How do you rate your team going forward?

How do you rate your team going forward:
Team: All Blacks
Head coach: Question marks over his ability as head coach, but he does know the players and the system.
Assistants: Who? Question marks abound. Is Foster up to it as attack coach, Can Cron step up to the mark beyong the scrum.
Back three: With the likes of Dagg we seem well set for the future. It'll be interesting to who pops up in the next 4 years and
Centres: I can't see Nonu and Smith being there in four years (add SBW to that lsit). So who to replace them with. It al depends on whether we play a big man at 12 or 13. It's going to be interesting to see if we can get it right.
Halves: Whilst we still have DC, we face major change. He and the half backs are both getting on. The challange is to find a new combination by 2015. The good thing is there appears to be 4-5 you players coming through at 1st 5 and no doubt an adequate halfback will turn up.
back row: Will richie be here, and who will replce Kaino are the big questions. Seems to be a number of promising open sides appearing. The key issue is probably, where will Read play, and who will take the other position.
Locks: a problem area. Brad thorne provide a ton of power, Whilst we are well served with Whitelock, we need to find a scrummaging lock for those tight places
Front row: looks ok at prop, with young talent coming through, the questionmark is probably hooker with the three alback incumbants getting on in years.

I don't care about the next World Cup and won't until the end of the Six Nations in 2015.

I'll be in a better position to judge after I see our new team play and when we find out who our new coach is!

I'll probably be blindly optimistic as usual, then just before the start of the tournament after we've had half the first 15 out injured, panic like an Englishman wearing a rolex who's car breaks down in the Gurnos estate.

Saying that, I couldn't give south africans backside about the next world cup. There's the 6N's to worry about now.
Guess what? Half our blwdy side is injured.





We'll still win though .......(there's the blind optimism)

Yeah...agreed...

Couldn't care less about the WC at the moment. Theres 4 six nations tourneys before that...

We have an interim coach...an almost unrecognisable squad from October and have quite a few first choice players from that squad injured.....

GF
Summed up England's current situation well.

On the positive side, we have the basis of a good squad in the form of young players already with reasonable amounts of international experience across a number of positions:
Corbs
Hartley
Cole
Lawes
Wood
Youngs
Tuillagi
Ashton
Foden

Heck, even the likes of Flood and Croft are young enough that they shouldn't be in decline by the next RWC

Add to that Robshaw and perhaps Barritt, who missed out on earlier recognition because they weren't favourites of the previous coaches and I think the medium term future isn't too bad, especially if a few of the promising youngsters come through as is hoped. Still need to improve strength in depth in a few places (hooker, second row) and to get a couple of critical positions nailed down (number 8 and a beast of a 2nd row in particular), but there are reasons for cautious optimism.

As for the short term of the next few weeks, I'm looking forward more in hope than expectation of good performances from a side in serious transition.

Our scrum still doesn't do forward, but overall I think we are going better than we have for a while.

How do you rate your team going forward?:

Team: Scotland

Head coach: Question marks over Robinson’s ability as a selector, but he does appear to be a decent coach – fans are split into two camps now, those that want to keep him and those that would prefer to see him replaced; he is, tho, contracted to 2015. Personally I’d remove the burden of selection from him immediately
Assistants: Townsend, Steadman and Cuttito – the latter two appear to be doing a good job: the defence is generally very solid (ignoring brain farts at restarts immediately after we’ve scored), and the scrum is an area of strength (providing Dickinson is nowhere near the pitch). However, Toonie has had more than enough time to display his limitations as a coach and needs to be replaced (Scott Johnson appears to have been brought in to mentor him – another curious decision, we’d have been as well off simply replacing him with the like of Chick Chalmers or Aly Donalsdon)
Back three: With the likes of MacVisser (soon to be qualified), Slamont, Evans, Jones, Maitland (when he sees the light) and Hogg we seem well set for the future. It'll be interesting as to who else pops up in the next 4 years
Centres: Ansbro and NdL seem set to do a job at OC with Bennett still to come, but IC remains the challenge; hopefully the selectors will recognise the talent in the likes of Scott, King, possibly Leonard too.
Halves: Jackson, Weir, Leonard and Hidalgo-Clyne are all coming thru (at different paces admittedly), with Laidlaw and McConnell the likely future at 9.
Back row: No shortage of established and up&coming talent, with Barclay/Rennie/Fusaro/Grant competing at openside, McInally/Denton/Wilson/Beattie (bound to recover his form at some point) covering 8 and Brown/Stroks/Harley on the blindside – nice balance everywhere.
Locks: Who will accompany big Richie? Hamilton and Kellock will be around for a couple more years, with Gilchrist and Ryder the best of those coming thru immediately; plenty of promise with mini-Richie Jonny Gray, McAlpine, Templeton and Campbell too
[i]Front row[/]: Good coverage at hooker with Fordy the incumbent, supported by the developing MacArthur and Gillies; ageing but still working props in Chunk and the very Reverend, but young (in prop terms at least) talent does appear to be coming thru in the shape of Low, Cross, Welsh, Grant and Shiells.

