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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	Ozzy3213
Worcester Warriors	prop_lyd

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Waiting List
1. pullthestrings
2. Bathite

Anybody know about the change in format of this years S15?

Looks like each side play each other once with there then being some qualifying finals

Looking like Morgan is off to Gloucester:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/9080168/Gloucester-to-buy-England-No-8-Ben-Morgan-from-Scarlets-as-Tom-Palmer-and-James-Haskell-head-home.html

Just seen that on Twitter

Let's see Blogs picture, is he a special case like I suspect?

Looks like he's been smacked with a fish

https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1327003738/Photo-0094.jpg

Yep he's a geek.

I sense potential serial killer....

He tweets absolute shiote

How excited am i about the Morgan signing. Exactly what glos need. Him and Qera in the back row is pretty dynamic. If we get Hudson to go alongside Big Jim then we we will have a really good pack

Bring on next season!!

there will be some really good 2nd row combos in AP next season.

Deacon/Parling
Lawes/Manoa
Garvey/Skivington
Hamilton/Hudson (if he signs)
Botha/Borthwick

Palmer/Wentzel - you missed that one out Nick.

I think Saints will convert Manoa into a no8 since they are losing Wilson, unless they sign Narroway now that Gloucester have Morgan.

i said in the AP Chris, that combo will be Championship.

Meow...

I just hope we have London Irish to play again this season, 5 point banker that ;-)

cant argue with that!

You'll all be gutted when Falcons go down and you all lose out on 10 points a season!

wouldnt be suprised if you do us this weekend pooly

I like Irish but I hope we batter you just this once......pls

Will be a tough game this weekend. If our pack can gain parity at the contact area we will win. if not, then Falcons will turn us over.

Is Big Trev back form Samoa?

From our recent showings I'd fancy us at home, pack has been playing well and Jimmy has started it spreading it a bit.

Irish have a bit of a hold over us though so anything could happen. A win would really put the pressure on Wasps.

You gonna respond to my PM Pooly?

England "will get smashed" by Wales according to Jonathan Davies.

Anyone read the article? Find it difficult to disagree really...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/9081422/Six-Nations-2012-England-will-get-smashed-by-Waless-forwards-at-Twickenham-says-Jonathan-Davies.html

i disagree

jenkins, bennett, jones is not massively bigger or better than corbs, hartley and cole. if lawes is back, him and botha/palmer is as good as evans and jones, certainly bigger.

backrow they are a lot better than us, but if morgan plays, size wise we are heavier i reckon.

davies is a p rick.

I don't think they are man for man better from 1 to 8

Corbsiero = Jenkins - Corbs is on fire in this 6N and Jenkins has one eye on his big french pay day and must be on his last legs.

Hartley > Bennett - Bennett is garbage and offers nothing to the Welsh pack

Cole < Jones - Jones just a bit better but a rampant Cole will cause Wales problems

Lawes >> Jones - especially at scrum time

Palmer/Botha > Evans

Croft > Lydiate

Robshaw < Warburton

Morgan =< Falatau


I honestly think we could take the p iss out of them at the set piece. Croft will be licking his lips at there lineout

It's the backline I'm more worried about than the pack

If we start Parling & Croft and go with Farrell + Flood/Hodgson we could bang it in the corners and dismantle their lineout. Won't be pretty but it would be damn effective as a tactic.

We have the pack to much them and the backs to cope with there's, do we have the backs to go toe to toe in a all out running game....probably not.

I dont think there is much difference in the pack at all - would give lineout to us (easily), would say we could even have the edge on them in the scrum - can't praise Corbs enough in his frst two games.

I'm concerned what their backs could do to us - as they will outmuscle us and play so fluidly it will cause our defence problems, we've been lucky in our first two games - first game we defended too narrowly and against a better team we'd have been slaughtered out wide, against Italy we did the opposite and didnt put enough men near the breakdown, so Italy made a lot of easy ground around the fringes.

We need to find the balance here and quick - think our defence will improve a lot if Lawes gets picked.

Got to work out how to combat Lydiate, Warburton and Falateua too - and add to that the physical threat of Phillips - agree with pooly that best bet might be to just kick the ball to the corners and smash their lineout.

