Tindall, Tuilagi - is that England's best centre pairing?

And will MJ see it that way?

To my mind it is. Both can be rested for the Georgia and Romania games, I think even SH and MB can do the job for these matches.

Does anyone see it any other way?

Given MJ's fixation with Tindall, I think it probably is your most likely starting combo. Whether it is your best is another matter....
That said, I don't really rate either Bananaman or Hape so I think today's partnership with be your first choice.
While I will acknowledge that Tindall did have a very good game, how often can you say that about him? To an extent, he did catch the Irish midfield on a bad day.

Agree, Tindall very rarely plays well. Darcy is really off form and not even sure if Earls is a 13; I doubt the Irish know whether he's a 13 either. That said I see it being an effective World Cup partnership with Scotland being the only capable team of nullifying it with the help of their back-row and possibly a move for Lamont to the centre.

I think England will cruise their first 3 pool games. Argentina are an old and limited side with a very impotent backline; the other two are hardly a cause for concern. So England may well have some momentum going into the KO stages.

N-J - I don't think we have two players physically strong enough to stop England imposing their game plan on us without losing our only creative inside back (Ansbro). Sean Lamont would be able to look after himself but Ansbro is relatively small and I think we would be forced to play Graeme Morrison in which case our wingers should take a good book onto the pitch with them because they ain't going to see the ball much.
I don't think it would be too wise a move to assign John Barclay to guard the midfield as we will need him at the breakdown. I know it worked a treat for Lewis Moody-v-Jamie Roberts a few years back but we don't have the depth to cover for our No 7 being on defensive detail in the midfield.

InjuredYetAgain wrote:
I don't think it would be too wise a move to assign John Barclay to guard the midfield as we will need him at the breakdown. I know it worked a treat for Joe Worsley-v-Jamie Roberts a few years back but we don't have the depth to cover for our No 7 being on defensive detail in the midfield.

fixed that for you.

Agree that Barclay is the main guy for you at the breakdown, but don't see why that means he shouldn't be assigned to stop ball carriers. If he's quick enough he can get up and compete for the ball at the same ruck.

Tomathy - is your mission statement tonight "Make IYA look a total arsehead?". Jeez, man, if you aren't pointing out NH gamebreakers, you are telling me I got my player names wrong
I am not actually sure that Barclay does have the skills of which you talk. I am worried about him having to drift into midfield almost in anticipation but then if England attack the 9/10 channel, he is horribly out of position for any breakdown there.

Ha sorry didnt mean to be critical. There's no reason why you should remember exactly which England player made a few tackles two years ago.

I always thought Barclay was a real pain at the ruck. Not Heinrich Brussow but very useful. Is he not much of a big tackler then?

No offence taken whatsoever - just having a wee a laugh.
Barclay can be a pain but he isn't that big and relies mostly on speed rather than, say, Heirich Brussouw or even yer man Ferris for Ireland. And come to think of it, your back-row seems to have anorexia under control!!

Back to the point of the post: yes I think this very well could be England's centre pairing. tuilagi appeared very comfortable and played quite well. We know this was not Ireland's best set of centres. But he played the team in front of him and did well. Good for him. Probably solves a number of ills for MJ.

It appears to be the best pairing available based on the EPS and squad selection and certainly did a good job yesterday. Tuilagi looks incredibly promising and Tindall is a fine player if he gets selected with the right partner. He worked well enough with Greenwood after all.

It would be nice to see the centres fire like that along with Foden and Ashton in the same game.

They could have their own slogan, similar to the WWF wrestlers.


They can call themselves T and T

or TNT

Haven't actually watched the game yet (playing yesterday, just about to watch the recording), but based on what I've read I'd probably stick with Tindall and Tuilagi for the first 2 games to develop their understanding, then give Tindall a rest for the Romania game, bringing in Hape to play alongside Tuilagi.

I would try to give Tuilagi all the games I can to acclimatise him to Test Rugby, he's a young, fit lad who should be able to handle the physical pressure (and he can always be brought off as games wear on), but I think a tactical break for Tindall in the third group game (that we should win without him) could see Tindall kept fresher for the Scotland game and hopefully the knock-out stages, in which time I'd always be playing my strongest team.

It's looked the best on offer in recent games, but I have a feeling Johnson will revert to Hape & Tindall for the first game.

alcoombe wrote:It's looked the best on offer in recent games, but I have a feeling Johnson will revert to Hape & Tindall for the first game.

I'd be very surprised. Johnson gets accused of being slow to make changes but once he gets it right he usually sticks with it. Ashton and Foden have been chosen whenever they've been available since he first selected them, and once Borthwick was out he was out, despite having been captain for however many tests in a row.