Robinson’s ability as a selector

ASBO, its interesting that many previous England managers have that trait...Robinson, Ashton, Johnson....and judging by the teams announcement it would appear even Lancaster isnt free of it....

How do you rate your team going forward?:

Team: Wales

Head coach: He has worked wonders with the team when he has gotten what we needs/wants.
Assistants: Sean Edwards, Robin McBryde, Rob Howley and Neil Jenkins. Edwards seems to be a great motivator as well as a defence coach, im happy at the moment but we have looked shaky and out of ideas in the past. I don't know how to judge McByrde because our scrum and lineout have both improved greatly but that could just be the personell. The breakdown also improved a lot during the world cup but same as the set-pieces. Howley seemed to do well with the Lions in 09 and now with us in the world cup, in the middle we haven't looked so good. Jenkins is my biggest concern, our kicking game has been pointless for a long time now and goal kicking can be a bit iffy.
Back three: Halfpenny and North are dead certs for the future. Cuthbert seems to be everyones favourite to fill the back three we shall see. I think that Harry Robinson will become a superstar in the future. Byrne will probably fade out in the next year or two with age and we will have to find some new fullbacks. Our depth isn't that great here.
Centres: For the first time we actually have competition at centre. Roberts and Davies are first choice. While youngsters like S Williams, Ashley Beck and Adam Hughes are pushing hard. If Henson can get back on form he is a massive asset as well.
Halves: Priestland is the incumbent. Hook is now playing 10 regularly and i hope he can fulfill his potential at last. There are youngsters coming through as well, whether they are international class is yet to be seen. SH is pretty strong for us with Phillips mentoring the young ones coming through.
Back Row: Lydiate, Warburton and Faletau is a young and exciting backrow and we are very lucky to have them. There are a lot of young talented players coming through the academy system so depth is building nicely.
Locks: Pretty strong area id say. We have 2 locks who are world class and the other 2 can step in and play international rugby. Underneath that we don't really know yet.
Front row: Prop is always a problem area if our first choices are out. There are able players who can step in (James) and younger players who look like they can replace them eventually (Bevington, Gill). Hooker can be a problem for us but again im pretty confident in our depth.

Actually, because it's better than revision, I'll bite

Team: England
Head Coach: No idea. Interim coach is Lancaster who is doing well with the players available right now but has made a couple of questionable calls like Botha instead of Attwood or Garvey, no OC (admittedly about 75% of them are injured) and odd bench picks for Saturday. His coaching will be seen in the next few games, can't be judged yet as I have no idea how the team will play. He probably won't be our final coach, and I don't know who will be.

Assistants: Rowntree is pretty good as a Scrum coach and will hopefully sort our forwards out for Scotland. He has done well in the past and should stay as Scrum coach though another forwards coach would be useful in the long term. Farrell is a good short-term back coach especially in terms of defense but we will need a replacement as he is not in for the long run. We need to actually acquire a new coaching team before they can be assessed.

Back 3: Actually pretty good. We will see how new players adapt in this 6 Nations, but Foden is as good a 15 as any, Brown is on-form and if he stays that way will be good back-up, and on the wings we have Ashton, Strettle, Sharples already with Wade, Benjamin, May (also covers centres!), maybe Steggman, and Joseph (also 13) pushing in the long term. Maybe Armitage can find his way back if he sorts his personal issues out, Goode is an option at 15, Monye could be a possibility if you want that kind of winger. Good strength here. In our final EPS I'd like 5 back 3 players, 3 wingers and 2 fullbacks with each winger different, one able to cover fullback and preferably different styles of fullback too, which is pretty much what we have now. A couple of players on standby also good.

Centres (anybody else's spell-check trying to insist it's spelt centers? and spelled for that matter...): When fit I think we are actually OK here. At 12 we will have Barritt and Farrell (soon to be blooded but I'm optimistic), with Allen and 36 and JTH (if he gets back on previous form) as well. What ever happened to Geraghty? At 13 we have Trinder, Tuilagi and Joseph, maybe one day Tait again. But currently they are ALL injured which is vexing. For the final EPS I'd like at least 4 centres (possibly 5), with 2x12 and 2x13 with a possible 5th covering both. If we have Tuilagi, Trinder, Barritt, Farrell (also covers 10) and one other 12 (36? Allen? JTH?) I'll be satisfied. All centres should bring something different to the squad, several on standby.