I'd add Gray plus Mckenzie or Gaskell to those Lock combo's Nick.

Gray will be the best lock in the leaves when he arrives I think.

Who will have the best pack next year then?

Sale's won't be. It will be okay but we will still likely take some hammerings at scrum time unless we sign a hooker or a prop.

Wish Wasps had a front row as Palmer Wentzel, Poff, Rees, Haskell is quite good with Launchbury in the wings too.

forgot about gray steve

France v Ireland rescheduled for 4th March.

Are they now unavailible for that round of AP games?

Wentzel is off to agen isn't he?

Hope Lindsay comes through well next season, looked excellent on Sunday as did George. We need some backup at hooker.

as far as Im aware Driver Wentzel has another year left on his contract - would imagine it will be Filipo who goes if we lose a lock - think he's played 2 games this season for us.

Lindsay could come through, a lot of the Wasps fans really like his running game, but scrummaging and general set piece has a long way to go. I think they will sign another hooker, as had Thompson and Webber as 1&2 at start of the season and now down to effectivel third choice. Good player though, Nathan Morris looks some prospect though - got him from Newcastle academy if im not mistaken.

Yea he's a prospect, Lindsay's scrummaging is excellent, never seen him have an issue. His throwing on the other hand has been awful in the past. Looked solid on Sunday, looks like he's been putting the work in.

George played really well, shifts for a fat lad.

One of the best hookers I've seen is Scott Spurling who is at Sarries - has a proper engine on him and very good hands. He's in the England u20s squad and one heck of a prospect.

Think the one who has most potential though could be Mike Haywood at Saints, already getting a lot of game time and is very similar to Hartley but runs more with the ball - think that's the part of Hartley's game he needs to improve upon again.

By 2015 I think England will have a very good team - we just need to find a top draw inside centre from somewhere!

Hartley used to be a cracking carrier but seems to have regressed, looks a little better lately. Wonder if it's a confidence thing

9.Youngs
10.Farrell
11.Ashton
12.Bowden
13.Tuilagi
14.Joseph
15.Foden


Pretty potent backline

Hartley changed his style after he got a lot of criticism for his short fuse - since then he doesnt run as much, but just p*sses off the opposition at the breakdown, slows down so much ball and is just an irritant - all great attributes for a hooker! Look at how he frustrated Wales last year.

Think Farrell needs to learn how to attack properly - he is a good passer, kicker but needs to have a bit more threat. I think Ford will be England's no10 by 2015 WC, has everything and has been getting a fari bit of gametime for Tigers recently and doing very well.

Never sits right with me that we go for foreign players like Bowden instead of English ones - but no one else is really coming through at 12!

Agree on Bowden, not the way we should go.

Farrell just isn't a centre, hardly recall seeing him run a ball. So easy to defend against Hodgson/Farrell combo as neither ever run it!

Farrells an interesting one - when he played for u20s and in other games he's had a very good step and running game. Since moving to 12 he doesnt use it.

I think he might turn into a Steyn type of player, who controls tempo/pass of a game. Top talent, but would like to see more from him.

I'm not the biggest fan of Barritt or JTH as internationals - just wish we had a sort of Will Greenwood style player - closest we have I guess is Twelvetrees, but not convinced he will make it.

Looks like Alex Gray is fit for our trip to face Newcastle this week. Means we are only missing 5 rather than 6 back row forwards I think. Hope he starts at 8, with Siggery at 7 and either Garvey or Evans at 6.

evans is 50/50 mate

Garvey into the second row then and a back row of Siggery, Thorpe and Gray.

Bit lighweight but they are our only fit back rowers as I understand it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17042752

Bold move, where does this leave Wood??

It leaves Wood injured still. He's not even back playing for Saints is he?

Even if he comes back in the next couple of weeks, going by how Lancaster has handled Flood, he won't go straight into the matchday 22 anyway.

I thought he was meant to be fit for Wales, going to be interesting what happens when he is fit. Big fan of Wood but Croft has been playing well of late and that's the only real slot available surely??

White cited:

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7523096,00.html