Six Nations: England bring in Saxons pair

First topic message reminder :

England have brought Thomas Waldrom and Matt Banahan into their squad ahead of Saturday's Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield.

Leicester forward Waldrom and Bath back Banahan replace injured Henry Trinder (ankle) and Luke Narraway (calf).

Waldrom and Banahan played for the Saxons in Saturday's 23-17 win over second-string rivals Irish Wolfhounds.

Waldrom, an injury replacement at the World Cup, scored a second-half try, while Bath's Banahan was on the wing.

England's interim coach Stuart Lancaster will also be without Waldrom's Leicester team-mates Toby Flood (knee) and Manu Tuilagi (calf), as well as Northampton pair Courtney Lawes (knee) and Tom Wood (foot) for the annual Calcutta Cup clash.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/16783174.stm

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I'm surprised at Banahan's selection.

Chjw131 wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Chjw131 wrote:
Thus my attacking aspirations come back to the fore and as Lancaster has himself pointed out, he wants to play that style of game. My main point being that HE isn't following it through very well.

I replace the end of that with "cant see that through due to the mounting injuries"

But he could see it through. Also, his starting midfield from the start was likely to be what he will sill start with. That's something which doesn't fit that well with his vision.

Flood, Barrit, Tuilagii?

That depends on when you think the 'start' came for him! I would've thought he wanted to see Farrell from the off, given his belief in having a ball playing centre. It depends on how he rates Barritt as a ball player.

Point being, he could've selected someone like Trinder in the starting XV to back up his philosophy, but clearly wasn't going to; and now he's selected Banners as cover...

Chjw131 wrote:

stlowe wrote:

Chjw131 wrote:beloved, Barritt wears 12 and is seen as such; but he and Farrell regularly alternate between first and second receiver so it's not really a huge shift to play him with a 13 on his back.

This often gets said (particularly on SKY by Barnes), but Barritt plays the inside channel the vast majority of the time and certainly in their more effective moments.

Yes stlowe it often 'gets said' because it is true and that is how they operate. Indeed, I think you'll find Barritt referring to it himself in The Rugby Paper. You're quite right that he tends to be most effective on the inside channel, as he uses his power to take the ball on from deep that's why he is seen generally as a 12, as I stated.

It doesn't happen with anything near the regularity some people claim, a couple of times a game at best, many games not at all. Barritt is far more frequently on the inside.