Halves: When Flood is back we are OK at 10 but not ideally set. Hopefully Hodgson will thrive with Sarries players outside him. We also have young talented players in the wings (not literally) with Ford, Clegg (needs a backup kicker) and Burns, and Lamb as an outside possibility. Not too bad. Farrell also covers 10. I'd like 3 FHs in the EPS, possibly this includes Farrell but exactly who it will be remains to be seen.
For scrummie, Youngs will hopefully get his form back and Care will grow a brain. Then with Dickson, Spencer and Simpson still knocking on the door I hope we will be set. 3 scrumhalves in EPS.

Back Row- Looks shaky at the moment, but in the long term the flanks look strong- we need a specialist 7 but Saull might get his form back and Wallace and Gibson could do the job in a couple of years if they live up to potential. Robshaw and Wood are 6.5s and if they play together I think they can cover 6 and 7 well enough by sharing duties. Croft is an option, Haskell will be back as a utility back-row and we have Johnson as well. Number 8 is trickier with only Morgan, untested, standing out. In the final EPS, 6 back row players: one 7, one 6, one 8, then the next best 3 players as long as each position gets covered once well and once adequately across them. Eg. Saull, Croft, Wood, Robshaw, Haskell, Morgan covers 6 with Croft, Wood, Robshaw and Haskell, 7 with Saull, Wood, Robshaw and maybe Haskell, and 8 with Morgan, Haskell and maybe Robshaw.

Locks: Good potential with Garvey, Parling, Attwood, Lawes and maybe Robson and some others after them. Kennedy may just be around in 2015 and I am a fan. Maybe even Palmer will be around. Not so ideal atm for 6 Nations squad but we will see. EPS needs 4 locks, 1 lineout specialist, 1 true enforcer, 1 around the park player and then someone who supplements whatever the weakest area between the other 3 is. E.g. Garvey, Kennedy, Lawes, Attwood.

Front Row: Look OK in the long term with props. Corbs, Cole and Stevens already capped, Marler and Mullan sure to be soon. Wood in there too. Not an expert on the front row tbh. Hookers, we have Hartley and not sure beyond that. Gray and Webber as options. EPS should have 2xTH, 2xLH and 2xHooker, starting with best scrummagers with best loose players to come on. If one gets injured you can always draft in another. Maybe 3 Hookers...

[bold]Ireland[/bold]

Head Coach : Declan Kidney, the man, the mystery... No one can doubt his man management skills or the fact that he has introduced quite a number of our better players to international rugby but the question still remains over his ability as a coach and his tactics. And the less said about his substitutions the better.

Coaches : Les Kiss (Defence), Gert Smal (Forwards), Mark Tainton (Kicking) There is no doubt as to the great improvement both Kiss and Smal have made to the Irish rugby team, with the Irish Scrum and the choke tackle both great advances but it remains to be seen if the removal of Alan Gaffney will have any effect on the attacking prowess or lack of it this Ireland team has shown.

Back 3: With Kearney Sr and Jr, Trimble, Bowe, Earls, Zebo, Gilroy and a few others there is plenty of talent in the back three with 3 Lions as well as Munster's hat trick hero.

Centres : Ah well you have BOD but it's highly unlikely he'll make 2015 but there's nothing to suggest he won't have some say in the team in the next year or two. Wallace and D'Arcy have been great servants but the up and coming include Cave, McFadden, Spence, O'Malley, Griffin, O'Halloran and maybe L Marshall too! We should see a few of these lads on the NZ tour and who knows which of them will put up their hands to replace BOD and Darce

Fly Half: Ronan will bow out in the next two years so one would expect that one of the trio of Keatley, Madigan and Jackson will have come to age within that time and pushed Johnny Sexton even further!

Scrum Half : Murray is exciting and could be a stalwart for years to come but one would think that someone else will appear and push him on, with high praise for young Luke McGrath, who made the U20 team at just 18 and is a very bright hope!

Back Row : Ferris' knees won't hold out forever but who knows from Ireland's very own Lazarus! Heaslip, SOB, O'Mahony, and Chris Henry should all be there but thereis plenty of talent coming through the ranks, with Ruddock, Faloon, O'Donnell, Dave O'Callaghan and more hopefully coming through in the next few years!

Second Row: POC can take heart from Brad Thorn who won a WC medal at the ripe old age of 38. But even so there is plenty of talent coming through to replace himself and DOC, with Ryan, Toner and Tuohy all able to come through and take their place!

Front Row : Now we come to the crux of Irish problems in the short term, with Ross the only TH in Ireland at the moment. But there is hope with Hagan and McAllister the bright hopes!

