - beat Munster in Ireland 15-0 without 20 first team players (maybe more). Although, in all honesty I had only heard of 3 of the Munster players!

Think Nicky Robinson could transform us, Walder was good but could never really dominate a game.

A backline of:

10. Robinson
11. Varndell
12. Flutey
13. Waldouck/Bell
14. Wade/Haughton
15. Southwell

Has to be one of the best during the WC! Can see Bath, Sarries being top two teams and then Wasps.

Chris the main problem for wasps will still be in front 5. Also Nicky Robinson is a miserable goalkicker that will lose you as many as you win.

I am not going to the Russia match as i am off for the weekend down to Devon for the Wife's birthday. Booked it yesterday when the sun was shining. It is now hammering down so regretting it!!

Lovely weather in Wales! Although it always is here.....

15 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), 14 Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), 13 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), 12 Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby, captain), 11 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), 10 Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), 9 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), 1 Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), 2 Steve Thompson (London Wasps), 3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), 4 Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), 5 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), 6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), 7 James Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams), 8 Nick Easter (Harlequins)

. Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), 17 Matt Stevens (Saracens), 18 Simon Shaw (Unattached), 19 Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), 20 Joe Simpson (London Wasps), 21 Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), 22 Delon Armitage (London Irish).

Interesting team. I think I'd rather have Youngs or Simpson start with Wilko at the world cup as it gives us a steady influence and an exciting player at half back.

Unsure about Haskell at 7 but could be proved wrong

I think Haskell has to be in the team so dont mind him being at 7.

Would also prefer to see Youngs or Simpson in over Wiggles.

Youngs still not fit so was never going to figure.

Wiggles, Wilko, Tindall doesn't excite me at all....

Wilko doesn't excite you?!!?!

Tindall at 12 is just plain wrong

Not overly.

Would you prefer Carter, Luke?

Nah, overrated

Wilko is solid, but see Flood as much more capable of doing something off the cuff and more exciting.

That 9, 10, 12 axis has very little creativity IMO.

Simpson, Flood, or Flutey would make it better.

Flood off the cuff? You did see the last Wales game right?

Yeh....

Wasn't just Flood who played badly though, it was all of them.

Flood is too off form atm, although I see your point. Wilko is a creative player but needs options for def.....Tindall isn't that option. Simpson could really work though, hopefully get on at halftime

I'm really suprised Simpson didn't get the nod. Needs gametime before the WC.

Just give the ball to Manu I guess.

Glad Wilko starts, and Tuilagi, just not sure about Tindall at 12. Options at 12 are limited though, could well see Flood there in the 2nd half.

Ireland: G Murphy; T Bowe, K Earls, G D'Arcy, A Trimble; R O'Gara, E Reddan; C Healy, J Flannery, M Ross; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (c); S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip.

Replacements: R Best, T Court, D Ryan, D Leamy, C Murray, J Sexton, F McFadden.

No SOB, Sexton or BOD?

Must win for England.

Probably Irelands strongest side without BOD and Kearney and Sexton. Should be a cracker

Agree Steve, we could really get at that backrow with Ferris and Wallace lacking gametime. Can see it being a really close game

Hopefully ferris can get 50 or 60 minutes. Looked tasty when he came on last week. just such a monster and a real natural rugby player. Has it all.

Massive fan. For me he is the best backrower in Europe when fit. The when fit bit is the biggest issue.

Am i the only one who thinks Tindall at 12 could be a good move?? think its worth a try. you can play a battering 12 quite easily.

Delighted to see Wilko there. Offers so much more than flood who is maddeningly inconsistent.

I'm with you Mat, I think it could work as long as England understand the limitations of him playing there and structure their play accordingly.

Tins will get over the gainline and provide a target for us and as long as we get there quickly and get quick ball there will be space to exploit for those outside him.

Think with tuilagi outside him we have someone with the footwork and pace to really get outside and trouble the defence. Also i think defensively Tindall could help out Tuilagi. he is a real leader of defence. and would help Tuilagi more so than Hape who is not a leader

For once Matt I agree! Tins pulls in so many defenders it's untrue , very underrated and will create so much for Manu

I agree, and am happier with Tindall than Hape at 12 which to be fair says a lot about how poor Hape has been this year.

Having Ashton there will also benefit our centres as on a number of occasions against Wales, Hape and Tins did get over the gainline only to find themselves isolated. I would expect Ashton to be there or thereabouts on their shoulders for the offloads on Satuday which should see a much more penetrative performance from us this time around.

What do you mean for once!!

That must mean you are gaining more rugby knowledge driver!!!

i agree pete. Whilst i think Hape was excellent during the 6 N he has done nothing since so this is worth a shot.

