Nick Abendanon

How is Abendanon not the England full back and the direct competition with Rob Kearney for the Lions 15 spot? This guy is electric with ball in hand. He is slick runner who is powerful enough in the tackle. In a world where full backs like Beale and Dagg are setting the benchmark, the Northern Hemisphere teams need to have the same devastating counter attacking runners, that can cut defences of high quality open. England are missing a huge trick with this Abendanon, and they have been for some time.

Its unfair to say that England have left him out by selecting players who arent effective runners .. whos kept him out in recent years
Foden
Brown
Armitage
Cueto
Monye
Then before that it was the likes of Tait and Balshaw

All but one of who has started tests on the wing.



He wouldve had his chance way back in 08 if he hadnt gotten injured and Armitage taken his space.
Since then England have had Foden and Brown who equally have had people slobbering all over them for their attacking skills and all round game.

Abendanons big problem, which would arguably get exposed even more at test level, is his fragility and having the word "target" written on his forehead. He took a pounding last season from the Tuilagis angainst Tigers, and whilst he stood up to it for a while was put off his game and did have to get subbed off in the end.

Anyway basically the reason hes not in the England side is that theres other fullbacks around who are good attacking runners and he got injured at the wrong times.

1) His form goes up and down quicker than ... well something that goes up and down very quickly

2) He makes so many mistakes that concedes tries

3) Just as he is in a rich vein of form that makes the rest of us start listening to Bath fans, he starts playing really badly such that even Bath fans want him dropped.

4) There are several full backs offering similar strengths in attack without Bendy's serious failings.

5) He has tended to shine against weaker teams, never really cut the mustard against good teams (such as in HC).

6) We have enough South africans/Kiwis/Samoans in the team.

We have Foden, seen by many neutrals as our best player and only world class player. He also has never let England down, is more experienced and IMO better everywhere than Abs. Plus he plays for a better team.

We have the new fast(ish) Mike Brown who was the best and most consistent FB last season in the AP and has a better boot and defence and plays for a better team. He also has 3 tries in 3 games this season and has been involved in several others. Played well in SA before he was injured

We have Alex Goode who stands out as a shining beacon of attacking prowess in an otherwise defensive Saracens team who can play 10, is a great play maker and better defender than Abs. Also plays for a better team and impressed for England.

We have Miller, the leading try-scorer in the Premiership last year. The much vaunted May, the much injured Tait, the even mucher injured (and probably missed the boat) Morgan, the absent but talented and experienced Armitage. We have young pretenders like Chisholm.

FB is a position of strength for us, one of few true positions of strength, and we have several better options. If he plays better than the first 3 he should be in the mix but at the moment they are all rightly ahead of him as they are equally potent attackers in their own way and more complete rugby players