ChequeredJersey wrote:Actually, because it's better than revision, I'll bite

Team: England
Head Coach: No idea. Interim coach is Lancaster who is doing well with the players available right now but has made a couple of questionable calls like Botha instead of Attwood or Garvey, no OC (admittedly about 75% of them are injured) and odd bench picks for Saturday. His coaching will be seen in the next few games, can't be judged yet as I have no idea how the team will play. He probably won't be our final coach, and I don't know who will be.

Assistants: Rowntree is pretty good as a Scrum coach and will hopefully sort our forwards out for Scotland. He has done well in the past and should stay as Scrum coach though another forwards coach would be useful in the long term. Farrell is a good short-term back coach especially in terms of defense but we will need a replacement as he is not in for the long run. We need to actually acquire a new coaching team before they can be assessed.

Back 3: Actually pretty good. We will see how new players adapt in this 6 Nations, but Foden is as good a 15 as any, Brown is on-form and if he stays that way will be good back-up, and on the wings we have Ashton, Strettle, Sharples already with Wade, Benjamin, May (also covers centres!), maybe Steggman, and Joseph (also 13) pushing in the long term. Maybe Armitage can find his way back if he sorts his personal issues out, Goode is an option at 15, Monye could be a possibility if you want that kind of winger. Good strength here. In our final EPS I'd like 5 back 3 players, 3 wingers and 2 fullbacks with each winger different, one able to cover fullback and preferably different styles of fullback too, which is pretty much what we have now. A couple of players on standby also good.

Centres (anybody else's spell-check trying to insist it's spelt centers? and spelled for that matter...): When fit I think we are actually OK here. At 12 we will have Barritt and Farrell (soon to be blooded but I'm optimistic), with Allen and 36 and JTH (if he gets back on previous form) as well. What ever happened to Geraghty? At 13 we have Trinder, Tuilagi and Joseph, maybe one day Tait again. But currently they are ALL injured which is vexing. For the final EPS I'd like at least 4 centres (possibly 5), with 2x12 and 2x13 with a possible 5th covering both. If we have Tuilagi, Trinder, Barritt, Farrell (also covers 10) and one other 12 (36? Allen? JTH?) I'll be satisfied. All centres should bring something different to the squad, several on standby.

Halves: When Flood is back we are OK at 10 but not ideally set. Hopefully Hodgson will thrive with Sarries players outside him. We also have young talented players in the wings (not literally) with Ford, Clegg (needs a backup kicker) and Burns, and Lamb as an outside possibility. Not too bad. Farrell also covers 10. I'd like 3 FHs in the EPS, possibly this includes Farrell but exactly who it will be remains to be seen.
For scrummie, Youngs will hopefully get his form back and Care will grow a brain. Then with Dickson, Spencer and Simpson still knocking on the door I hope we will be set. 3 scrumhalves in EPS.

Back Row- Looks shaky at the moment, but in the long term the flanks look strong- we need a specialist 7 but Saull might get his form back and Wallace and Gibson could do the job in a couple of years if they live up to potential. Robshaw and Wood are 6.5s and if they play together I think they can cover 6 and 7 well enough by sharing duties. Croft is an option, Haskell will be back as a utility back-row and we have Johnson as well. Number 8 is trickier with only Morgan, untested, standing out. In the final EPS, 6 back row players: one 7, one 6, one 8, then the next best 3 players as long as each position gets covered once well and once adequately across them. Eg. Saull, Croft, Wood, Robshaw, Haskell, Morgan covers 6 with Croft, Wood, Robshaw and Haskell, 7 with Saull, Wood, Robshaw and maybe Haskell, and 8 with Morgan, Haskell and maybe Robshaw.

Locks: Good potential with Garvey, Parling, Attwood, Lawes and maybe Robson and some others after them. Kennedy may just be around in 2015 and I am a fan. Maybe even Palmer will be around. Not so ideal atm for 6 Nations squad but we will see. EPS needs 4 locks, 1 lineout specialist, 1 true enforcer, 1 around the park player and then someone who supplements whatever the weakest area between the other 3 is. E.g. Garvey, Kennedy, Lawes, Attwood.

Front Row: Look OK in the long term with props. Corbs, Cole and Stevens already capped, Marler and Mullan sure to be soon. Wood in there too. Not an expert on the front row tbh. Hookers, we have Hartley and not sure beyond that. Gray and Webber as options. EPS should have 2xTH, 2xLH and 2xHooker, starting with best scrummagers with best loose players to come on. If one gets injured you can always draft in another. Maybe 3 Hookers...

In the no 8 position I somehow forgot that Crane and Guest existed. No longer as big a worry