I also think Hape is not fully fit from his Knee surgery also

Hape is a decent enough player, but got overhyped off the back of a couple of good team performances against Australia, and when his form has dropped off a little the same people that were hyping him up are now deriding him as useless.

He is a solid tackler, and a decent carrier with the ability to offload. What he lacks is a bit rugby intelligence and a top passing and kicking game. He can do a job and is a very good AP player when fit and firing, but he was never going to be a great long term international solution.

I just hope that this midfield pairing of Tindall and Tuilagi goes well on Saturday, as we really need options for the World Cup and they are looking thin on the ground for our midfield on recent showings.

Anyone seen that Phillip Saint Andre will take over from Marc Leivermont in december?

Personally i think the way we play does not suit hape. We dont use him on the crash off short balls and then look for the offload.

Most RL players lack union intelligence as they have not grown up with the game. Look at Sonny Bill. you would think he would value possession more than he does having played league yet he chucks out some crazy offloads losing the ball.

League players are great in union if you use what made them good in league. Expecting Hape to be a distributing 12 is a nonsense and so is not giving him the ball to bash holes and supporting the other side of him.

Absolutely, you have to use tactics to suit the players you have, and when players have a limited gameplan you have to focus on what they can do, rather than trying to get them to do what they can't in order to suit the way you want play.

I have said for over a year about SBW giving away possession with daft offloads when he should just take contact and recycle the ball and it is the reason why Nonu, for all of his own failings is a better player than him.

The England management also really mis-use Banahan too - they are so predictable when they use him, so easy to read and mark out of the game.

I really dont know what Brian Smith has been doing over the last 2-3 years, have seen England play decent attacking rugby twice in that period. Seems as though Johnson has told him to concentrate on picking big, powerful ball runners and ignore any other ways of attacking.

Not sure how the Tindall/Tuilagi axis will work, think Tindall's defenisve organisation will be a huge benefit, but have a feeling that the mis-pass from Wilko to Tuilagi is going to get telegraphed early on.

Think our attack needs to play Joe Simpson at no9 - get some pace in there to balance out Wilko...

Alright guys sorry for being inactive the last few days, I went away on holiday and was busy collecting my results today which I've done really well in. I will try and catch up asap.

Well done on the GCSE's Arry mate, glad it's gone well for you.

Seems like forever since I did my GCSE's. can't imagine how long it must feel for the older guys amongst us

Congrats Arry!! Yeah Steve...Pooly and Pete probably did theirs on slate and with abacuses!!

I''m pretty certain they didnt have GCSE's in Pete and Mat's time ;-)

Well done Arry, all that hard work well worth it!

Didn't have GCSE's when I was a lad....we were just sent down t' pit when you reached 4ft (that was prob when you were born Steve)

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Didn't have GCSE's when I was a lad....we were just sent down t' pit when you reached 4ft (that was prob when you were born Steve)

What when you went down the pit? Is there something you want to tell Steve Pooly?

I am 34 so have 18 years on arry. No a stars in my day. I got 11 a's and then got expelled in first week of 6th form. Basically was told needed 10 a gcse,s to be allowed in which they did not expect me to get. When I got them they still kicked I out!!!

Matt banahan/ caravan is not misused he is not good enough. Does not have anything worth developing. Agree he is more of a centre but he has so little ball playing ability and is not a rugby player.

Met him in Costco the other week and he is seriously big. Makes dallaglio look small which shows the way players are going

Watching 2007 wc final on espn. Have not seen the game on tv as went to match in Paris.

First 3 points for them happens when tait slips. Steyn straight over top does not move Rolland gives them pen. Wrong.

We level

Next moody stupidly trips 3 points to them. One wrong decision and one moment of stupidity cost us wc. Shows how slim margin is.

Wilko hits juan smith into next week and smith spills the ball fantastic. Don't see that live.

If you asked me to name the 2007 side I would never have said gomersall 9 tait 13 catt 12.

Rolland always bad for England terrible ref

"Matt banahan/ caravan is not misused he is not good enough. Does not have anything worth developing. Agree he is more of a centre but he has so little ball playing ability and is not a rugby player."

I'm beginning to think the same Matt. That attempt at a finish against Wales will take a long time to forget.

I've got the 2007 final on HD, have to give it a watch. I thought Tait played 15?! Was some prospect then.

prop_lyd wrote:Congrats Arry!! Yeah Steve...Pooly and Pete probably did theirs on slate and with abacuses!!

dammit_chris wrote:I''m pretty certain they didnt have GCSE's in Pete and Mat's time ;-)

Well done Arry, all that hard work well worth it!

Cheeky sods. To be fair the school I went to you'd be pretty lucky to get 50% of the kids who could actually spell GCSE!!!